The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1915-06-04

Il
with nurses, companions hated.
Later was decked out. sent to a
finishing school. all my nature
cramped and hardened by luxury and
convention. And l always longed for
my emancipation.
DO you know what We women have
to look forward to? Marriage. That
is all And re are not free to choose.
My father is not unkind TO me. but
he understands nothing It is not he
who traded me, but convention again.
II is the pressure OF circumstances.
OF environment. more terrible than
physical force. So ! am traded for the
coronet Of viscount That is why
And IL could be a man aud free as
you are free. then only could begin
to live. Good-by."
She turned away hurriedly and he
saw the tears streaming down her
cheeks. He made no effort TO follow
her. but stood watching her. like a
man in a dream.
He dreamed of her during the long
night. when the cattle ship pitched
and tossed heavily in the trough OF
the channel. and the binding fog came
down. The timbers OF the old ship
groaned as the waves buffeted her.
AZ his post the captain strained to
catch sight OF the Foreland lights
Suddenly. with a crash that sent
every timber Earring the liner
stopped. shivered. and keeled over.
The shock sent the cattlemen flying
from their hunks They rushed out
into the open space between the pens
From the upper deck came cries and
the sound OF seamen running. Won
en- began to scream. Through the
haze loomed up the squat form OF a
collier.
There was no possibility OF mistak-
ing what had happened. The liner.
rushing at full speed through the
fog. had struck the collier, not with
her bow. but amidships. a glancing
blow which had ripped her outer
sheath nearly halfway from the bow
She was keeling lower-she would
go under within few minutes. There
we're no water-tight partitions on the
old ship, and. II there had been, they
would have been OF little aid In such
a situation.
After the first confusion the cattle
men gathered between decks and
waited. outcasts as these men were,
they had the discipline OF the sea
They did not know that Mayne was
lying unconscious upon the foc'stle
floor. where he had been flung by the
shock They waited quietly enough.
listening to the racket overhead. The
seamen we're trying TO lower the
boats. But those on the port side
were near the water. those on the
starboard unable to be launched ow-
ing to the angle Of the vessel
The passengers had been assem-
bled The stewards we're running
hither and thither with nfebelts. The
grimy faces of the stokers appeared
above the ladder The fires had al
ready been flooded
Fortunately the cattle ship carried
few passengers. Even the port boats
sufficed to contain them The collier
had backed away and megaphoned
through the fog Order was restored
out OF chaos. Even the cattlemen
we're remembered.
Only. before all could be taken
away. the ship keeled over and dis
appeared In the swirling waters.
AS she went down the fitting deck
slid Mayne into the water The shock
OF the immersion revived him: he
found himself gasping and battling for
life in a whirlpool of believing cat.
tie and floating planks from the pens,
He managed TO catch one and sup
ported himself Over the invisible
water came cries and screams. which
gradually grew fainter
He was awake now. He knew what
had occurred. II was strange that at
that moment he thought, not OF his
past love so dishonored. but OF the
girl he had seen.
And, as he pictured her. be saw her
face painted upon the drifting haze
Another instant and he was staring
into her eyes.
She was clinglng 10 the keel OF an
| upturned boat. which had been swept
down into the rapids. carrying it's In.
mates to destruction In the swamp
OF the liner. How she had lived
through those moments OF agony she
never knew: she thought afterward
II was because Mayne was so near.
because there was a life for both OF
them, to be lived together.
He saw her upturned face and
swan toward her. A moment later
he was clinging TO the boat beside
her. supporting her He climbed
upon the keel and pulled her up after
him. She sank back into his arms
Day broke and the fog drifted away
Upon the horizon appeared the white
sails OF fishing schooner She was
bearing down upon them. The girl