Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1915-03-12

table. feverishly scratching at a pad
with the stub of 8 pencil. Already
his skin, stretched tightly over his
protruding cheek-bones. held some.
thing of the dulling gloss Of time
stained parchment AS he wrote, he
Kept speaking his own dictation in a
half-audible whisper.
Better save your strength" Bar
ton cautioned, after observing HIM
silently for some moments.
Marsh slumped in his chair, his
sparse arms tight at his sides, touch
ing the floor with his finger tips which
still outstretched rigidly as when they
had dropped the pad Wd pencil at
Barton's implied command. The lieu
tenant, at the table, tapped with a
paper-knife; then laid it aside with an
annoyed look Of self-reproof
Rolf sat on the edge of bunk
his normally full lips drawn to a gray
blue line, his starting eyes fixed in a
stare that seemed plumbing infinity.
Corrigan was at the valve He
stood with back to the others, his
head SO far bowed forward upon his
breast that the rolls of fat at the nape
of his neck pressed fat. and the
cords showed ivory-white beneath
the skin. Now and again his body
heaved and a ponderous sigh welled
from within to blend generously with
the seethe of the liberated air.
Presently he began to hum softly
under his breath:
There's a sunny spot in Ireland"
This is awful" he said awful!
My God, isn't there anything we can
do? Can't we send up a bottle-or
something's"
Nothing" Barton replied with ap-
parent effort.
"The torpedoes!" Marsh leaped to
his feet, his face fairly comforting in
his excitement. They'll tear up the
surface when they explode" he
walled.
had spoken of that other instrument
of destruction outside almost brush
ing the hull. The ensign still looked
away. He could not speak to dash the
old mans hopes.
"I'm afraid it wouldn't do" the
lieutenant shook his head reluctantly.
'The hulk is close aboard, and that's
where they'd go off. We might chance
them splitting her in pieces before
they did us, if she were all. I'd thought
of it. But we lay within five feet of
a mine-plant. The concussion-no,
we can't do that"
AS those in the last death-watch,
tolling off with quickened heartbeats
the seconds before the black-capped
march to eternity, the men passed the
next afternoon.
There was a brief relief from
tension, while they ate from the
plentiful store in the food-locker, and
occasionally one or another stepped to
the big water-tank to drink. Other
wise attention centered on the pas.
sage of time.
The hands of the ships clock moved
forward, and as remorselessly, the
hand on the dial toiled in the other
direction-pointing nearer and nearer,
like the index finger of Fate, to the
little zero that meant humiliation.
From moment to moment, the hiss.
ing of the valve became almost SEN
sibly fainter.
Their days of living in the small,
unventilated compartment had SO
fouled the atmosphere that the men
breathed pantingly, open-mouthed, in
great, whistling gulps. In their pur-
pied, swollen veins and their jaundiced
eyes and yellow skin, the effect Of
the toxic carbons in the air was only
too apparent.
Barton sat at the table-the log
outspread before him-painfully, yet
painstakingly, inscribing the record.
His own message had been written
farewell to life and to her for whom
he most cherished it. When at length
he raised his eyes from the page, they
wavered ever so slightly as he adj
dressed the old boatswain.
"What shall 1 say, Marsh?" The
words came palpitatingly as he strug-
gled for breath. I'D better have it
now-in time.''
The boatswain was at the valve
controlling the lever with fingers
agitated as the indicator itself. His
throat muscles gripped spasmodically
at the question, and he seemed about
to fall. When he turned, his eyes
held look of longing so unutter-
able, yet withal so hopeless that Rolf
and Corrigan with common impulse
glanced away, and Barton clenched his
fist until the penholder snapped in
two.
Tell Mary" Marsh fingered falter-
ingly over the name, "say l didn't
think the old cottage at home was
good enough for her; SO I'm going to
get a better one promised us yonder.
Tell her I'll keep 1t waiting, as she
did for me, and that I'll try not to
mind her not coming for while"
The old mans voice failed, and he
pressed his face against the wall to
hide his feelings.
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