New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-10-21
CHAPTER XIV.
The Masked Voice.

HO1 q udtI0I VI Twelve uC'urS INC
tog, leaden, dank, viscous, as inexor-
able as the dominion of evil, had
wrapped the world in an embrace as
foul and noxious as the coils of some
great, gray, Shiny serpent.
Through it's sluggish folds the pom
derous, power-impelled lifeboat crept
at snail's pace, its stem parting and
rolling back from either flank a heavy
hearted sea of gray.
In the bows young woman rested
In state of semi-exhaustion, her eyes
closed, he head pillowed on a cork
belt life-preserver, her sodden gar
ments modelled closely to the slender
body that was ever and again shaken
from head to feet with the strength
Of long, shuddering respiration.
. Seated on the nearest thwart, Alan
Law, chin in hand, watched over the
rest of this woman whom he loved
with a grimly hopeless solicitude. He
was in no happier case than she, so
Tar as physical comfort went-he was
In worse, since he might not rest.
Premonition of misfortune darkened
his heart with its impenetrable
madow. ....
In the stern Tom Barcus presided
morosely over the steering gear; and
Law was no more jealousy heedful of
his sweetheart than Barcus Of the
neavy-dufy motor that chugged away
20 purposefully at it's business of driv.
ing the boat heaven-knew-where.
Lacking at once a compass, all no.
ton whatsoever of the suns bearings,
Ind any immediate hope of the fog
lifting or chance bringing them either
10 land or to rescue by some larger
Ind less comfortless craft, Barcus
steered mainly through force of habit
1.-The saltwater mans instructive feel
Ing that no boat under way should
ever in any conceivable circumstance
be without a hand at the helm. It had
seemed impossible that it could long
escape repetition of the disaster, but
somehow, it always did escape, and
that by wide margin; never once
had it passed near enough to another
vessel to see it.
And now for more than an hour the
silence had been uncannily constant,
broken only by the rumble of the mo-
down the side, the suck and gurgle of
the wake
Forebodings no less portentous than
Laws crawled in the mind of Barcus.
1t was as likely as not that the life
boat was travelling straight out to sea-
And gasoline tanks can and oftentimes
DO become as empty as an official
weather prophets promise of fair
weather for holiday.
More than this, Mr.. Barcus was a
confirmed skeptic in respect of ma
rlne motors; on terms of long and
Intimate experience with the ways of
the demon of perversity that tenants
them one and all, he knew that the
present sweet-tempered performance
of the exhibit under consideration
was no earnest whatsoever of future
good behavior, that when such COM
plicated contraption was concerned
there was never any telling
In view of all of which considera-
tons he presently threw open the bat
terry switch.
And the aching void created in the
silence by the cessation of that uni
form drone was startling enough to
rouse even Rose Urine from her state
Of semi-somnolence.
With look of panic she sat up,
thrust damp hair back from her eyes,
and nervously inquired:
III, What's the matter?"
Nothing" Barcus told her. II shut
4 the engine off that's ALL
Tempers were short In that hour,
and Alan was ANNOYED to think that