The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-06-11

the bed and sobbed piteolsly. It had
to come, this tempest of tears. wher
desperate odds demanded unflinchine
courage she faced them dry eyed, with
steadfast heart. But today in the
bright sunshine and apparent security
of the ship sinister death shadows tor
tured her into rebellion. She did not
stop to ask herself why she wept Be
Ing a woman, she yielded to the gust
and when it had ended, with the sud
denness of a summer shower, she smil
ed through the vanishing tears. He,
first concern was that none should be
aware of her weakness.
"How stupid Of me-" she murmured
What would the men think If they
knew I broke down In this fashion,"
She looked in a mirror. In the clear
light without any one could see she
had been crying, and there was sc
much work to be done that she did not
wish to remain in her stateroom until
all tokens of the storm had passed
She searched for a powder puff and
was at loss to discover its where
abouts until she recollected that the
doctor had borrowed 1t for the use of
a man slightly scalded when his own
supply Of antiseptic powder was ex-
hausted. So she went into 1sobel's
room, entering 1t for the first time
since the Kansas struck on the shoal.
The two cabins communicated, as Mr..
Barring had gone to the expense Of hav.
ing door broken through the parti-
ton for the girls use during the voy-
age.
II Elsie had not already given way
to tears she must have faltered now at
the sight of her friends belongings
strewed in confusion over the floor,
chairs, dressing table and bed. lsobel
possessed gold mounted dressing case
the size of an ordinary portmanteau.
It held an assortment Of pretty and
mostly useless knickknacks, and they
had all been tumbled out in frantic
hurry. At first Elsie finched from fur
ther scrutiny, but common sense told
her that this respondent mood must
be fought. She dropped to her knees,
found mother-of-pearl powder box
and picked up other scattered articles
and replaced them in the dressing
case. To accomplish this 1t was neces-
sary to rearrange various trays and
drawers. Portraits of girl friends, in
cluding her own, and Of men unknown
to her, letters, memoranda and other
documents were thrown about in dis
order. All these she put back in their
receptacles, wondering the while what
motive had led Isobel to make such a
frenzied search for some special object
that she cared not jot what became
Of the remaining articles.
Yet who could account for the frenzy
Of that terrible hour when the captain
announced the ships danger? Even
Courtenay himself, she remembered,
had emptied locker in a rapid hunt
for the dogs coat. but he had laugh
ingly explained his haste later when
some chance reference was made to
his soaked garments.
Anything was explicable in the light
of panic. She gathered up skirt an
some blouses, locked the dressing case.
put the key in her purse and quilted
the room with heavy heart, for the
handling of her friends treasures had
brought sad memories.
Passing into the deck corridor, she
heard the captains voice, apparently
at a considerable distance. Two hun
dred yards away from the ship Cour-
tenay and Tollemache were anchoring
a fiat framework built Of spare hatch
es and secured by wooden crosspieces.
On it stood the first of the Internal ma
chimes. The raft f1oated level with
the water, so it's only conspicuous fit