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Show THE TIMES-NEW- S, NEPHI, UTAH. Throw your light down, McCann "CONTRABAND 99 By RANDALL PARRISH A War Sea Story Abounding in Adventure and High Romance GftpyrigUt A. C. McClurs THERE COMES A TERRIBLE FERGUS M'CANN WOMAN ACCIDENT HOLLIS r Co. AND RESCUE THE MYSTERIOUS FROM DROWNING AT NIGHT Synopsis. Robert Hollls, who tells the story. Is a guest on Girard Carrington's yacht, Esmeralda. It is supposed to be a "stag" party, and Hollls Is surprised on discovering a woman, who evidently wishes to remain unknown aboard. Hollls, the next night, succeeds in having an Interview with the woman. She merely tells him her name Is Vera. Carrington tells his guests of the coming war, and that he is engineering a copper pool. CHAPTER by the head; already I could perceive the list, the deck underfoot was tiltThe Wreck of the Esmeralda. ing; the engines had ceased to throb, We passed the greater part of the as though the Inflow of water had day below, and long before night came, reached the boilers. Feet scrambled a heavy, sweeping rain set in and kept along the dack, overhead voices yelled, us there. I never recalled a more blind- and I could hear the creaking of boat ing, disagreeable storm at this season tackle. of the year, and In those waters, alWorking desperately In the dark, though there was very little wind or scarcely able now to keep feet on the sea accompanying it. The smother, slanting planks, I hastily drew on what however, made it safer to proceed at bits of clothing I could find at hand, and the lookouts forward and felt my way blindly to the door. were doubled. It was jammed, but I kicked it open, It seemed a long evening, as I was and stumbled forth into the main cabiq no spirit for cards, and discussion in, clinging to the door frame in order IV. J half-spee- was altogether about the war, and the projected copper pool. Carrington received several messages In further proof that the affair was alreudy well under way, but he made no other attempt to arouse my interest. By ten thirty I had retired to my stateroom. Yet even there, and when partly disrobed, a temptation to explore the decks again assailed me. I unscrewed the port and glanced out, the cold ruin driving hard against my face. Nothing could be seen ; I stared into an impenetrable black wall. There was evidently nothing to do but remain where I was, and I closed the port and lay down In the berth. I do not know what aroused me, but I sat up suddenly, wide awake, a fear clutching at strange, my heart. What was It I had heard? a cry? a blow on the deck above? Had I really heard anything, or was it merely the echo of a dream? The stateroom was dark as Erebus, but I got my feet over the edge of the berth, and switched on the electric light. Even as I stood thus, my hand still on the switch, someone ran swiftly across the deck directly overhead, and a voice wavered out: "Port, sir ! Hard aport my God !" There was a startling crash forward, the awful sound of crushing iron and splintered timbers. I was flung headlong against the partition, barely saving myself by outstretched hands, but falling bruised and helpless to the deck. The electric flashed out instantly, but a dull gleam from without streamed through the glass of the port. It was a ghastly green light, and I recognized it at once as the port lantern of the ship which had rammed us. Before I could get to my feet even, still dazed and trembling from the shock, the gbwitly green radiance began to re-- to retain my feet. The stateroom doors stood wide open, but no living being was visible. All who survived that first shock must have fled to the deck in mad struggle to escape. Ay, and there was desperate need for me to join them. The Esmeralda was going down; already her forward hold was filled with water, the bulkheads alone keeping her afloat; once they "gave way, she would sink like a stone. I crossed the cabin on hands and knees, clawing my way desperately through the litter until I attained the stairs. These no longer led up, but forward. Beyond was utter blackness, silence ; and through the shattered door drops of rain splashed. It was not until I had made my way to the outer deck, and felt the night air and rain on my face, that I truly awoke to the danger. The tilt of the yacht forward was so sharp, I dare not release my grasp of the rail. I could scarcely see anything; not a light burned, not' even a distant star glimmered; the driving rain blinded me, and soaked through my shirt to the skin. I scnrcely dared move, for to release my grip was to slide down into the black water, into the riffle of spars and ropes forward. It was all horror and death that way, but from aft, under the awning, a sound of excited voices reached my ears, and the rasp of boat tackle. No doubt all on board, who lived, were there, seeking to escape. They had sprung for the open deck at the first alarm, not even waiting to dress, and, if I would Join them, there was not an Instant to lose. The after bulkhead could not hold long; any moment, any unusual roll of the sea, would rend It asunder, and the Esmeralda would sink. Life hung on seconds; nor would those frightened wretches wait to learn the fate of any others on board. Clinging to every projection of the cabin, I attained the port rail, but even as I attempted the first step, a voice called to me from out the black depths below, and I hung there, staring behind me, unable to perceive a thing, excepting a Utter of tangled wreckage. "Don't leave me I Give me a hand." "Who are you?" "McCann ; you are Hollls, ain't you?" "Yes; are you hurt?" "No; bruised a bit, no doubt j my foot la caught under a spar." "Alone?" "The second mate fell with me ; he's dead, I guess." It was no small job getting to him, using the slippery rail for a ladder, and I was knee deep in water when I finally found foothold in the rime, and rolled the spar off the imprisoned limb. He was lying flat on the deck, his head barely free of the waves, but was able to clutch the nearest stanchion and haul himself up to the protection of the rail. His face was but a blurred outline, although I could the glimmer of a white shirt. I Wa Flung Headlong Against the perceive I stared beyond him into the black Partition. silence. "You say Seeley Is down there?" rede. Rnge took the place of fenr "I fell on top of him," the words tho dirty murderer was backing off! was leaving ua to Mink I I clawed my scarcely audible. "He was trying to way across the stateroom, seeking to get Into the cabin, when he lost his gain view without, but could perceive grip. I tried to catch him, and he took little. The glass was dimmed with me along. Sny," he was breathing moisture, and through it I could see hnrd, "do you know if there was a girl merely the circle of green light reveal-In- s on board?" "Yea, there Is. I met her night bethe outline of a high bow. No other gleam was visible, but above me fore last on deck. Did Seeley tell you a man cursed hoarsely, and then where she was hidden?" "In a storeroom, next to the stewcreamed out some order, Which I ard's pantry; he said the door was could not distinguish. All this was the work of an Instant. locked." What had occurred was as clear to my Desperate as our own situation was, mind as though I had actually wit- all thought of personal danger left nessed the scene from the deck above. me In a sudden realization of the awful tramp, no horror fronting her, almost tinder our great steel steamer, doubt, from its darkened decks, had very feet. I gripped McCann by the plunged out of the blackness, and arm. "We must get her out of there," I rammed hi t bow straight Into us. The Contact must have been well forward, cried. "Come on with me." "Where? Down down there?" wear the bridge. We were going down down below "Yes, of course; yon are a man, I take it. The lantern is still burning, and we have a chance. Come now, wake up, McCann we are Americans, and it is women first, you know." If he was a coward, he had no wish to let it be known, although the suddenness of disaster had broken his nerve. The words spoken, the tone of my voice, touched his pride, his real manhood. "Ah, you're right, Hollls," he said heartily, and the grip of his hand tightened. "I'm no seaman ; I hate the sea, but no one ever called a McCann a quitter. I'll go as far as you, and we'll get that girl out, or drown together." I was climbing the rail before he finished, reckless of all else except the task confronting us. The face of the girl whose hand I had held in mine under the light of the stars, seemed to rise before me, her eyes pleading for help. The vision urged me forward. I know not what strength or skill enabled me to swing from the rail and grip the cabin front, but I hung there with one hand, my feet finding slight support on the slippery slope of the deck, and reaching back, gave McCann support, while he also made desperate passage to the safety of the companion. An instant later I was beside him, and we crept together down the Inverted stairs. The frightfulness of our position became more evident as we advanced. The dead bodies, the smashed furniture, the horrid swaying of the hulk beneath us, suspended, we had to use the forward wall as a floor, crawling through the litter, made us feel that certain death must end the adventure. There was a hook in the deck below for what purpose It had been placed there I do not know but It gave me foothold, enabling me to kneel. "Here, McCann, climb to my shoulders," I ordered, "and take down the lantern. Quick now; I'll hold you all right." His face was ghastly, and he obeyed as though he moved in his sleep. Every muscle In me felt the strain, but I held him, straightening out my body, and balancing myself, until his uplifted hands gripped the light. "Have you got It?" "Yes; let me down slowly." "All right; hang on to it for your life now." My arms gave under the strain, and a sudden surge of the sodden wreck, but he held to an end of the overturned piano, the light still burning feebly, threatening every instant to flicker out. I caught and steadied it, turning up the wick, and casting the faint glimmer along the passage leading to the steward's pantry. I slipped down, gripping the lantern, the dim, smoky glow of which made the pLssage visible. The pantry door stood open; indeed, I doubt if it had a door, but everything else was closed. McCann was just above me, and I sung out to him to hold fast; then, the lantern wire gripped in my teeth, I lowered myself the full length of my arms. This brought the water to my knees, while the lodged chairs were a foot or two below. As I hung there, dreading the plunge, my eyes were directed opposite the pantry, and the gleam of the lantern glittered on the blade of a hatchet just Inside the door. Never was a tool more welcome. "Hold tight above there," I managed to ejaculate through closed lips. "What are you going to do?" "Swing in toward the door on the right there is a hatchet lying there." With feet braced against the opposite wall, I forced my woy across, making three efforts before my fingers finally gripped the hatchet handle. Clinging with one hand, I thrust the tool into my belt, fully prepared now to let go. . CHAPTER V. The Rescue of Vera. "Take this lantern, MoCunn," I called, and held it up to him, "I'll need both my hands free. Hold It as low as possible. Now, here goes!' I did not pray audibly, but a prayer was In my heart, as I released my grip on the rug and took the plunge. The first chair crumpled beneath my weight, but by good luck the second held just long enough to enable me to grip the latch of the door and ding tight. The slant of the deck gave one groping foot precarious purchase on the threshold, although water swept nearly to my waist, and for a moment I tottered there, helpless to do more than merely sustain my position. The noise made by this struggle must have been heard within, for I became aware of water splashing, and a fist pounded the door. "Help! Is that ypu, Mr. Seeley V "No," I answere'd, nerved to new effort by the sound of her voice, and the knowledge that I had Indeed located the right spot, and found her still alive. "This is Hollls. Is the door locked "Yes, Mr. Seeley has the key; you must be quick the water is already above my waist." "No time for keys, then," I said. "Stand back until I cut a way la. r the gleam of the lantern her eyes met mine, full of questioning, but fearless. She must have seen, and understood also, for she called to me, dinging to the rail to keep her footing, her loosened hair flapping In the wind. "They are leaving us, Mr. Hollls? Is not that the steamer out there?" "Ay, the last glimpse we'll ever have of her," I answered bitterly, forgetting myself In anger. "The d brutes think' more of a few dollars than our lives. But we'll tnake a fight Just the same. Come, wake up, McCann! 'Aft with you oh, yes, you can ; along the rail ; once beyond the cabin there's good foothold. Now, my lady, I'll not let you fall good! You are the beiter sailor of the two." I hdl the lantern in my teeth, and clambered after them. It was a thirty-foo- t climb, but the rail stanchions made a fair ladder, giving good hand and foot hold, although occasionally the hulk beneath us rolled so heavily In the sea as to bring us to a pause, clinging grimly to the tarred rope in order to retain our balance. Twice I thought the doomed yacht was actually going down, as under the blow of some swell she leaned heavily to starheld. board, giving glimpse of the black "Are you all right, Miss Vera?" I water Just below where we dung so asked anxiously. "Where are you? desperately. Yet with sodden, sickCan you see me?" ening motion, like the last painful ef"Yes; I am clinging to the berth." fort of a dying creature, she managed Her voice was excited but clear. "The to right herself once more, every timwter Is up to my shoulders. Is the ber groaning in agony, the salt spume opening sufficient?" of the sea blown into our faces. "For you, I think. If you can make It Once beyond the overreach on the alone. I should have to knock out cabin we found to stand another panel to get through myself." erect, gripping theopportunity iron supports which "There is no time for that, and no had sustained the awning above the need. I'm coming now ; watch out." Our two bodies so obscured the faint glow of the lantern dangling from ay, that's better V The latch of the door was forward ; I could cling to it, and have my right hand free with which to wield the hatchet, keeping both feet wedged on the threshold. The light was the merest glimmer, yet sufficient to reveal the paneling of the door, and I hacked at this fiercely, exerting the full strength of my arm. A dozen blows splintered the upper panel, and then I sent the keen blade crashing downward, gouging out great chunks and splinters until a jagged passage had been made, sufficiently large for the passage of a body. The water was deeper In the cabin than lu the opening, drenching me nearly to the armpits. McCann called in warning, bis voice cracked with a terror he could no longer control. "Wait ; I'll be there In a minute !" I shouted back, my only fear lest he desert us. The bulkhead still held ; this torrent was water which had found other entrances; no doubt it would eventually increase in volume and sink the vessel, yet there was still ample time for us to escape. There would be no sudden plunge while that bulkhead ca-a- Mc-Can- hand above that I could see nothing, yet I managed to grapple her arm, and thus assist in dragging her into the jagged opening. The water, surging to the sodden roll of the doomed yacht, and now dammed by her body, poured over us both In suffocating volume, but the struggle was only for a moment, and then I had the girl safely clasped in my arms, her head elevated well above the receding flood. "Now, grasp the rug," I ordered, as I thrust her light form upward. "It will help you creep up the slope of the deck. Creep on back, McCann, with the lantern ; never mind me I'll find a way out." She possessed sufficient nerve and strength for the effort. There was no hesitancy, no word of protest. Silently, inch by inch, she fought her way aft, her feet slipping on the wet planks, but her fingers gripping desperately at the sustaining cloth. I could see only the outline of her revealed against the gleam of the lantern, as McCann clambered upward in advance. I could hear the groaning of the bulkhead to the strain, and realized that the timbers could not long hold against the immense weight. Suddenly th'e fear had come into my heart ; not until then had I paused to think effort had obscured all conception of danger; but waiting there in that black hell, the creaking of timbers in my ears, the water clutching my throat, the full horror of it overwhelmed me with sudden terror. My God ! Surely we could not have accomplished all this, and still be doomed to die like rats in a hole. At least we must reach the open deck, and have a chance to fight for life under the stars. Yet, once I had attained the cabin, all this left me. Ghastly as the wreck of that interior appeared, the wider space brought back to me the seaman's courage. There was hope yet, an opportunity to fight. McCann had dropped the lantern on the overturned piano, and was urging the girl forward toward the stairs. Terror made him oblivious to everything except a mad desire to escape, but she was glancing back, as though In search for me. I clambered to my knees amid the litter of furniture, and snatched up the light barely in time to keep it from smashing on the deck. "I am all right," I called confidently. "Get outside both of you as quick as you can." Never in all my life have I experienced the same sense of relief as when I stumbled out of that companion onto the open deck, and felt the night air in my nostrils; yet not until then did my brain truly grasp the desperate nature of our situation. The gleam of the lantern revealed the sharp slope of the deck, and the surge of water churning from rail to rail scarce a dozen feet away; the riffle of tangled spars and ropes to port under which I knew lay dead bodies; the smashed bulwarks, and a wrecked small boat hanging stern down from a davit, with a man's arm and head dangling. All about us the night and sea was black as Ink-- not a glow anywhere except a single white gleam far away to starboard like a distant star. It was not a star It was far too close to the horizon beyond doubt It was a masthead light on the steel monster which bad run us down. I held the lantern behind my body, and stared out through the void at the faraway spark It was no more than a barely visible across miles of open water, and growing fainter each second. I read the whole meaning, despair clutching my hear'. The vessel had waited and picked up stti-pefi- SICK WOMEN Positive Proof That Lydia E. Pinkham'a Vegetable Compound Relieve Suffering. Brldgeton.N.J. "I cannot speak toe highly of Lydia E. Pinkham'a Vegeta IliliiiiiniUUMimiiiTiil lor ble Compound inflammation and other weaknesses. I was very irregular and would have terrible pains so that I could hardly take a ten. Sometimes I would be so miserable that I could not sweep a room. 1 doctored part of the time but felt no 's I later took Lydia E. change. Vegetable Compound and soon felt a change for the better. I took it until I was in good healthy condition. I recommend the Plnkham remedies to all women as I have used them with suck Pink-ham- good Mrs. Milfori T. 822 Harmony St., Perm's Grove, results." CuM-imr- Such testimony should be accepted by all women as convincing' evidence of the excellence of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound as a remedy for the distressing ills of women such aa displacements, inflammation, ulceration, backache, painful periods, nervousness and kindred ailments. Kitty Acquired the hjablt As Mary's mother was a voice teacher, Mary was familiar with the terminology of the music studio. One day when her kitten was whining vociferously outside the door, Mary exclaimed : "Mamma, please let kitty in ! She's outside, forcing her voice terribly." SKIN-TORTUR- BABIES Sleep, Mothers Rest After Treatment With Cutlcura Trial Free. 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You go wake that policeman and tell him you climbed In over the fence." "Shucks, then ehll throw me out." "Try it, anyway," said the president; "you'll get to stay." Long Boy did as bidden. "I climbed over the fence," he told the aroused She Possessed Sufficient Nerve and Strength for the Effort. after deck. In the dim rays of the lantern the scene was one of utter wreck and desolation. There had been four boats hung in davits above the rails; two of them were gone ; one hung trailing overboard, half submerged, with the bow still swinging to the tackle; the fourth had been smashed into kindling. I staggered across to where I could look down at the dangling craft, holding my lantern out over the rail. It was broken amidships and useless, but jammed under a thwart lay a man's body; the gleam of light rested on the upturned face, and I recognized with horror the features of Fosdlck. Sickened, covering my eyes with one arm, I clung to the shattered rail, comThe voice of the watchman. . pletely unnerved. "What!" exclaimed that Individual. girl aroused me, brought me back to "Then right out you go." manhood. He dragged the youth toward a gate, "Mr. Hollls, the dory is still here!" I swept the lantern about, confused, but the youngster yelled lustily to Mr. and unable to locate the sound. Mc- Murphy and he came up. "I'm putting this hoodlum out," exCann was crouching against the cabin, but the woman, aided by the flag plained the policeman ; "he climbed locker, had crept aft, and now leaned the fence." "He said he did," snapped back the out over the stern rail and was pointing eagerly down into the black water. association head, "but I told him to I worked my way cautiously forward stay and have appointed him to keep to where she clung, the lantern swung you awake. Turn him loose." Long Boy saw the fair, but no more overside. Its small ring of light giving me view of the whole uptllted stern. of his kind got over the fence that The dory, which had evidently been day. left trailing astern, was actually afloat, Practice doesn't always make peralthough half filled, and her oars, Jammed securely under a thwart, were fect, but It makes some lawyers and doctors wealthy. still in place. The position of the vessel, the waterlogged condition of the smaller craft, told me at a glance the whole story. What was left of the crew of the Esmeralda, together with those gui-st- s who had lived to attain the deck, had made their escape In the two missing boats they would hold twenty each, and were strong and seaworthy. No doubt the smashed one there had been lowered first, but the tackle Jammed, and In the wreck Fosdlck had been killed. The others had clambered aboard the two left, leaving him crushed behind. POSTUM The two men and their charge manage to get away In the dory from the sinking yacht, but their troubles have only begun. pin-pric- the Esmeralda's boats; believing she then had on board all who lived, she had resumed her voyage. We were alone,, deserted, in the midst of the dead, possibly without even a chance to save ourselves from going down With the sodden wreck. But If there should be a chance tbere remained not on Instant to lose. I (lashed the light about Into the face of McCann and the girl, the man white and haggard, his eyes as dull as though he had taken an opiate, absolutely with fear. But the girl! In NOTICE TO tTO BE CONTINUED.) The Downhill Road. A. J. Balfour, head of the British commission, told a pathetic anecdote fit a New York reception about a young peer. "He was dreadfully wounded at Monn," said Mr. Balfour, "and, though he lingered on a long time, he knew, as we all knew, that his hurts were mor- tal. "I met him limping painfully on his crutches In Piccadilly one morning. lie was the shadow of his former self. " 'You're walking very slowly,' I said. "He gave a sad kind of latjgh. "Bat I'm going very fast,' said he." has been adopted as the table beverage in many a home because of its pleasing flavor and healthful nature |