Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-03-24

. VI 10 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
leaped over the ship in such dense
sheets that considerable quantity Of
water quickly lodged ON the port side,
where Courtenay's bunk was fixed
There were no means Of escape for it
In that quarter, and the angle at which
the Kansas lay would permit a depth
OF at least two feet to accumulate ere
the water began to 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 it was possible that
each second might register his last
conscious impression-found himself
coolly reviewing various explanations
of the existence of an.uncharted shoaI
in n locality situate many miles from
the known danger zone. Elsie, strung
half consciously to the highest tension
by the affrighting probability of being
set adrift In small boat at the mercy
of 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 a creature in pain-Elsie,
then, faced by such an intolerable
prospect was prey to real anxiety
because the wearing apparel scattered
ing soaked in brine.
She actually stopped to rescue a coat
which was not yet saturated beyond
redemption. AS she lifted the gar
ment a packet of letters tied with
tape fell from its folds She placed
the coat on the writing table and en-
deavored to stuff the letters into
pigeonhole. 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 If she were
fated to live to a ripe old age she
would never forget 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 quiyering
plates. the rapid, methodic thud of the
donkey engine, which, long since de-
serted by its cowardly attendant, was
faithfully doing it's 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 rtssives. Each
and every one, oddly enough, was
written on differently sized and vari-
ously colored note paper. and it could
be seen at a glance that they were
from as many different people. The
outside letter was the most clearly Wis
ible. Miss Courtenay wrote well
formed. flowing hand. If handwriting
were clew to character she was a
candid, generous, open minded woman
But what was this? Elsie suddenly
threw down the letters She had read
a sentence at the top of the page twice
before she actually grasped its pur-
port. When its significance dawned
on her she flushed violently, for this
was what she read:
Il am glad of it, too, because under
no other circumstances would / wish
to greet and embrace the woman des-
tined to be your wife,"
The knowledge that she had involun-
tarily intruded on Captain Courtenay's
private affairs brought her back with
certain slight shock to sense of
actuaiities. 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 mishap! Heavensl Was
she alone on the ship, alone with the
dead men and the dying vesselg Her
head swan with a strange faintness,
and she placed hand TO her eyes.
Then Joey sprang in through the
doorway and. with that splendid dIsre-