The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-10-15
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 great confagration. The harbor
was cluttered with wreckage, doom-pic-
ture for the eyes of the seamen. D.mly,
ftfully, through the pail, they saw the
ghosts of the shipping-black huils with
out helm or hope. The Madame rented a
deep-tored roar, but no answer was re-
turned-not a voice from the wreckage,
not the scream Of 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 ciry. The
hope that the guns of Pslee had been
turned seaward 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. Eacready
FASTENED to the woman's side.
Arrange to get q small boat, Denny.
We must 60 ashore" she commanded. re-
covering f-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 INSTRUCTION.
He was staring in smoke-stained face.
The purpose there was mmovable 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.
MIR. Macready, get small boat ready
am going ashore"
''Sure. an I'll 60 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 cafes of Ice, thickly wrapped
in tarpauliD, were placed i'm a small boat.
The woman suffered herself to be CARRIED
according to the ideas of Macready. One
Of Constabes pith helmets was upon her
head; his rain coat was buttoned about
her, the sleeves rolled up to her hands
and pair of his shoes was laced over her
own. 1t was difficult to move about in
this regalia. hut 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 hair in cour-
age Ernst bent to his work, a grim.
stolid mechanism. Denny jerked at the
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.
(Ta ho cantinnad 4