The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-06-02

reads is underestimated, not exag-
gerated. l have never had a moments
freedom in my life, not since l was a
little girl, playing with my dolls.
AT school was smothered with at
tentions. At home ! was suffocated
with nurses, companions hated,
chosen for their wealth and rank.
Later I was decked out. sent to
finishing school. all my nature
cramped and hardened by luxury and
convention. And always longed for
my emancipation.
DO you know what we women have
to look forward to? Marriage. That
is all. And we 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.
It Is the pressure of circumstances.
of environment, more terrible than
physical force. So I am traded for the
coronet Of a viscount. That Is why
am going to England-to marry him.
And IL I could be a man and free as
you are free. then only could I 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 q
man in 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 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 scream. 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 glancing
blow which had ripped her outer
sheath nearly halfway from the bow.
She was keeling lower-she would
60 under within few minutes. There
were 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 fo'c'stle
floor. 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 lifebelts. The
grfmy 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
suficed to contain them. The collier
had backed away and megaphoned
through the fog. Order was restored
out Of chaos. Even the cattlemeu
were 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.
AAC Wdo dWdhc uOW. ne KNEW WndL
had occurred. 1t 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
, down into the rapids, carrying its 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
1t 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
lifted her haggard face.
"All my past, all have. my family,
NM