, 1910-01-06
CHAPTER VIII.
Cast Up by the Sea.

watch which she had taken the pre-
caution to wind Just before h re-
tired disclosed the fact that 1t was
four o'clock in the morning. She had
slept unbrokenly since IL o'clock the
morning before. Her sleep had been a
stupor of utter and complete exhaus-
ton. Added to the tremendous physi-
cal strain of keeping awake n at
tending to the duty to which she had
enforced herself had been the further
strain of the terrible events on the
night in which she left the yacht. and
the apprehension of pursuit which had
b en- continually with her. Her first
" oiion, indeed, was to rise to her feet
and sean the horizon. With relief in
describable her scrutiny discovered
nothing. She was still alone. Neither
the yacht nor any other vessel nor
any smallest speck of land was sill
ltouetted against the circling sky line.
She vat in the boat musing a long
time and then woke to the fact that
In was hungry. Again she satisfied
er appetite sparingly from her scanty
nd rapidly diminishing store of food
nd drink, and then putting the past
iesolutely behind her, hoping and per-
APPS fancying by some exercise of her
viii rover finally she could put it be-
hand her forever, she gave serious
tNo' ght to her condition.
h realized at last that she in
the hauds-another would have said
OF God! she said of chance. The fact
THAT she was SO helpless; that all her
| learning 'c-f all her training, and
al her Sail. Gld all her power were
Of no avail, made the situation the
ore CALLING. Was there nothing
Tat she could do? She reflected
dsevy and as she did so the
eez4 srTang up She judged that
reriod during which she had slept
d been cain and still. Any violent
o king of the boat would have awak-
d her. Indeed, she felt bitterly
llr ed and stiff from having lain so
, on the hard floor, which only the
80 coax. thick and heavy, made a
~1r.hl5 bed.
Us coming Of the breeze s.imu
-ted her Imagination. 1t was a gen
10 breeze. She noticed hat 1t blew
'rom the direction whence she had
'o'ae BY her compass course. If she
n.iy had a sail OF some kind the boat
Tonla be driven along. She must
v somewhere. She had heard of
ocean currents and drift but she
=uub'ed whcther the boat was moving
t asst sufficiently fast or in any
definite direction to make any differ
ence Tu'e7s she got somewhere. she
you'd o''iy starve and die just
where she vas. She stepped forward in
the boat and examined the oars. There.
was a sort of a deck forward over
the gasoline tanks. She thought that
h might make shift with the remains
Of the painter, of which she had a
good length. to fasten one OF the oars
in an upright position against It.
There were bolts n rings of various
sorts on this little deck. She could
step the handle of the oar between
cleats or ribs at the bottom. AT least
he would try.
Her training had not been manual.
but she "a bright enough to supple
rent her lack of skill and after some
hours OF hard work she actually got
one oar in an upright POSITION and Sc
cGfely dashed. Out of the heavy cloak
NOR a huge circular Than anything
el5e-she i~mprovised a sail with the
other oar as a boom thrust across the
Loaf between the mast and the little
forward deck. The coat had been
heavily braided. She ripped the silk
y aid from the edge. cut off the hood
OF the cloak and managed a triangular
nil laced by the silk braid to mast
ana boom.
The boom was immobile and the
: way she could sail was straight
fore The wind. If the wind shifted
he would shift with 1t. She had some
igAt control over the vessel with the
: EN-. but hat was all. It was noon
hen she finished her labors. but she
Was more than satisfied with what she
had accomplished. for the cloak was
big enough TO give an appreciable
way to :he boat. She guessed it might
be three or four knots an hour. That
you'd be nearly 100 miles a day.
she could exc out her provisions and
water for five or six days longer and
she could go without for two or three
days after the last drop and morsel
bad vanished, Perhaps she might run
DOWN a habitable island in that time.
nosslbly. although this possibility was
ore faint than the other. she might
he seen by some vessel and picked up.
~ any rate, all she could do was done
she felt better. too. because she had
'~ade a human contribution to the de-
termination of her fate. She was NJ
longer absolutely at the play o.
chance. For Ave days she sailed
steadily on, the breeze remaining ever
and holding unvaryingly true for tina,
psriod. She learned the trick of lash
ing the wheel at night and SO wa
able 10 take as much reat A her iipaA