Gloucester County Democrat., 1908-04-09

~ w inner staircase communicate
ed with the principal state
rooms, but she knew that the door
leading to the promenade deck had
been left unlocked, so she signaled him
to lead her the speediest way. Speak
she could not. Although there was a
perceptible Improvement in the wealth
er, Elsie found the wind even harder to
combat than when she traversed the
deck with Courtenay. This apparent
contradiction arose from the fact that
during their early dealing with the
boats the sailors had cut away the
greater part of the canvas shield rig
ged to protect passengers from adven-
turous seas.
Nevertheless, all fiustered aud breath
less as she was, she held Walker back
when he would have left her in the
shelter Of her cabin.
do spare me one moment" she
pleaded. when have put on dry
clothing, what am / to do? Where
am / to to go? | will do anything
rather than remain alone"
Walker jammed himself in the door
way to break the violence Of the un-
ceasing deluge of spray.
ttWell, missile" he said, "I'm examin-
ing the engines, Mistaw Tollemaehe is
fi-wing up the donkey boiler, and Doc
taw Chwistobal is with Mistaw Boyle.
You know whe-aw the captain is, so /
weckon yo' best place is the salon"
s.Dr. Christobal said you were max
ing raft?"
.That's wight. But when the ship
got off we tackled othaw jobs. She is
ow-ah best watt"
'May l not look after some Of the
injured menf'
"That you can't was Walkers
prompt assurance. you'd bettaW
stick to the salon. I'll tell the captain
yo' the-aw."
"Ter him? Are you returning to the
bridge?"
"Telephoner' shouted Walker as an
unusually heavy sea caused him to
slam the door unceremoniously. He
bolted 1t too. Not If he could help it
would his charge come out on that
storm swept deck unattended
The electric light glowed brightly in
Elsie's cabin, exactly as she had left it
an hour ago. This was one of the
anomalous conditions of the disaster.
1t lent queer sense of midsummer
madness to the nights doings. In
a few days 1t would be Christmas,
the Christmas of sunshine and flow
ers known only to that lesser por-
tion of the habitable earth south of
the line In Valparaiso the weather
was sitting. yet here, not so very far
away, it was bitterly cold. And the
ship was driving headlong to destruc
ton, though electric bells and switches
were at command in a luxuriously fur
| nished apartment, while the engineer
had just spoken Of the telephone as a
means of conversing with the captain.
Away dewn in her feminine heart the
girl wondered why Courtenay himself
had not come to her. Why had he sent
Christobal first and Walker subse-
quently? Oh, of course he had more
urgent matters to attend to, though in
| the helpless condition of the ship 1t was
difficult to appreciate their precise de-
grees of Importance.
Anyhow. he had sent word that she
was to change her clothes, and he must
be obeyed, as DR.. Christobal said. Then
she discovered as a quite new and
physically disagreeable fact that her
skirts were soaked up to her knees.
while her blouse was almost in the
same condition owing to the quantity
Of spray which had run down inside
her thick ulster. She busted herself in
procuring fresh clothing and boots.
The outcome of the pleasant feeling of
warmth and comfort was such as the
girl herself would not have guessed in
b week. The mere grateful touch Of
the dry garments induced an extraor-
dinary drowsiness. She felt that she
| must lie doWn-just for minute. She
stretched herself on the bed, closed her
eyes and was straightway sound
asleep At the captains suggestion
Christobal had given her strong dose
of bromide In the wine.
1t was better So If the ship were
dashed to pieces against the rocks
which unquestionably lay ahead, Elsie
would be whirled to the life eternal
before she quite knew what was hap
pening. If, on the other hand, some
miracle of the sea enabled the men to
construct seaworthy raft in time or
the rising tide permitted the Kansas
to escape in SO far to run ashore again
In comparatively sheltered position,
she would be none the worse for an
hours sleep. And now that the ship
was afioat there were things to be done
which only men could do. The salon,
the decks. the fore cabin, were places
Of the dead. Fearing lest Elsie might
pass, Christobal before attending to
Boyle had thrown tablecloths over the
bodies Of men slain in the salon, for
Gray and Tollemache had sternly but
vainly striven to repress the second re-