Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-07-30
CHAPTER XVI

1t was after eleven when the Madame
de Stael regained the harbor. The cloud
burst had spent itself. Out from the
land rolled an unctuous smudge which
bore suggestions of the heinous impartial
ity of a great confiagration. The harbor
was cluttered with wreckage, a doom-pic-
ture for the eyes of the seamen. Dimly,
ftfully, through the pail, they saw the
ghosts of the shipping hulls with
out helm or hope. The Madame vented a
deep-toned roar, but no answer was re-
turned-not a voice from the wreckage,
not the scream of a gull. A sailor hcaved
the lead, and the scathed steamer bored
into the rising heat.
Ahead was emptiness. The woman was
standing forward on the main deck. The
wind tunnelled through the smoke, and
she saw the hills shorn of her CITY. The
hope that the guns of Pelee had been
turned seward was crushed with other
hopes. A cry was wrung from her breast
at last. The anchor chain was dropped,
and two men were bearing the brave
Negley down from the bridge Macready
FASTENED to the woman's side.
Arrange to get small boat, Denny.
covering self-possession.
Macready felt that it was now time to
force matters.
You can't go ashore yet, LADY, he ex-
claimed. Il cud bake potato here, sure
in the holla av my hand What, thin,
must it be in that pit av obstruction 2"
He was staring in a smoke-stained face
The purpose there was immovable as
granite. The voice that he heard made
him vince with fear, lest she should d.
rect upon him words such as had been
Pugh's portion.
Mr. Macready. get small boat ready !!
l am going ashore
Sure an IN go wit you, ma'am," he
said hastily.
II did not think you would withhold
your aid from him. Denny. Make haste"
she added gently.
The sailor whom Denny persuaded to
accompany them was the old lion, Ernst,
who had held the launch at the pier so
long, and who had been relieved for the
last trip. Water, medicines, food, spirits
and many cakes of ice, thickly wrapped
in tarpaulin, were placed in small boat.
The woman suffered herself to be CARRIED
according to the ideas of Macready. One
of Constable's pith helmets was upon her
head his rain coat was buttoned abou;
her, the sleeves rolled up to her hands !;
and a pair of his shoes was laced over hen
own. 1t was difficult to move about in
this regalia, but it kept off the whitening
draughts. The boat was lowered.
A half-hour later, they were forced to
put back to the ship. Ernst was whim.
pering at the oars, his lips twisted in ag
ony. Macready was silent, an eloquent
signal of his failing endurance. Lara had
not swooned her will was not broken, but
conditions had been encountered which
flesh could not conquer. The boat was
pulled about to the lee of the steamer, and
at portfolio glass she saw the sneering
face of Pugh, still in irons.
There in the boat the three renewed
their strength, and another terrific down
pour came to aid them. Lara sat in the
stern, hands and lips tense, during the
cloudburst 1t was nearly two in the af-
ternoon when the boat was bailed, the
stock of ice replenished, and a second
start made. The sailors gave them a
cheer
Deeper and deeper in toward the gray,
low beach the little boat was pulled, its
occupants the first to look upon the heap
ed and running over measure of Saint
Pierre's destruction. Denny and Ernst
took turns at the oars, sometimes pulling
single blade together. Rare running
mates, they were, odd as two white men
could be, but matched to a hair in cour-
age. Ernst bent to his work, a grim.
al h.
oars, and found breath and energy re-
naming to assail Pugh, with his barbed
and poisoned tongue. The woman, in the
stern of the boat, knelt before them, prais-
ing cooling their faces with ice, her words
often incoherent, but her spirit unconquer-
able.