The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-04-26


grew larger. II was approaching, and
he dispassionately viewed II; and
when he looked again for the two.
they were gone. and In their places
were two clouds OF nebula. which re-
solved into myr lad points OF sparkling
light and cuior--whirling, encroach-
ing, until they filled all space. And
through them the larger light was
coming-and growing larger---straight
for him.
He heard a rushing sound, and
looking for 1t, saw in the opposite
direction . formless object. as much
darker than the gray of the void az
the fame was brighter, aid 1t too was
growing larger. and coming And it
seemed to him that this light and
darkness were the good and evil OF
bis life, and he watched, to see which
would reach him first, but felt no sur
prise or regret when he saw that the
darkness was nearest. 1t came. closer
and closer, until It brushed him on
the side.
What have we here. Rowland"
said voice. Instantly. the whirling
points were blotted out; the universe
OF gray changed to the fog. the fame
of light to the moon rising above it,
and the shapeless darkness to the
form of the first officer. The little
white figure, which had just darted
past the three watchers. stood at his
feet. AZ though warned by an inner
circumstances OF danger. 1t had
come in its sleep. for safety and care.
to its mothers old lover--the strong
and the weak--the degraded and dis
eraoed. but exalted--the prosecuted.
drugsed and all but helpless John
Rowland.
With the readiness with which "A
man who dozes while standing will
answer the question that wakens him,
he said--though he stammered from
the now waning effect of the drug.
"Myras child, sir; it's asleep" He
picked up the night-gowned little
girl, who screamed as she Weakened,
and folded his ea-jacket around tle
cold little body
who 10 Myrs," asked the officer In
q bullying tone. In which were also
ohagrin and disappointment. You've
been asleep yourself" ....... ... ..,...'
Before Rowland could reply a shout
from the crow's-nest split the air.
Toe" yelled the lookout; 'ice
ahead. iceberg. Right under tho
bows" The first officer ran amid
ships, and the captain. who had re-
manned there, sprang to the engine
room telegraph, and this time tho
lever was turned. But In Ave sec,
onds the bow OF the Titan" began
to INT, and ahead. and on either hand.
could be seeh. through the fog, a field
OF Ice. which arose in an incline to a
hundred feet high in her track. The
music in the theatre ceased. and
among the babel of shouts and cries.
and the deafening noise of steel,
soraping and crashing over ice. Row.
! iuy a hnu rd ha ~ r.fo
man, crying from the bridge steps:
| "Myra--Myra. where are your Come
/ back"
4 Chapter VII.
! Torty-fve thousand tons-dead-
1 Notwithstanding through the fog at
i the rate of fifty feet q second, had
] hurled itself Mt an iceberg. Had the
/ impact been received by perpendicu-
lar wall, the elastic resistance of
bending plates and frames would have
| overcome tho momentum with no
more damage to the passengers than u
servere shaking up. and to the ship,
than the crushing in Of her bows and
the killing. to a man OF the watch
below. She would have backed Off.
} and, slightly down by the head. fin
ishsd the voyage of reduced speed,
to rebuild on insurance money, and
benefit. largely, In the end. by the
consequent advertising OF her indie
strucibly. But low beach. possi-
bly, formed by the recent overturn-
ing OF the borg. received the Titan
and with her keel cutting the ice like
the steel runner of an ice-boat, and
her great weight resting on the star
board bilgo. she rose out OF the sea.
higher and higher-until the propel-
lers in the stern were half exposed
rIu O.,
the Ice under her port bow, she heel
ed. overbalanced. and crashed down
on her side. to starboard.
The holding-down bolts of twelve
boilers and three triple-expansion en-
gines. unintended to hold such
weights from perpendicular floor.
ing, snapped and down through a
maze OF ladders. gratings and fore
and-aft bulk-heads came these giant
masses of steel and iron. puncturins
the sides Of the ship. even where
backed by solid. resisting ice: and
filling the engine and boiler-rooms
with scalding steam, which brought q
quick. though tortured death. to each
OF the hundred mon on duty in the
engineers department
Amid the roar Of escaping steam
and the bee-like buxzinx of nearly
three thousand human voices. raised
in agonized screams and callinEs from
within tho enclosing wallis. and thu
whistlinE OF air through hundreds ol
open headlights as the water en-
tering tho holes OF the crushed ant
riven starboard side. expelled 1t, thu
Titan" moved slowly backward and
launched herself into the sea, wher,
she ieated low on her side--a dyina
monster, groaning with her death
wound
A solid pyramid like hammock o.
tee left to stnrboard, a. the steamer
assembled, and which projected clos'
along side the upper, or boat deck. al
she fell over. had caught. In success
sion, every pair Of davits to starboard
bending and wrenching them
smashing boats. and swapping tackles
and Kripes. until. an the ship cleared
herself. II capped the pile of wreck
age stfewing the ice IN front of. ant
around II, with the end and broke,
stanchions of the bridge And in thi
4 shattered. - bexlike structure, dased h,
tina &weepinE fall through ,.an. are a
seventy-foot radius. crouched Row
land. bleeding from cut In his head
, and still holding to his brest the lit
tie girl-now too frightened to cry.
BY an effort OF will. he aroused him
, self and looked. To his eye-sight.
twisted and fixed to a shorter focus by
the drug he had taken. the steamship
, was little more than a blotch on the
, moon whftened fog vet he thought he