The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1915-11-06


she found herself alone--and once
more in the blind instinct for self
preservation she did what she coult
for her own safety.
4 She dared not think OF the fate o.
her friends. She mourned them now
as dead, but still in her subconscioui
mind kept bitterly lighting the convic
tior even as 1t 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
ers 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 shuddered 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 miraculously, 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 wearily.
She was alone upon the sea. OF
those who had been about her, none
now survived, Not far from her a
body or two fioated, but not living
being was to be seen, not a survivor
save herself had found this means of
safety.
There was no food. There was no
fresh water for her There was no
of raising sail, or using an
oar, even of hoisting signal had she
had one. And yet the sky above her
was so blue and gentle. the sea around
her SO kind, that all now seemed less
terrible than it had been but now.
Hungry and thirsty as she was she
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
,hrieks Of the circling birds which
lowered, ghostlike above her.
The waves bore her onward, she /
Knew not where, and cared not how,
or how many hours she could not tell. |
Face to face with herself, her past. her
uture, the unhappy girl passed a I
,eriod Of unknown duration, engaged /
n her own reflections.
II was not her own life she feared to
ose, so she said, for life after all was
, little thing, temporary passage at
'ess. But if only she might have
we'd now for the sake of that which
he felt in her own heart--for the
AXE of that uncompleted period of her
wn life whose dawn she acknowl-
dyed to have seen but now.
He was gone She had seen him
wept away before her very eyes. He
vas her enemy, who had so often
aunted her and defied her. who had
ought her in every contest of wits I
ct in turn he had aided her to escape
nd saved her but now-instead of ,
nemy he had turned into friend or
lore than friend---and he was gone.
he sunset of her day came even with
s dawn
"Yes.H she said to herself, "he saved C
% at the cost of his own life." And
le life of that other faithful friend,
oleau, the dauntless, it. too. had
sen wasted to save her own--the life I
la now could hold but worthless,
nee it must be lived alone. They
ere dead--and she had been the
use of that! What could life hold
rther for her?
Kitty Gray bent her head down upon
" knees. Her hair fell about her
ce. And thus she sat, she knew not .
Nv long, resigning herself to her D
te, making her peace with what she n
It now must come. Now" said she, O
,t me diel" And when once more :,
o sleep OF exhaustion came upon her .
Q thought it that of death itself .
She wakened, none the less, in =
ne-for strong indeed are the ties
at bind us whether or not we like d.
this life into which we are born It
thout our asking. She wakened and et
lred with hollow eyes about her at
uynrld rsrhfah ch, pa{4ho, lroau, no,
led. But even so, at length her gaze :"
Ind something to cause her eyes to
idle, her breath to come trife (
ter.
Ear In the distance she had caught or
hit of the shore of distant land or
, same sight which in turn had met
gaze of that friend whom now she
urned. 1t lay there low on the sea 10
distant-land, some sort Of land, an
J knew not what 8 0Q
The looked at it duly alphabetically, ! /
truth, she was too far gone to care,
ether or not she retained con-
BUSINESS through the remainder Of III
voyage, she herself could never
I length, a weak and unimportant
Of flotsam of the sea, Kitty Gray
! cast up upon the shore, rejected
that sea but now SO eager to claim
as its own. Yes, by some miracle, oil
dared not ask what, she had been u
red This at least was land. If nss
tn must come. it was not now to OIL
death through peril of the sea. the
lrily she lifted herself from her am