The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-06-09

first blast tore the sail from the lash
ings. By a lightning flash she caught
a glimpse of it for a second, whirled
away like a great bird. For some rea-
son, perhaps because one or two
shreds of closu still chung to the mast,
and perhaps because the broad blade
of the oar offered some surface for
the thrust of the wind, she was able
by the exercise of constant vigilance
and all the strength of which she was
capable, to keep the boat before the
wind. Hitherto she had had no idea
of the violence of the wave motion. 1t
was with difficulty that she kept her
self from being dashed to pieces
against the sides or hurled overheard
in the mad whirling and plunging to
which the launch was suddenly sub
jected. 1t was caught up by one wave
after another and driven on for hours.
She could not tell how long. She lost
all consciousness of time and of every
thing else except that she must cling
to the helm The boat was still hurled
forward. One great wave after an
other would seize her, uplift her and
bear her on. The strain upon her arms
was terrific She locked her teeth and
hung on, breathless, exhausted, yet de-
termined.
But there was a limit to her powers
and she felt that 1t had been reached
Yet she did not deliberately let go
One final and terrific heave jerked
her away from the wheel. She fell
sprawling in the bottom of the boat,
but had sense enough to lock her
hands around thwart and lie there.
The launch broached-to in an instant.
She was turned hroadsde to the
waves. Fortunately she did not cap
size instantly and the next breaker
filled her She lay, her gunwales flush
with the water. Her motion was still
violent. but less jerky. She was swept
ever onward by the vast undulations.
The indomitable woman clinging to
the thwart managed to keep her head
out of the water. She realized that
that was the end and yet while she
had remainder of strength, while
she could draw a Pickering breath,
she would not give up. The boat, be-
ing water-lOgged, did not pitch so
much as before and she was able to
maintain her hold, although every
wave that broke over her drenched
her again and again.
She wondered why the boat did not
sink and then she realized that the
empty gasoline tanks which she had
closed and locked prevented the final
catastrophe; that the boat was IN a
certain sense life boat; that it would
float so long as the water pressure
did not succeed in opening the tanks
Therefore, she was for the moment
safe. The only immediate danger
would be the capsizing of the boat
which would throw her out. Since
the launch was already full of water
the woman did not think this was
! likely to happen.
She held on, her vitality gradually
growing weaker, hoping for the morn
ing and an abatement of the storm.
She had no idea of time, of course.
She could not tell what the hour was.
1t was still dark, however, when a
strange sound smote her ear. She
heard it above the wild scream of the
wind and the awful beat of the waves.
1t was a crashing sound, a battering
sound, a fearful, protentous sound.
! The boat ran forward more swiftly
now. She wondered the reason. TAX
| ing advantage of a brief lull, she
abandoned her grip on the thwart and
rose to her knees. Immediately tn
| front of her she saw a white wall dis
closed to her by the lightning flashes
! She did not know what it was. The
roaring sound came from thence. She
was being borne rapidly toward it.
She was nearing it with astonishing
! swiftness. The boat was moving more
| quickly now than at any time since
she had been in it. At last it broke
upon her consciousness that the white
| wall was a mass of foam; that the sea
was crashing against some hidden
shore and that great breakers were
there.
The land that she had longed fol
indeed lay athwart her course. Ir
J mass of boiling foam. Well, she had
fought a good fight The end was al
hand With some instinct of the
heroic, death would not find her lying
down. Desperately she struggled tC
her feet and stood, balancing herself
to the wild onward rush of the boat
The wall of foam was close at hand
For one second she threw out hel
arms and the next moment, with a
crash which she could feel if not
hear the boat beneath her feet was
lifted up and hurled on something
fearfully solid. She was thrown
through the air like bolt from a cat
apult A wave struck her in the back
and beat her almost into insensibility
She was tossed and driven half un
conscious over the space of shallow
water and rolling sea upon a sandy
shore. Blindly she crawled on. The
waves seemed suddenly to have lost
their power She did not know that
she had been thrown past barrier
reef and carried over lagoon and
dropped on a sea beach; that only the
most unusual and gigantic waves could
reach her, but she knew that they had
little power to harm her. And so she
crept desperately and doggedly on un
til she fell forward in the warm sane
and lasped into absolute and total un
consciousness.
CHAPTER TX.
. Latent Passions.
The three years which had elapsed