The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-06-08

dred yards, only accident could bring
Number % up for rescue, only chance
could carry the ship where the shouts
or the blasts Of distress II the wreck
still fioated and had steam-would be
heard
They were meeting frequent and
heavy foes. and Alan gave warning of
these by halls to the bridge; the bridge
answered and when possible the steam
er avoided the foes; when 1t could not
| do that 1t cut through them. The wind
rowsd ice beating and crushing under
the bows took strange, distorted, glis-
teninR shapes. Nov another sncb shap4
| appeared before them; wi ere tbs glare
dlssipated to bare glow In the swirl
ing snow, he saw vague shadow. The
man moving the searchli yht failed to
see IL, Tor he swung the beam on. The
shadow was 80 dim. 80 ghostly, that
| Alan sought for 1t again before he
halied; he could see nothing now, yet
ne was surer, somehow, that he had
seen.
something dead ahead, siry" he
shouted back to the bridge.
Ihe bridge answered the hail as the
searchlfght pointed forward again. A
gust carried the snow in n fierce furry
which the light failed to pierce; from
the hurry suddenly, silently, spar by
spar, a shadow emerged-the shadow
OF a ship. 1t was a steamer, Alan saw,
long, low-lying old vessel without
lghts and without smoke from the fun
mel sianting up just forward Of the
after deckhouse it rolled in the trough
or the sea. The sides are! all the lower
works cleaned in ghostly phosphores-
cence, 1t was refraction OF the search
light beam from the Ice sheathing all
the ship, Alan's brain told him: but
the sight of that soundless, shimmering
ship materializing from behind the
screen OF snow struck tremor through
him.
"Shipl" he hailed. "Aheadi Dead
ahead, sir! Shipl"
The shout Of quick commands
echoed to him from the bridge. On
derfoot he could feel a new tumult of
the deck; the engines, instantly
stopped, were being set full speed as
tern. But Number 25,, instead of
sheer1ng Off to right or left to avoid the
collision, steered straight on.
The struggle Of the engines against
the momentum Of the ferry told that
others had seen the cleaning ship, or,
at least, had heard the hail. The skip
per's instant decision had been to put
TO starboard; he had bawled that to
the wheelsman, Hard overw But.
though the screws turned full astern.
Number 25 steered straight on. The
hurry was blowing before the bow
again; back through the snow the Ice
shrouded simmer ahead retreated.
Alan leaped away and up to the wheel
house.
Men were struggling there-the skip
per, mate, and old Burr, who had
held the wheel. He clung to it yet, as
one In trance, fixed, staring ahead;
his arms, stiff, had been holding Num-
Der 70 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 skippers
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 %
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. Tie 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.
ut was ship" he 2aid; he seemed
| speaking more to himself than to Alan.
"Yes," Alan said. ut was a ship:
and you thought"
1T wasn't there" the wheelsman
cried. 'Its-it's been there all the
| time ali night, and Td-rd steered'
through 1t ten times, twenty times,
every few minutes; and then-that
time 1t was a shipl"
Alan's excitement grew greater; he
seized the old man again. You thought
1t was the Miwakaw Alan exclaimed.
"The Miwaka! And you tried to steer
Il