Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-04-26


BILE missiles that changed into white
patches on the iron plates. cut sudden
holes and scars In the woodwork or
whirred through the air with buzzing
whistle Of singularly menacing sound
She began to be afraid Of remaining
on the bridge Her fear was not due
to the really vital fact that It was 80
exposed. II arose from the purely
feminine consideration that she was
sure Coke had become a raving ma.
MAC, and she dreaded meeting him
when, II ever, he reappeared.
. A bullet struck the front frame Of
the chart room. and several panes Of
glass were shattered with q fearful
din. That decided her. Coke. II he
were not killed. would surely be driv.
en- out She sprang to her feet and
literally ran down the steep ladder to
the saloon deck. Through the open
door of the officers mess she witnessed
another bizarre act-an act quite as
extraordinary In its way as COke's
jump over the steersman's body. In
the midst Of this drama Of death and
destruction Watts was standing there.
with head thrown back and uplifted
arm. gulping down tumberful OF
some dark colored liquid. draining 1t
to the dregs. while he held a black
bottle In the other hand.
Then from somewhere she heard a
gruff voice:
"Hev' ye shut Off steam, Macfar
lane%
lou ay. It's a. snug below till the
water reaches the furnaces" came
the answer.
So some of the men were doing their
duty. Thank God for that! Unde
TERED by the fact that live shell bad
burst among the engines, the oil stain
ed, grim looking engineers had not
quilted their post until they had takeh
such precautions as lay In their power
to insure the ships safety. A light
broke in on the fog in the girls mind.
Even now. at the very gate Of eternity.
one might try to help others. The
thought brought ray Of comfort.
She was about to look for the speakers
when a bullet drilled hole In panel
close to her side. She began to run
again, for a terrified glance through
the forward gangway showed that the
ship was quite close to the land,
where men In blue uniforms, wearing
curiously shaped hats and white gait
ers, were scattered among the rocks.
some standing, some kneeling. some
prone, but all taking steady aim.
But It showed something more. Ho
zier was now lying sideways on th'
raised deck Of the forecastle. He part
" supported himself on his right arm
His left hand was pressed to his fore
head he was trying to rise. With an
intuition that was phenomenal under
the circumstances Iris realized that he
was screened from observation for the
moment by the windlass and the
corpse that lay across it But the
ships ever increasing speed and the
curving course of her drifting would
soon bring him into sight, and then
those merciless rifsmen would shoot
him down.
"Oh, not that, not that" she walled
aloud.
An impulse stronger than the y
stinct of self preservation caused tse
blood to tngle in her veins. She had
waited to take that one look, and now.
bent double so as to avoid being seen
by the soldiers. she sped back through
the gangway. gained the open deck,
crouched close to the bulwarks on the
port side and thus reached unscathed
the foot of the companion down which
the wounded men had crawled. The
zinc plates on the steps were slippery
with their blood, but she did not falter
at the sight. Up she went, stopped