The Ely miner., 1915-09-10

soon. Down the passageway, already,
he could hear some one creeping
stealthily 1t was the Chinaman with
his murderous knife. She heard him
pause at the door as he looked again
at his knife. Then the lock turned.
The door creaked But she had
propped the chair well, and it held.
Just then she heard loud report
outside, and an instant later another.
Then followed the crash of something
heavy on the deck above accompanied
by a volley of vile oaths and quick
footsteps, as Gregor gave hasty orders
| to his crew.
The Chinaman at the door redoubled
his efforts. He seized fire AK hang
| ing near by and attacked the door
| with that, hacking furiously
One after another, the table, chest.
everything movable, Elaine piled up
against the door as it splintered. But
| it was of no use.
She moved over fearfully as far away
as she could to the portfolio and looked
at the black water, as she leaned far
out, then up at the deck only few
| feet above her.
With frantic strength born of fear
| the heroic girl wriggled out of the port
| hole, as the schooner heeled over and
managed just to catch the scuppers
| of the deck. Fear lent her strength.
| She succeeded in pulling herself up to
| the rail and then over on the deck
| just as the piled-up furniture tumbled
| over after the door gave way.
The Chinaman, infuriated, caught
| just a glimpse of her through the port
| hole, turned and rushed for the stair
| way.
| In the commotion Elaine had actual
| ly come over the rail unobserved. But
| she knew that she could not be that
| way long. There was just a chance
| that a white man might heed her ap-
| peal. Forbidding though he was even
in the moonlight, Elaine started to-
ward Gregor.
Just then the maddened face of the
| Chinaman appeared at the hatch A
moment later his 1.-THE body wormed
| itself out on deck. AS he came near
er, Elaine retreated further toward
| Gregor.
"Oh, SIR she pleaded, "save me! l
have done nothing!"
Gregor, one eye on the approaching
revenue cutter, the other on his ship
and crew, had not seen her till then.
| Get out of the way" he growled
roughly, pushing her aside. Save
yourself"
| The Chinaman came step nearer,
knife appraised She fed along the
deck. There in the shrouds was lad
| der. In desperation she seized rung,
| swung herself around, and started up.
Her relentless pursuer followed,
hand over hand, clenching the knife
in his teeth. In her terror she tore
off piece of spar that had been loos-
ened by shot from the cutter and
| threw it full in his face.
Still, on he came. She drew herself
| up. There was no escape. A moment
| she trembled aloft.
Then, from a crosstree, she jumped,
| diving far out into the water. The
Chinaman followed.
| Hand over hand he churned the
| waves after her.
We were now nearing a low, rakish
| craft. Though we signaled it, they
paid no attention. Instead, we could
| hear the chug-chug of an auxiliary gas
engine.
Brainard sent shot across the
schooner's bow Still she did not stop.
! Instead, the topsails broke out in
| spite of the gale and she headed away
| faster.
Another shot flashed out from our
| gun. This time a spar was carried
away, as the searchlight playing on
| the schooner clearly showed.
| We were rapidly gaining now.
| Brainard-stop firing-for heavens
sake" shouted Craig from the bow.
| Look"
We followed his finger as he peered
forward tensely.
There in the rigging, hanging peril
ously, was Elaine. She was clinging
there holding Chinaman at bay
| Suddenly we saw her draw herself
| up and deliberately dive into the wa
ter. The Chinaman dived also. Hand
over hand he went after her. We
watched, speechless.
Kennedy turned and seized the rapid
fire gun, whirling it around and aim.
ing carefully.
| The Chinaman was a powerful swim
mer and was rapidly gaining on
| Elaine. We could even see the gleam
of the knife in the searchlight. Care
fully Craig sighted the gun. The mis-
take of hairs breadth meant life or
death.
He fired.
| Not a minute too soon the shot
| ricochetted over the waves. The
Chinaman's arms went up in mute sur
render. His head sank below the sur
| face of the water.
Instantly, Craig and / were leaning
far over the side of the cutter as, with
power off, she slipped along, close to
| that figure swimming in the cold, black
| water. Neither of us paid any atten-
tion to Gregor's frantic signals of sur
render as Brainard covered the
| schooner
As we passed, Craig reached over
and caught Elaine, lifting her bodily
into our boat
"Oh, Craig!" she gasped, as Ken
nedy, wrapped his greatcoat about
her.
"Brainard-some hot drinks-quick,"
he ordered as he carried her, half