Bogalusa enterprise. [volume] (Bogalusa, La.) 1914-1918, 1915-12-02
PAGE :

these powerful 1rlendS! OnCe moie
she found herself alOne-and once
more in the blind instinct for SELF
preservation she did what she could
for her own safety.
She dared not think of the fate OF
her friends. She mOurned them now
as dead but still in her subconscious
mind kept bitterly fighting the convic-
ton even as it came. And as she ar
gued. she found herself swept away
farther and farther from the place
where last she had seen them.
In some way, she knew not how,
Kitty found herself among many 9TH
crs upon the same considerable piece
Of wreckage where ROleau and Fred
erick had endeavored to place her
soon after the explosion. Many others
now chung to this She uddered as
she cast glance about her over the
water. and drew closer to the center
of the raft One after another she
saw them lose their hold; one after
another she saw them carried away
by the waves. AS for herself, pre-
served miraculousiy, she knew not
how, she fastened herself as best she
could to the frail floating floor and
ceased to struggle. Mercifully her
senses left her for time.
When she came once more slowly
and painfully to a realizing sense OF
what had befallen, she looked about
her YEARLY.
: She was alone upon the sea. OF
> those who had been about her, none
: now survived Not far from her
g body or two foat2d, but not living
: being was to be seen, not survivor
8 save herself had found this means OF
safety.
G There was no food There was no
:. fresh water for her. There was no
s means of raising a sail, or using an
If oar, even of hosting a signal had she
" had enc And yet the sky above her
was so blue and gentle, the sea around
4. her so kind that all now seemed less
: terrible than it had been but now.
Hungry and thirsty as she was she
:, shuGdered as she thought Of the added
-, pangs that might be hers. She called
,, aloud in her distress, her despair
There came no answer, save in the
III shrieks of the circling birds which
~ lowered, ghostlike, above her.
y, The waves bore her onward, she
Il knew not where, and cared not how,
=, for how many hours she could not tell.
-, ~ Face to face with herself, her past, her
~ future, the unhappy girl passed q
" period of unknown duration, engaged
in her own reflections.
10 It was not her own life she feared tc
'' lose, so she said, for life after all was
:, a little thing, temporary passage al
y best. But il only she might nave
~ lived now for the sake OF that wnich
gu she felt in her own heart--for the
sake OF that uncompleted period OF heI
10. own life whose dawn she acknoWl
as edged to have seen but now!
Wa He was gone! She had seen him
Nv swept away before her very eyes. ne
was her enemy, Who had 80 Otter
tainted her and detied her, who hac
fought her in every contest OF wits
vet in turn he had aided her to escape
and saved her but .nOw-instead O.
Ga enemy he had turned into friend o.
us more than friend-and he was gone
ny The sunset of her day came even Wit
its dawn.
"Ycs," she said to herself, "he save
au me at the cost of his own life." Ant
INC the life of that other faithful friend
'lo' Roleau, the dauntless, it, too, ma
been wasted to save her Own-the III
ur' she now could hold but worthless
ne. since it must be lived alone. The
I'VE were dead-and she had been IN
cause OF that! What could life hoi
op' further for her?
ngs Kitty Gray bent her head down upo
hcr knees, Her hair fell about he
aid face. And thus she sat- she knew ne
how long, resigning herself to he
two fate. making her peace with what sfl
had felt now must come. Now" said sh
'uld "let me die!" And when once MOI
sed the sleep Of exhaustion came upon NJ
unk she thought it that Of death itself.
way She Weakened, none the less,
ght time-for strong indeed are the til
at that bind us whether or not we Ill
the to this life into which we are Dol
rick without our asking. She wakened al
ing stared with hollow eyes about her
lsed a world which she neither knew n
use. loved. But even so, at length her ga
Is found something to cause her eyes
kindle her breath to come trll
at faster.
U.S." Far in the distance she had caug
hero sight Of the shore Of distant land
rms the same sight which in turn had m
the the gaze Of that friend whom now
,om. mourned. 1t lay there low on the 8
YES. and distant-land, some sort OF lal
side, she knew not what.
ives, She looked at it DULY, Alphabetical
yet In truth, she was too far gone to ca
thal Whether or not She retained G.
With seriousness through the remainder
go. - a,,,no .bo horcolf cOul6 neJ