The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-02-19

them and oVerfaken in the wave
meant certain death, while If they con-
tinued to believe that I had actually
sunk beneath the surface, some fu-
ture carelessness on their part might
yield me an unexpected opportunity to
serve Rene. The few words overheard
had made sufficiently plain the stu
alton. Poor Sam had already found
freedom in death, crushed between the
two colliding boats, but the girl had
been grasped in time and hauled unin-
jured aboard the heavier craft. This
had been the object Of the attack-to
gain possession Of her. Very evidently
l had not been seen closely enough
to be recognized by Kirby. In q meas
ure this afforded me q decided advan-
tage, provided we ever encountered
each other again-and I meant that
we should. The account between us
was not closed by this incident; far
from 1t. There in that black water,
struggling to keep afloat, while being
S"VHS AN0AoIANoSAy OuL x0gV kAO x4vVxs
with no immediate object before me
except to remain concealed by the
veil Of darkness. I resolved solemnly
to myself that this affair should never
end until 1t was ended right. In that
moment Of decision I cared not at all
for Rene Beaucaire's drop Of negro
blood. nor for the fact that she was a
slave In her masters hands. To my
mind she was but a woman, a sweet,
lQvable, girlish woman, in the unre-
strained power Of q brute, and depend
emit alone or me for rescue. That was
enough: 1 cared for nothing more.
With silent strokes I waited patient
II 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, q black. ill-deflned object, toss
Ing about on the swell of the waves,
and instinctively | grasped at It, rec
ognizing instantly the shell Of our
wrecked boat. It was all awash, q
great hole stove in its side well for.
ward, and SO filled with water the
added weight Of my body would have
sunk it instantly. Yet the thing re-
manned buoyant enough to float, and
I chung to its stern, thankful even for
this slight help. tai. .
There was nc occasion for fear. al
though I became aware that the sweep
OF the current was steadily bearing us
farther put toward the center Of the
broad stream, and soon felt convinced
that escape from my p~redicament
would be impossible until after day
light. The struggleto keep afoat was
no longer necessary, and my head
sank in relief on the hands gripping at
the boats stern, while we 1oated 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
I could feel the. full volume Of down
pouring water against my body. The
blindly floating boat had drifted
upon q snag, seemingly the major poi.
tion Of a tree, low held by some spit
of sand. I struggled vainly 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 a limb, a bare leafless tentacle,
making all my efforts useless. I found
q submerged branch on which to
stand, gripped the boat desperately to
prevent being swept away, and waited
for the dawn.
II seemed q long while coming, and
never did man gaze on q more dismal,
CHASTITY scene than was revealed to
me by those first gray CLEANS dimly
showing IA the far east. All about
stretched utter desolation; wherever
my eyes turned the vista vas the
samoa wide stretch Of restless brown
water surging and Ieaping past, bound
ed by loW-iying shores, forlorn and de-
sersed. How far 4 had aimlessly, drift.
ed downstream during the night was d
mere matter OF conjecture. I pos
sessed no knowledge of, where / was.
Each bank OF the river appeared about
equally bare and desolate, entirely de-
void Of promise. However chose
the west shore Tor my experiment. IA
the current seemed less strong IA that
SA.g@E ~ E4saA@H4Aar HGLE X4EE# sSx4%x f