The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-01-12

making for us at ALL" I cried in
sudden anguish, as glimpse of the
lifeboat showed her to be steering
away from US diagonally-on a
course that would take her out to
sea.
Herzog gave me quick glance,
and produced flask from one of
his pockets. Here, take a sip of
this" he said, almost roughly. I'VE
can't have you breaking down. The
lifeboat's all right. She's got to
allow for the set of the tide"
His words, rather than the
brandy, cheered me, but minute
later l think l owed my life ana
reason to that timely stimulant.
For, with awful swiftness, l was
called upon to witness a sight so
appalling that forgot the lessen
ing of my own slender chances
MILLIONS OF-GAL TWO :. :.
which 1t entailed. Herzog's fore
cast was verified. The steamer
broke in two just aft Of the bridge,
the whole foreport collapsing into
the seething surges, and carrying
with it the two masts to which
Captain Belcher's villainous crew
were clinging. Above the howl OF
the tempest the one wild shrek OF
those poor lost souls resounded,
and then the wind and the waves
resumed their mastery of noise and
violence. All that remained of the
Nightshade was the stern, on
which our battered wheel house
was perched.
I'VE are wedged tight in the
single; we ought to hold out"
was Herzog's only comment, but he
belied the curt consolation of his
words by the trouble in his eyes.
Our position was now doubly pre-
carious, on account of the wreck
age with which we were sur
rounded and which the sea used as
a battering ram against our frail
refuge. The masts, denuded or
their freight Of human lives, were
tossed by each advancing breaker
onto the bank, to be drawn back
again by the such of the backwash.
More than once they struck the
stern. causing 1t to tremble like
frightened horse, and although Her
zog tried to comfort me by saying
that the blows damned us more
firmly, l knew well that If the
wheel house itself were struck It
would splinter into matchwood
over our heads.
But at last the lifeboat drew
near, so buried in binding spray
and in the troughs of the rollers
that when she was visible at all
she was but blurred mass, indis-
tinct as to all detail. She appeared
first on the windward side, rowing
parallel with the bank, in which
her coxswain was evidently looking
for an open channel, SO that he
might approach the remnant of
the wreck in comparative shelter.
And even as the boat passed he
seemed to have found it, for she
swerved suddenly and vanished
from our sight behind the stern
most end Of the wheelhouse, in
which there was no port hole to
afford a view of her.
she must have shaved our rud-
der and propeller" cried Herzog, In
unwonted excitement. Come, my
dear lady, your troubles will soon
be over, She'll round to and hitch
on to us on this side"
He made his way as fast as eau
tion would permit to the other win
dow, and was peering for the reap
pearance of the lifeboat, when, at
scream from me, he turned and
faced the doorway. There, clutch
ing the Intel to prevent himself
from being swept away. stood
Roger Marske. bareheaded and
wearing the cork jacket of life
bOatman.
The two men blinked at each
other in the dim light, as though to
be very sure, and then, with one
accord and without word on
either side, sprang upon one an
other like tigers.
ITO be continued)