Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-04

in the name of the only woman the
world held for him Unquestionlng,
by her side, he was prepared to go
still farther, though all humanity
should single her out with accusing
fingers.
They were watching him, aboard
the brigantine; he could see line OF
heads above her windward rail Per
haps she was Of their number. He
waved an audacious hand. Some one
replied, a great shout SCATTERING itself
unintelligibly against the gale. He
neither understood not attempted to
reply; his every faculty was concen-
trated on the supreme moment now
at hand.
Calculating the instant to nicely,
he paid off the sheet and pulled up the
tiller. The cat-boat pivoted on her
heel: with the untempered might OF
the wind behind her, she shot like
an arrow under the brigantine's bows,
so close that the bowsprit Of the latter
first threatened to impale the sail,
next, the bows plunging, crashed
down a bare two feet behind the cat
boats stern.
Working in frenzy of haste, Kirk
wood damned the tiller. hard alec,
bringing the cat about and, trimming
the mainsheet as best he might, found
himself racing under the brigantine's
leeward quarter,-Water pouring ID
generously over the cats.
Lufing, he edged nearer, handling
his craft as though intending to ram
the larger vessel, foot by foot short
ening the little interval. When it was
four feet, he would risk the jump; he
crawled out on the overhang, crouch
ing on his toes, one hand light upon
the hller, the other touching the deck,
ready ready
Abruptly the Alethea shut off the
wind; the sail flatened and the cat
dropped back In a second the distance
had doubled. In anguish kirkWood ut
tered an exceeding bitter cry Al
ready he was falling far off her coun-
ter = *
A shout reached him. He was
dimly conscious Of dark object hurt
ling through the air Into the cock
pit, splashing, something dropped-a
coil Of rope. He fell forward upon it,
into water eighteen inches deep; and
for the first time realized that, but for
that line, he had gone to his drown
ing in another minute. The cat was
sinking.
AS he scrambled to his feet, clutch
| ing the lifeline, heavy wave washed
over the water-logged craft and left it
all but submerged; and smart tug on
the rope added point to the advice
which, reaching his ears in below
like a bulls, penetrated the panic of
his wits.
Jump? Jump, you fool"
| In an instant of conference he saw
that the brigantine was luffing; none
the less much of the line had already
been paid out, and there was no reck,
| oning when the end would be reached
Without time to make it fast, he hitch
ed it twice round his waist and chest
| once round an arm and, grasping it
above his head to ease its construction
when the tug should come, leaped on
the combing and overheard. A green
roaring avalanche swept down upon
him and the luckless cat-boat, over
whelming both simultaneously.
The agony that was his during the
next few minutes can by no n4eams Is
exaggerated. With such crises the hui
man mind is not fitted adequately tc
cope; it retains no record of the SUI
preme moment beyond a vague and in
coherent impression of poignant, soul
racking suffering. Kirkwood under
went a prolonged interval of semi
sentence, his mind dominated and op
pressed by a deathly fear of drowning
and deadening sense of suffocation
with attendant tortures as of beine
broken on the wheel-limb rendins
from limb; of compression of his ribs
that threatened momentarily to crust
in his chest; of a world a-welter will
dim swirling green half lights alter
mating with flashes of binding greer
,halflights alternating with flashes o
binding white, of thunderings in hi
ears like salvoes from thousand can
non y
And his senses were blotted out il
blackness. *
Then he was breathing once more
the keen clean air stabbing his lungs
the while he swan unsupported in al
} ethereal void of brilliance His moutl