The Washington herald., 1921-08-14

Despite the complete CESSATION q the
crsshing impacts with which the ship had %
long smashed into the heavy seas, her
equilibrium was BY no means stable. She
sti1 rosa. though heavily and dr1gEinEty:
stin sank. ever more and more deeply n
seemed. IN q sluggish roll which emphasized
IN M swins-hack the ugly List that the LIT
had taIlsd 70 correct In that sngulnnx
blaekness shs seemed to suhside ever lower
and lower. inert, Incapable Of Fighting her
self. Graded stu By . motion Of the waters
that sw1shed and washed against her nanka.
sinking with every lurch into r.yleas. unin-
aginable depths.
Tho frenzied man hudned there In the
darkness against the val wet with water
from the leaking port had no doubt Of f.
done It's work only too vel. P1raiysed for
any movement. his Imagination worked
fevertshly and yet, in that complete dark,
could form no definite mental images To
his horror. that terrifying machine In his
head had started again-oeyond his control
II was Ike being in . darkened movie bail,
where the stu vhiring machine could only
project fitting and fragmentary pictures
from . torn hlm In the intervals Of frequent
"blackouts upon the screen. But still the
machine went on maddeningiy-the more
maddening because somehew the machine
was part Of himself The mental photograph
Of . sinldng dsreiiet he bad once seen re-
CURED over and over again in that patehy
seQuenee-the hulk sa9Eins in the seas
which lapped over her. higher and tmper-
ceptibly higher-the decks awash, waves
licking the canvas Of her bridse-and then
the Silent, sudden ensultment, disappearsnee.
Were they st11l anoat, upon the surface!
He dared not give himself the answer. Even
though they had sunk beneath the wave-tops,
he remembered-ar scraps Of opposite knowl-
ense that he had ever picked up coming to
him With . memory preternatursIly acute
thst great ships like the Gareaatsas; n their
buikheads were closed. did not drop Ike .
stone to the bottom Of the seA, but remained,
swung - It wne At IN intermediate depth.
In q slow and gradual subsidence a. one COM
partment after another was burst into BY
the pressure Of the water.
such-he knew it-was their position now,
rolling siuEgishiy fathoms down-how many.
he wondered!-eelow the surface Of the sea.
sinking gently. ever sinidns. down, down,
DOWN In the darkness towards the bottom.
TRst ddEksesst The awful Of II came upon
him soddsniy In renewed access Of horror.
He put hin hand out In II. invixbty. That
darkness. utterly black. blacker than the
blackest night. which enveloped him and
seemed to choke him a. he saspsd In sis
terrer-that dorkness 4oosld nepsr b Rfted
apeiaI ..-
It was black. sitting darkness for him
for an that was left Of his hfe-darknea,
complete. unbrealrabis. memorable. until
until-death-death in that siaekness. He
shrieked again and again, purposeiy. for be
knew there was no hope Of rescue, shrieked
stridently In . mere blind escape Of energy
from overchargsd nerves.
. For IN indefinite period Of time. hideoualy
prolonged. he sat huddlsd and gasping.
crouchins against that wet wan Of his Light.
less cell. How long was It since u had hay
pened. since the engines had fallen silent
since their relapse into dsrknessf 1t scanned
an eternity. was certainly many. many
hours. Long. long ago they must have dir
appeared beiew the surface Of the So He
Imagined sufkhsad aftsr buIkhsad sursens