Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-08-27


The captain could not see fog, but
he could smell it. What he did see,
quite plainly, was the small cottage
and garden near Sea View, in the Isle
of Wight, which was his, bought and
paid for, the cottage wherein he and
his wife expected to spend the re-
manning years of life; a snug harbor-
age for such ancient and weatherbeat-
en- craft. Upon nights such as this,
when child might take command he
had conjured up the vision or this cot
tage ten thousand times. 1t repre-
sented not merely the hard-earned saw
ings of strenuous lifetime, but all
those other subtle, indescribable things
for which strong men struggle and wait,
often with such infinite patience,
knowing, perhaps, in their inmost
souls, that the striving is what is re-
ally worth while, and that the castle
in Spain, or the wnitewashed cottage
overlooking the Solent, are in truth
the places, the pleasant, peaceful
places, in which we can only find rest
when our work, whatever it may be,
honorable accomplished.
Suddenly the vision faded. The cap
tain realized that the air was dank
and chill. Upon his starboard bow,
the waters of the channel stretched
dark gray and shining; but to the left
and ahead lay inky blackness The
Luna was cutting through the tail of a
big fogbank At the same moment,
out of the sooty silence came a long
drawn out wall, deep, plaintive note,
like the cry of the loon, the great
diver of the North American lakes.
Across the calm surface of that sum-
mer sea it doomed with increasing
volume of sound, and then died away
in a wierd diminuendo The captain
recognized one of the new sirens re-
Gently adopted by some of the Ameri
can liners, differing from the older in
struments by reason of it's higher note
and more flute-like penetrating quail
ties. Immediately he pulled string
and the Luna beloved forth an an
swering roar as she plunged into the
edge of the fog. AS it swallowed her
up, the siren of the liner spoke again
The captain felt the sweat start upon
his face as he gave the order to re-
verse engines, full steam astern!
Again he pulled the cord behind him
awake to the knowledge of her peril
for she roared like bison, mad with
terror, when he feels the teeth of a
tiger at his throat At the same mo
ment the vast liner appeared, rearing
UP its enormous bulk like some phan
tom monster, towering above the tiny
Luna. The captain stared full into
the green and red eyes of the levia
than. Bells rang out shrilly. Just
below the captain young woman was
screaming. A few minutes before the
captain had seen her pacing the prom
enade deck with her husband by heI
side. Coming down Easthamptor
water, the mate had told him with q
sly wink that the pair were bride and
groom, on their way-lf a man might
infer as much from the labels on theil
luggage-to spend the month of June
amongst the roses Of Touraine. While
the woman screamed, the man slashed
at the thin cord which secured a life
buoy. The captain bent over ans
shouted to him, telling him that the
cork Jackets were under a bench {
few PAGES aft. The man looked III
and nodded. Face to face with stu
pendous emergency he seemed to bt
cool and alert BY this time the pas
sengers were pouring out of the cab
ins dazed with terror. The flukes o
the port anchor Of the liner we're with
in five and twenty yards Of the Luna
smoke-stack.
The captoin set his teeth ant
grasped the bras rail in front of him
CHAPTER XXI.
BY eight o'clock the next mornin,
Easthampton knew that the Luna ha