The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1920-03-12

blood, nor IOT the Iuct tnar she was
slave in her masters hands. To my
mind she was but a woman, a sweet
lQvabIe girlish woman, in the unre
strained power of a brute, and depend
ent alone on me for rescue. That was
enough; cared for nothing more.
With silent strokes / waited patient
Iy until the steady chugging Of the en-
CINE grew faint in the distance. and
| then finally ceased entirely.
Uncertain which way to turn, and
| conscious of strange lassitude, ]
made no struggle to reach land, but
permitted myself TO be borne down
ward in the grip of the water. Sud
denly something drifted against my
body, a black, ill-defined object. toss
ing about on the swell OF the waves.
and instinctiveIy grasped at it, rec
ognizing instantly the shell of our
wrecked boat. 1t was all awash,
great hole stove In its side we'll for
ward, and so filled with water the
added weight of my body would have
sunk it instantly. Yet the thing re-
NAMED buoyant enough TO float. and
| clung TO its stern, thankful even for
this slight help.
There was no occasion for fear, al
though became aware that the sweep
of the current was steadily bearing US
farther out toward the center of the
broad stream, and soon felt convinced
that escape from my predicament
would be impossible until after day
light. The struggle to keep afioat was
no longer necessary, and my head
sank in relief on the hands gripping al
the boats stern, while we fioated ST.
lently on through the black mystery.
Suddenly the wrecked boats bow
grated against something immovable
then became fixed, the stern swinging
slowly about, until 1t also caught, and
could feel the full volume of down
pouring water against my body. The
blindly floating boat had drifted
upon a snag, seemingly the major por-
tion of tree. now held by some spit
of sand. / struggled yainly in an at |
tempt to release the grip which held |
us, but the force of the current had |
securely wedged the boats bow be- |
meath limb, bare leafiess tentacle. |
making all my efforts useless. found I
a submerged branch on which to
stand, gripped the boat desperately to I
prevent being swept away, and waited
for the dawn.
It seemed long while coming, and
never did man gaze on a more dismal,
CHASTITY scene than was revealed to
ne by those first gray CLEANS dimly
showing in the far east. All about
stretched utter desolation wherever
my eyes turned the vista was the
wide stretch of restless brown
water surglng and leaping past. bound
I'd by low-Iying shores, forlorn and de-
serted. How far had aimlessly drift
I'd downstream during the night was
mere matter of conjecture. / pos
essed no knowledge of where I was.
each bank of the river appeared about
.qually bare and desOlate. entirely de-
old of promise. However, | chose
he west shore for my experiment. as
he current seemed less strong I'm that
Erection and was about to plunge In
Ell ermined TO fight way across. II
then my eyes suddenly detected
Amt wreath of smoke curling up into
he pale sky above headland far to
he southwark. As I stared at this
became black and distinct, tossed
In, Fab 3pk H..
:. clinging TO my support, scarcely t
listing my eyesight. while that first t
lisp deepened into a cloud. advanc- t
lg slowly toward me. There was no
niger doubt of what Ii was-unques- 1
0nably some steamer was pushing its Is
,urse upstream. Even before my
IRIS could detect the far-off chug of q
e engine the boat itself rounded the n
ARP point OF the headland and came n
nth into full view, heading out +
ward the middle of the river In q
arch for deeDer water. r
1t was an unusually large steamboat +.
r those days, lower river packet, I,
guessed, with two tunnels painted n
How and q high pilot house sur C
Dunted by huge brazen eagle. At
st, approaching me, bow on, I could .,
receive but little of its dimensions.
r gain clear view of the decks, but s.
len 1t veered slightly these were re- u
aled. and l had a glimpse of few .,
ures grouped forward. the great
ieel astern splashing the water. and
tween, long row of windows re- :,
citing the glare of the early SUM- ~
en- as / gazed at this vision flag :,
spt up the slender staff at the bow :
d reaching the top ripplea out In !.
: crisp breeze. A moment later /
ciphered the lettering across the
lite front of the pilot house-Adven- ~
-er of Memphis. "
Indifferent at that moment as to NC
ere the approaching boat might be
md, or my reception on board; de-
Gus only of immediate escape from io
unfortunate predicament, l man &c
I'd TO remove my sodden coat and
'iously wave 1t In the air as a sig co
/. At first there was no response, IN
evidence that 1 had even been
81 Holt