The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1915-06-25

Later | was decked out. sent 20 a
finishing school. all my nature
cramped and hardened by luxury and
convention. And | always longed for
my emancipation.
DO you know what We ONE have
10 look forward TO? Marriage. That
is all And we are not free 10 choose.
My father is not unkind TO me. but
he understands nothing. II is not he
who tradet me. but convention again
IL is the pressure OF circumstances,
OF environment. more terrible than
physical force. So am traded for the
coronet OF a v%iscount. That is why I
am going 10 England-to marry him.
And II | could be a mar and 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.
At 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. Wom-
en- began to cream Through the
haze doomed 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 glanclng
blow which had ripped her outer
sheath nearly halfway from the bow.
She was keeling lower-she would
go under within a few minutes. There
we're no water-tight partitions on the
old ship. and, IL 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 fo'c'stle
noor. where he had been flung BY the
shock They waited quietly enough.
listening TO the racket overhead. The
seamen were 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 Iifebelts. 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
in a whirlpool OF believing cat
tie and floating planks from the pens
managed to catch one and SUD-
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. he saw her
face painted upon the drifting haze.
Another instant and he was staring
into her eyes.
She was clinging TO the keel OF an
upturned boat, which had been swept
into the rapids. carrying Its in
mates to destruction in the swamp
Of the liner. How she had lived
those moments OF agony she
never knew; she thought afterward
Il was because Mayne was so near,
because there vas a life for both OF
hem, to be lived together.
He saw her upturned face and
swan toward her. A moment later
was clinging to the boat beside
her. supporting her. He climbed
ipon 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
iails OF a fishing schooner. She vas
down upon them. The girl
fitted her haggard face.
tAn NV Doot III n - 1T