Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-11-16
Copyright A. Q. No CluIy 3 Co
CHAPTER xxx.
a Day In the Boat.

turned, my fingers yet gripping the
rail. Before then had had no time to
think, to appreciate the full terror of
our situation, to realize the horror of
the spectacle. In that last instant this
burst upon me in all its vivid horror.
Between the two matches the deck was
Z sheet Of flames; already the canvas
Of the lower yards had caught, and was
Mazing fiercely. TIE red writhing SER
pents, famed by the wind, were sweep
ing aft in pillows, tipped with black
smoke, dense and suffocating. ALI
about us the glare Of dancing fire, the
swirl Of shadowy smoke clouds; thel
air was hot, almost blistering. ! saw
nothing Of McCann.
'tHe isn't in the boat7"
y mo, SIR
'sWell, we can't wait-lower away
yes, I'm coming"
They must have unlocked the falls
at my first word, for the boat sank just
3 rs I swung to the rail. This, and al
sight suddenly revealed against the
Trent Of the cabin, held me there,
clinging to stay, struck motionlessI
with horror. heard Vera cry out from
below:
'Robert-Robertl Don't watt
jump!"
But the words seemed to have no.
Z meaning, no power to impress me; for
anginstant the sight beheld paralyzedi
my brain. The dashed wheel still held
the ship to the wind, and the clouds
OF smoke belched aft, becoming So
dense could not see across the deck
to the port rail. I knew not where
they came from, nor how they had met
In that last death grapple. All I know
Is. that suddenly, both bodies wrapped
Ia flame, and half shrouded in wreaths
of smoke, the glare Of fire on their:
faces, every muscle straining in the in
tensity Of. struggle-McCann fighting
desperately to escape; Bascom exer-
cising all the mad strength Of insanity
to retain hold Of his victim. If either
uttered sound, heard 1t not. 1t was
Ike horrid picture projected from
out the smoke cloud, and as instantly
fading. saw the mems faces, ex-
ultant hatred in one unspeakable ter
FOR in the other; witnessed the strain
Of muscle, the awful effort to rend
apart arms and limbs It was vision
Of hell, yet almost before could thus
vision 1t, the two figures were engulfed
In sea Of fame; where they went
Into the seething caldron, or over the
rail into the depths Of oceanI can
never tell. They were there, struggling
like fends, horror unspeakable in
frame Of smoke and fire; then that
curtain Of death and fire dropped
and they were no more.
! may have Jumped: I may have re-
leased my hold upon the backstay, and
fallen. The deck planks were hot to
my feet, and serpents of fame crept
along the seams as though reaching for
me with tongues Of fire. I staggered
back with hands held before my eyes,
half blinded with the glare, still seeing,
In craxed memory that awful spectacle
Of death and horror. From far below
q cry reached my ears-a woman's
agonized cry shrieking upward through
the crackle and roar Of flames until 1t
even penetrated my brain, and brought
me life again:
'Roberti Robert! Come to mel"
I turned, and gripped the rail. With
one swing I was over 1t, my, body
hurting through the air, down into the
! black sea. As came back to the sur
face, every numbed faculty restored b,
the plunge, the icy grip Of the water.
the glow Of the flames above me re
vealed the small boat. Dashing the
moisture from my eyes, conscious only
Of the pleading In. her extended arms,
\. I SWAN toward 1t. Then behind me the
ship burst into thousand fragments,
rending apart with the report Of ia
mighty gun, and shooting upward in
volcano Of flame. went downtown
down, and knew no more.
II one could be in an instant trans
sfefred from the most fantastic depths
20 IN inferno to the heavenly delights
90 paradise, his experience would not
Geem stranger, or more impossible than
naine. / had sunk to DEATH, about me
syeu horror Ct noise and sight; the
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