The Washington herald., 1914-05-17

nothing in calm water much less against this
Beething whirlpool
Instead of duling her brain, the very use
lessness of her efforts quickened every faculty,
tuned up her natural instinct for life. Quite
abruptly sudden calm visited her, calm that
rested upon her spirit like soothing balm,
quieting and easing without being soporifc she
desisted from her efforts, drawing the paddle
handle from the water with an effort. Her eyes
were alert burning in their intensity as she
looked before her, staring at the rock that
seemed so inevitably for her gTavestone without
the slightest perturbation.
Round and round in the circles of waters
the frail craft Sped The nose of the catamarsn
spurned the grasping whirlpool aside seeming to
leap joyously at this opportunity for a mag,
nifcent humiliation against the rock instead OF
being slowly rent to bits by the water it had
always conquered. For brief fraction of sec
ond the circular progress was halted, the canoe
being held steady, quivering another force
seized it and tried to fight against the whirl-
pool. Lucille held her breath measuring the
length of time a hope arrived in hours in
stead of the seconds it really was. Then the
craft shot out of the current and continued upon
its wild chase toward the rock
1t was now a matter of but two revolutions
at best before the end. Lucille saw this with
ewes that f1inched not, yet that refused to hold
any dread. Half way round the circle some in
stinct from within caused her to lift the paddle
end. thrustng il out even as she closed her eyes
against the contact with the rock that seemed
inevitable. The stout wood splintered in her
tearing it from her grasp with such force that
an involuntary cry issued simultaneously from
her lips.
v She crouched back a-shudder, her eyes closed
against seeing the end, her lips opening and clos
ing without the blessed relief Of words. Once
more the current that had withheld the craft
reached out and fought against the whirlpool:
Lucille knew it was useless but even this brief
respite seemed worth while. Something slashed
against her cheek and her hands instinctively
reached up, clutching grasping clinging to the
thick tangle Of creepers let down from the en-
circling Jungle
she chung there, the savage water leapng. snap
ping at her feet. Came crunching to her ears,
a sound that made her hold tighter upon the
vines. She looked up, reaching at a higher point
in the vine-tangle. place where the suction OF
the water might be avoided.
Desperation loaned her strength. Times it
seemed she could not draw herself another inch,
but one look at the white whirlpool beneath gave
fresh energy to her arms. Reason came to her
aid as she saw her progress was taking her to-
ward land as well in the air. For just Sec
ond she rested, then bravely reached out and
clambered along the thick vine until she saw the
earth beneath, then dropped and lay painting
upon the ground, shaking with q nervous chill as
the reaction seized her.
Loud voices Weakened her from the state Of
self pity which followed the chill. She looked
up swiftly, now that the dense Businesses encir-
cling hel really pregnabe. fearing a new
enemy. moment before she in her loneliness
and misery would have sacrificed almost any
thing for the sight of a human being. Now that
she knew men, and men who spoke her own ton
que, were within hearing distance she shrank
back. afraid.
Fate had been so kind to her and man so
unkind that she realized her chief danger sim
uftaneously with the recollection of what she
had to guard. She clutched at the little sack,
thrilling at the rustic Of the papers she had
fought so hard to gain, at thought of what they
meant to her sweetheart in Manila. The diary
al her. had 4 hon auds 0f
wary OF whom she trusted Better the jungle
than Loubeque again.
The shrill protesting creak Of oar locks
drove away her fear, supplanting it with one Of
wild alarm. The men were going away. were
leaving her alone here. She had chosen this
Jungle where she knew Hugo Louheque to be in
preference to fairly certain chance of escape.
OF the millions Of inhabitants Of the globe why