Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-09-12

friends instead OF TWO strangers In
far remote sphere of life had been in
deadly danger l don't think the sick
ness at my heart could have been
worse. l would have given years if
at that moment l could have had the
magical power to stop the ship in
stantly with one wave of my hand.
But it was being stopped by anoth-
er power than mine. / felt the deck
SILVER under my feet like thorough
bred horse pulled on it's launches.
The accident had been seen from the
bridge. An order to stop the ship had
I been telegraphed down to the engine
room and obeyed. Still when Sally
| WOODBURY. and l had been carried by
| the crowd far enough toward the stern
| TO look out over the blue wilderness
| of water we were leaving behind the
ships heart hadn't ceased its throb
| throb, to which we had all grown so
accustomed in the last few days.
Hes got the child" exclaimed Sal
| ly. See, he's hauling the little crea-
ture onto his back with one hand and
| swimming with the other. Glorious
| fellow
| Yes, there We're two heads bobbing
| like black corks in the tossing waves
close together. l pictured so wildly
| what my sensations would be if
were down there a mere speck in that
vast eXpanse of blue that / almost
tasted salt water in my mouth and
felt the choking Jingle of it in my
lungs.
Then suddenly the ships heart ceas.
| ed to beat, and the unaccustomed still
ness was as startling as an uneXpect-
ed noise. A boat shot down from the
davits, with several sailors ON board
A few seconds later they were rowing
away toward those two bobbing black
corks, and L loved them as they bent
to their oars.
i can't remember breathing once, OF
even winking, until l saw the child
being lifted into the boat and the man
climbing in after. What a shout went
up from the ship! Sally clapped bel
pretty, dimpled hands, but l only lei
my breath go at last in great sigh.
There was such a crush that
couldn't see them when they came OF
board, but there was more shouting
and hurrahing, and men slapped eacl
} other on the shoulders and laughed.
Throb, throb went the machinery
again, and there was no sign that any
thing out of the monotonous round
!, had happened, except in the excited
way that people talked. Several mel
we knew paid visit to the steerag
| nd bo 60
about from group to group in the frs
] class cabin and no doubt the secon,
} too.
1t seemed that the little boy win
) had fallen into the sea was the onl,
son of his mother, a widow. The.
were Swedes, and the woman, who
on her way to the States to try an,
Frustrated with the agoniZing sus
t pense she had suffered. As for tn
little boy himself, he was not seriousl
the worse for his experience. The doc
tor was with him and said that b
would be as well as ever in a few
hours. A subscription for the mothe
r and child had already been starte,
t among the first class passengers an,
2 would probably be made up to quite
good sum.
: "But what is going to be done 70
: the one who saved the little boy
7 life?" asked the man who was tell
a ing me the news, a Mr.. Doremus, VIII
S is cousin of Mrs. Van der Windt's
very full of fun and good natured.
J. "a nice little pedestal labeled 'Ou
u Hero will be built out of the ladies
a admiration and given to him to pos
on" said Mr.. Doremus. However.
ell must say for the gentleman-thoug
i I've only seen him dripping wet an
Ell shaking himself like big dog-h
: didn't give me the impression of bein
e the sort of chap to SAP thank you fo
G the perch"
a "Of course he isn'tr' said l. "But
: do think it's shame If he's left on
o when subscriptions are going round
n OF course he must be poor for b
d wouldn't be travelling in the steerag,
Eomethlng ought to be done to shol
J, him that the passengers admire hi
"a bravery not anything fulsome, br
something NICE
s Il guess you don't know the Ame
II lean disposition yet as well as Won wi
y aftnr yyract1a1 w