Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-05-21

snip WIS ur1NlnS ne3UIOnE W ucoti w
tion though electric bells and switches
were at command in Iuxuriously fur
nished apartment, white the engineer
had just spoken Of the telephone as
means of conversing with the captain.
Away down 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 it 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 obeycd, as DR.. Christobal said. Then
she discovered as n 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
girl herself would not have guessed in
a week. The mere grateful touch OF
| the dry garments induced an extraor
| binary drowsiness. She felt that she
! must lie down-iust for minute. She
stretched herself on the bed. closed heI
| eyes and was straightway sound
| asleep. At the captains suggestion
rl,r lao Ia ctr
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
| pcning. If, on the other hand, some
miracle Of the sea enabled the men to
construct n seaworthy raft in time OF
the rising tide permitted the Kansas
to escape in so far to run ashore again
In a comparatively sheltered position
she would be none the worse for al
hours sleep. And now that the ship
was afoat there were things to be done
which only men could DO. The salon
the decks, the fore cabin. were place,
OF the dead. Fearing lest Elsie might
pass, Christobal before attending tt
Boyle had thrown tablecloths over the
bodies Of men slain in the sailor, fol
| Gray and Tollemache had stcrnly bur,
vainly striven to repreSs the second re-
volt. Tollenache and Walker had
dragged out OF the smothering spray
near the port davits three men who
seemed to be merely stunned. These
with the chief officer and perhaps foul
! survivors Of the explosion, made up the
list of living but noneffective members
Of the ships company. There was one
other. Gugiielmo Frascuelo, who was
bawlng for dear life in his bunk If
one CHANGED to remember him. and it
needed more than human voice to
pit itself against the hurricane which
roarcd over the vessel The unhappy
wretch knew that something out Of the
ordinary had taken place, and he was
scared half out of his wits by the con-
tinucd absence of the crew. Luckily
for himself, he did not appreciate the
real predicament of the ship or he
would have raved himself into mad.
ness.
Walker in his brief catalogue Of &C.
cupations had suppressed one. To
make sure Christobal closed water
principal staterooms from the salon
Then he and his two helpers carried
out a painful but necessary task. 1t
was his duty to certify whether or not
life was extinct There were very few
exceptions. The three men lifted the
bodies and threw them overheard
When they reached the corpses OF the
second officer and Spanish engineer
who had been knitted in tho defense of
the jolly boat-hS comrade had scram-
bled into one of the ifeboats-Tolle
mache took posse Ssion of such money
documents and valua bles as were in
their pockets, intending to draw up an
inventory when an opportunity pre-
sented itself
Though they knew not the moment
when sickening crash would herald
the final dissolution of the ship. they
proceeded with their work methodic
ally. In half an hour they had reached
the end. All the injured mcn-sever
nondescript sailors and fircmen-wert
carried to the salon and placed unde
Christobars care. Walker dived below
to the engine room. where he had al
ready disconnected the rods broken OF
bent by the fracture of guard ring
which in turn was injured by thu
blowing out Of 4 junk ring. q stou
ring of forged steel secured to one o.
the pistons. He could do nothing moro
on deck. Whether he was destined t
live fifty seconds or as many years, h'
was i'll content tn hear his beloved en-
gines knocking themselves to pieces
with each roll of the ship.
Tolemache. who undertook the fir
ing Of the donkey boiler, which wal
situated on the main deck aft of th'
salon-for the Kansas was bull
chiefly to accommodate cargo-durin;
his wanderings round the world hal
picked up sufficient knowledge o
steam power to shovel fuel into tn
furnace and regulate the water leve
by the feed valve and pump. The small
engine, more reliable and quite as pow
erful as hundred men, was in pcrfec
order.
7 The Kansas rolled heavily. The rol
was caused by an experimental twis
~ tho xyheoJ poorinV n