Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-11-10

stopped at window and looked in.
The Palm Room was crowded. She
saw Steve dancing with Amber.
Watching them, she forgot Mr..
Lanning. A wave of this afternoons
jealousy returned. She wanted to
cry. She felt neglected and unloved.
Zorie walked on. She felt des-
perate.
She walked aft on the other side.
There was no moon. 1t was black
night. She found stairs leading to
a lower deck. She went down sew
eral flights and came to an iron
bulwark on either side.
At the end of this deck were steps
that went up. She climbed them.
She passed one deck and climbed
another.
Zorie leaned on the rail and looked
down at the water. Ghostly light
showed the race and churn of water
lashed white by the propellers. Be-
yond was blackness.
What was she to do about the
stolen notebook? To whom could she
turn for counsel?
In her confusion and woe, she
thought of the cast-iron Buddha on
Professor Folsomes desk-"the gen.
uine jungle wishing Buddha land
her three wishes. She had wished
to be transported to an enchanting
land of palms and flowers, of jade
seas and singing birds, and of
charming people too gallant to take
advantage of her meekness. She
had wished that Paul would go
there, too. And she had wished that
she would lose her meekness.
Since then, everything had gone
wrong. 1t was as if the jungle Bud
dha were granting a parody of her
wishes. If she were superstitious,
she would believe that the Buddha
was an evil genie of iron who dealt
solely in the cruellest irony.
She suddenly tasted on her lips the
dust ard rust of his iron forehead.
A soft mocking whisper came out
of the darkness just behind her.
"Ah-nah!" it said "Ah-rah!"
A hand was brutally clamped over
her mouth. Another hand went
scooping under her knees She was
swiftly lifted to the rail and over it.
She was thrown far out
She fell down and down through
the blackness toward the churnmg
white water.
Zorie was falling through black
ness as you fall in a dream, falling
and falling, never reaching bottom.
If you reach bottom, in nightmare
fall, your heart, some people say,
stops beating.
Her brain must have been work.
ing frantically, because she did not
have long to dwell on the horror of
her fate.
1t was like cold claws tearing her
heart to shreds.
Long before she struck the water,
Zorie was fighting for her life. She
took deep breath and held it.
Paul had told her that anyone
falling from swiftly moving ship
Is almost inevitably sucked into the
propellers, is instantly battered and
torn to pieces by the giant steel
blades.
She struck the water. The shock
of the impact almost knocked the
air out of her. The next instant she
was deep in the insane churn from
the propellers, with their mighty
rhythm humping in her ears. She
was helpless rag of a girl caught
in insane commissions of water. She
was violently jerked, whirled and
tossed this way and that by savage
currents. She felt as if she were
being torn apart.
There was only one thing she
could do to help herself-she could
hold her breath. She might be held
down indefinitely, sucked this way
and that by monstrous eddies
Chance alone would determine
whether or not she would be drawn
into the humping steel blades.
She tried to hold her breath. She
held her breath until she thought her
lungs would burst.
She failed the kissing water with
her arms. She could not draw in
her breath, or force it out. Some
water was lodged in her throat, and
1t would not let the air pass. She
tried to dislodge the obstacle but il
stayed there.
But even in her panic, her brain
was trying to work out this prob
lem. Zorie was a fair swimmer
Ordinarily, she was not afraid Of
water. The sensible thing to do was
to relax, to lie on her back and
make no effort.
So she lay on her back. After q
moment, she coughed the water out
She could breathe again. But hel
heart was still a frantic chutterine
in her ears.
She could see the Samoa" no
where. 1t had evidently sped OF
into the night.