The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-07-27

held the wheel. He clung to 1t yet, as
one in trance, fixed, staring ahead;
his arms, stiff. had been holding Num-
ber 25 to her course. The skipper
struck him and beat him away, while
the mate tugged at the wheel. Burr
was torn from the wheel now, and he
made no resistance to the skipper's
blows; but the skipper, in his frenzy.
struck him again and knocked him to
the deck.
Slowly. steadily, Number 25 was re-
spending to her helm. The bow point
ed away, and the beam of the ferry
came beside the beam of the silent
steamer; they were very close now, so
close that the searchlight, which had
turned to keep on the other vessel,
shot above its shImmering deck and
lighted only the spars; and, as the wa
ter rose and fell between them, the
ships sucked closer. Number 25 shook
with an effort; 1t seemed opposing with
all the power Of its screws some force
fatally drawing 1t on-opposing with
the last resistance before giving way.
Then, as the water fell again. the ferry
seemed to slip and be drawn toward
the other vessel; they mounted, side
by side crashed recoiled
-. crashed again. That second crash
threw all who had nothing to hold by,
fiat upon the deck; then Number 25
moved by; astern her now the silent
steamer vanished in the snow.
Gongs doomed below; through the
new confusion and the cries Of men,
orders began to become audible. Alan.
scramblIng to his knees. put an arm
under old Burr, half raising him; the
form encircled by his arm struggled
up. The skipper, who had knocked
Burr away from the wheel, ignored him
now. The old man, dragging himself
up and holding to Alan. was staring
with terror at the snow screen behind
which the vessel had disappeared. His
lips moved.
''It was ship" he said; he seemed
speaking more to himself than to Alan
"Yes," Alan said. ut was ship;
and you thought"
''It wasn't there!" the wheelsman
cried. ''It's-lts been there all the
time all night, and IBID steered
through 1t ten times, twenty times.
every few minutes; and then-that
time it was a shipl"
Alan's excitement grew greater; he
seized the old man again.. ."You thought
1t was the Miwaka |" Alan exclaimed.
1.-The Miwakal And you tried to steer
through 1t again."
"The Miwakal I" old Burr's lips reit-
tho xyord vae A.,
wakal"
He struggled, writhing with some
agony not physical. Alan tried to hold
him, but now the old man was beside
himself with dismay. He broke away
and started aft. The captains voice
recalled Alan to himself, as he wns
about to follow, and he turned back to
the wheelhouse.
The second officer, who had gone be-
low TO ascertain the damage done to
the ferry, came up to report. Two Of
the compartments, those which had
taken the crush of the collision, had
flooded instantly; the bulkheads were
holding-only leaking a little, the off,
GER declSred. Water was coming into
third compartment, that at the stern;
the pumps were fighting this water.
The shock had sprung seams else
where; but II the after compartment
did not all, the pumps might handle
the rest.
Alan was at the bow again on look
out duty, ordered to listen and to look
for the little boats. He gave to that
duty all his conscious attention; but
through his thought, whether he willed
II or not, rnn riotous exultation. AS