Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-10-04
ber my warning about N

He turned toward the door. Davies
saluted him Sam Clouts accompanied
him TO his cabin below
I'VE put the lady in here, SIR" he
said, pausing in front of the door.
Quite right" answered Donald.
You may sling me a hammock il the
officers mesSroom.
I've done it, sir" Clouts answered.
4 moment later Donald found him
self prisoner on board his own ship.
For, On making his exit, Clouts had
| locked the door. The action was done
| with dispatch, and the key was turned
almost noiselessly, but Donald had
heard it.
He got into his hammock and tried
to compose his mind, but he discov-
cred that the events of the day had
| shaken him more than he had mag
| ined. Those awful memories required
! to him against his volition. Worst OF
all was the knowledge that precious
time was passing while he was a pris-
| Oner. And he recollected that the
| mOnstrOus horde, surrounding the sub
marine, no doubt, had already discov-
| cred that men were food. If Davies
took off the hatches-perhaps he had
already done so.
His mind became obSessed by the
threatened danger He sprang from
| his hammock, trembling. He tried to
| open the door. He set his shoulder
against it. Outside he heard the reedy
notes of a mouth organ, and Sam
Clouts suddenly stood before him.
| Donald had an impulse to appeal to
the man, but at once he saw its fu-
tility.
Tell Mr.. Davies that he is on no
| account to take off the hatches," he
said
| Sam Clouts saIuted him and calmly
| locked the door again. Outside the
| strains of the mouth organ were
heard once more. Evidently Clouts
was under instructions to remain at
| his post
| Donald went back to his hammock.
| He shrugged his shoulders at the fu-
| tility of it all, his helplessness. He
had done all that he could do. And
now sense OF complete fatigue began
to overcome him. He could not keep
| his tired eyelids apart.
Slowly, struggling desperately
against the imperative need of sleep,
he felt himself floating away
He did not know how long he slept,
but it seemed d few minutes only
when cries pierced through the mists
of Inconsistencies. In an instant he
was upon his feet, cropping in intense
| darkness.
He could not discern from what
part of the boat the ominous sounds
proceeded. The whole interior of the
F55 was like a sounding board. The
cries appeared to proceed from every
part of her. Donald had never heard
such cries save once, and then they
came from animal throats That was
when his revenue cutter had surprised
| a band of pirates at their bloody work
on the seal islands
He heard Ida cry out in his cabin.
He cried to her in answer, and, leap
| ing back, he plunged with all his
might against the panel, and again,
| and yet again, until the woodwork
splintered.
The cry burst forth again, drown
ing the sounds of the Oaths and scuf-
fling. 1t was q cry of a woman in
mortal fear Donald drove the splin-
tered timbers before him through the
hole in the wall. He found the girl
where she lay beside his berth. He
raised her in his arms, and felt one
of the blubbery fippers on his hand.
That fight in the little room was al
ways nightmare remembrance. The
yielding body offered Donald no pur-
chase. And the monster fought in 81
lence, apparently incapable of articu-
iati0n, and the singing fiippers sucked
the blood from his face and hands
anl, as he pried them away. the flesh
rose into welts beneath them.
They swayed and struggled, and
through the inky darkness Donald
could hear the sound of similar battles,
the curses of men, their agOnizing
cries, the thudding falls of heavy
bodies.
But Donald could not lose with Ida's
life at stake. The monsters struggles
grew feebler. Donald flung it from
him, and heard it shuttle out of the
room and into the darkness of the pas
sage Then he knew that fear ruled
| among these sea-beasts as upon land.
Suddenly Davies burst into the
cabin.
"Paget! I've come to you!' he cried
Historically. you spoke the truth,
sir, and I thought you were mad!
opened the matches, and they're all
over the ship, sirI I've come to die
with you -
Another man ran painting up to them.
It seemed strange afterWard, WneH
Donald recalled it, how the three
seemed to be aware Of each others
presence in the little cabin.
It was Sam Clouts.
They've got US, sir !" he cried. "I
fought to the end, but the rest are in
the sea, and I'm the only one left I've
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