The Carlisle independent., 1918-02-07
Copyright, Frank A. Munsey Col


 which sheltered the cove the waves l were piling over themselves in boiling torrents where a sharp toothed reef was hidden a couple of feet below the surface.
 The explanation of the revolver shots was obvious. A small steam boat was jammed hard and fast on the rocks and was pounding herself with a violence which prophesied a short life for her hull. Just as I appeared a man forward of the pilothouse fired a revolver in the air. As soon as he saw me he began to wave his arms vio- lently and pointed to three other fig ures crOuched on the deck
 By this time the rest of our party had caught up with me.
 He seems to be signaling" Bopp interpreted sagely. "Wonder what he wants"
 What would you want if you were in a boat aground in the lake with every chance of going to pieces in ten minutesY' I yelled so as to be heard above the sea. T suppose you would be wishing for some poached plover's eggs on strip of toast"
 They cant expect us to come out there and get them" he decided. "No boat could live in that sea. It would be suicide to attempt to reach them" "We must do something" Lucille de cided, with ready sympathy. I'm very fond of the captain. He's been bringing our supplies for ten years"
 "Is that the supply boatT Bopp de handed.
 "Why, yes; certainly"
 "We must do something at once" Bopp began to run around in busy cir cles in the sand. "We must attempt to reach the poor devils. Kent, where is that boat of yours?'
 q drew it up on the shore here, right alongside~the dock. Why, where is it?" Gone, eh?" Bopp shook his head knowingly. Probably the heavy sea washed it off"
 "Yes, but no sea ever united the knot I had in her painter around this post here" Kent would have seen a mys- tery in Utopia. His mind insisted upon being pitted against the unknown. Well, what are we going to do?' Bopp said helplessly. 'Those poor dev- ills out there are counting on us. Think of being on a vessel loaded with bread butter, eggs, vegetables and meat and having it break up under your feet What shall we do%'
 I'm afraid we won't have time to do anything" I decided. Her back is broken. It's only a question Of sec onds now.''
 The people on board realized it too. They hastily launched a life raft over the side and scrambled on to it as the decks crumpled beneath them and be- came a twisted mass of timbers that writhed for a moment and fell back into the waves to become driftwood.
 The raft fortunately had cleared the wreck in plenty of time and was now drifting past our cove toward the main- land. The men on board seemed busy arranging a sort of mast and sail made out of an oar and couple of oilskins. When they got that rigged up two of them held it up while a third attempt ed to steer with a second oar.
 They're going to try to land on the other point of the cove" Lucille said. "We must be there to help them when they come ashore There are rocks about hundred yards out where the raft will strike if it isn't driven past" She led off on a dog trot which took the last tuck out of me when l attempt ed to follow. I got there some way. however, but minus the power of speech.
 Don't land herer' shouted Lucille into the teeth of the gale. Dangerous rocks! s!'
 They discovered the rocks for them selves almost Immediately and slid cf from the raft in a compact group. Un. der the direction of Kent, who had read book about it somewhere, we form ed ourselves into a life line by holding on to one anothers hands and waGing out into the surf.
 One by one the shipwrecked victims struggled to us and were passed on up to the shore. Three were landed in this way, but the fourth failed to make it. I could see a head bobbing up and down a hundred feet away but in a moment the head disappeared alto gether.
 (TO BE CONTINUED)