Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-10-31

| OF succor seemed to be the
hardest trial of all. The door
had been hooked back to keep
1t wide open. SO wind and sea invaded
the trim privacy Of the cabin. Spray
ieapcd over the ship In such dense
| sheets that considerable quantity of
water quickly lodged on the port side,
where Courtcnay's bunk was fixed
There were no means of escape for II
In that quarter, and the angle at which
the Kansas lay would permit depth
of at least two feet to accumulate ere
the water began 20 flow out through
the door to the starboard.
At the great crises of existence the
stream of thought Is apt TO form
| strange eddies. Courtenay when the
ship strickland 1t was possible that
each second might register his last
conscious imprcssion-found himself
coolly reviewing various explanations
OF the existence OF an uncharted shoal
In locality situate many miles from
the known danger zone. Elsie, strung
half consciously to the highest tension
by the affrightlng probability of being
| set adrift in small boat at the mercy
or the sea roaring without-a sea
which pounded the steel hull Of the
Kansas with such force that the
great ship seemed to finch from each
blow like n creature In pain-Elsic
then. faced by such an intocrable
| prospect, was prey to real anxiety
because the wearing apparel scattered
| by Courtenay on the floor was becon.
Ing soaked In brine.
| She actually stopped to rescue n coat
which was not yet saturated beyond
redemption. AS she lifted the gar.
ment packet of letters tied with a
| tape fell from It's folds. She placed
the coat on the writing table and on.
deavored to stun the letters into q
plgeonholc. They were too bulky, so
she laid them on the coat. In doing
this she could not avoid seeing the
words, 'Your loving sister, Madge,"
written on the outer fold of the last
letter In the bundle.
| And that brought memory Of her
previous visit to the captains state
room. She was Incapable Of reasoned
reflection. She felt that II she were
rated TO live to n ripe old age she
| would never forget n single detail OF
the furniture and decorations of the
room. She would hear forever the do
lorous bowling Of the gale, the thump.
| Ing of the waves against the quivering
plates, the rapid, methodic thud of the
| donkey engine, which, long since de.
serted by Its cowardly attendant, was
faithfully doing its work and flooding
| the ship with electric light.
| Not thinking in the least what she
was doing, she scrutinZed the closely
| tied packet. She wondered idly why
he treasured so many missives. Each
and every one, oddly enough, was
written on differently sized and vari.
ously colored note paper, and 1t could
be seen at glance that they were
| from rs many different people. The
outside letter was the most clearly Wis
| ible. Miss Courtenay wrote well
formed, flowing hand. If handwriting
were n clew to character she was
candid, generous, open minded woman.
| nut what was this? Elsie suddenly
threw down the letters She had read
a sentence Mt the top OF the ragctwicc
before she actually grasped its pur.
| port. When its Significance dawned
on her she flushed violently, for this
was what she read: ......
| 81 am glad of 1t, too, because under
no other circumstances would wish
to greet and embrace the woman des,
| tined TO DC your wife"
| The knowledge that she had involun-
tarlly intruded on Captain Courtenay's
| private affairs brought her back with
a certain slight shock to sense of
actualities. The storm, the horrible
danger she was In, emerged from shad-
owland. Why had he not come for
her? Surely there must have been
some further mlshap Heavens! Was
she alone ON the ship, alone with the
dead men ana the dying vessel? Her
head swan with Il strange faintness,
ana she placed hand to her eyes.
Then Joey sprang in through the
doorway and, with that splendid dlsre.
gard for sentiment displayed by fox
terrier that has just come out of first
rate fight, shook his harness until 1t
! ratified.