Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-06
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR APRIL s. 1913
CHEERS O. MEN

noon; for there was no longer any sun to
shoot. Youthlike, the passenger braved
storm and cold rather than stay below and
have even that little in common with Ben
son. He volunteered about decks. and in
deed proved as good asa sailor in taking lee
wheel. There were always two men at the
wheel now. He saw gale pile upon gale out
of the westward as if bent upon hurting the
ship off into space among the stars The
mightiness of the sea S travail awe numbed
his senses.
Moore said of the gales professionally,
"We're in a bad gut of the westeTlles.
Allen said of the sea implously, Our good
God Almighty is in jungle mood
1t was when Gordon was able to bring his
eyes from the sea to these men that he saw
they were broken, nearly gone from undue
strain and responsibility. The crew, unpre-
pared since the beginning for such struggle,
and tortured by Benson into greater inca
pacity, was practically at its last gasp.
IN the morning of the eighth day of the
- battle all hands tried to force the
Craigie Law over on the starboard tack.
They failed. The strength was not in them
to get the frozen yards round. So she con-
tinued to lie along on the port tack, and
berth. He understood that there was great
peril impending, and that the failure to bout
ship made destruction certainty. He had
teen up half the night and had put in two
tricks at the lee wheel. He was exhausted
physically and mentally. As he laid himself
down, he felt it would be pleasant if there
was never an awakening.
But there was an awakening for him. and
it came with a hand shaking him by the
shoulder.
Better put on your oilskins, Mr.. Gordon.
and come on deck, said voice he had never
heard before in the Craigie Law. Principally
it was a voice of calm decision. 1t came
from Benson, CARRIED in slicker and SOU
wester, and already retreating from the room.
"Yes, Sir was all the boy could stammer
in his bewilderment.
He mustered his senses as he threw on his
outer garments, and the certainty formed
that he had been summoned to the deck be-
cause the end was at hand; that the ships
time had come. Yet he could not help Won
dering why he was unafraid. AS he stepped
into the cabin. the roll of the ship sent Hec-
tor, sick as only dog can get seasick, carom-
ing against his legs. The anger of a long
disgust overwhelmed him. He kicked the
brute with all his strength SO that it rolled
over and over to the opposite side of the
cabin. Immediately disgust at himself
seized him. He had never done anything
like that in his life before. He felt brutal
lied, Inundated
AS Gordon reached the deck and dragged
himself against the blast around the after
end of the charthouse sea sloshed over the
quarter. 1t laved him from head to foot
and hung a strand of seaweed round his
neck. He tore it away as if it had been a
viper, and the wind flung it into Benson's
face, where he Strengthened up from looking
at the compass. The skipper watched it
over the rail to leeward, and then brought
his eyes to the ship.
In that instant the boy was conscious OF
the awakening of new force in the Craige
Law. 1t was expressed through this man
Benson At the sound of his voice the lag
cling limbs of the lazar crew sprang into life.
1t seemed that he had the power with word
or gesture to endow them with strength. He
was here, there. everywhere, like flame,
and in his reflection they became as Vikings
in strife Beaten men, shells of men, be-
came primordial conquerors. The heavy,
frozen yards, which for days they had been
unable SO much as to bulge, swung round
as if the ice had suddenly turned to oil; the