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Show jIfflLAT VOYAGE Of TJgTyJ ljMumMl - Mm III II SfeSS a madman, every instant an agony; and then, all at once, I found the crest and breathed in the welcome air, my stiffened limbs moving mechanically, my brain throbbing with pain. I could see nothing until a huge roller flung me upward, buffeting my face wilh icy spray, and there, below in the hollow, tossed the long-boat, every pallid face staring up at me. I saw them frantically fran-tically back water, as the great surge hurled me down headlong. I was beside be-side them: they clutched at me and missed. The stern, swung suddenly about by the blow of the sea, loomed over me, and then my fingers gripped a dripping oar-blade. God knows how I ever clung to if, wrenched by that sea how the strength remained in my numbed hands; but some one twisted a boathook in the collar of my jacket, and so they hauled me, dripping drip-ping and half-conscious, over the gun-wale. gun-wale. I saw Doris. I looked into hei eyes. I felt her bare hands on my wet cheek. I think it was the simple touch of her that gave me back life and comprehension of my condition. endeavored weakly to lift my head, fighting against the awful numbness that held me prostrate. Everything seemed a dream, yet in that dream ) heard De Nova's voice: "Take him for'ard zare, dam' quick. Strip ze wet clothes off, or he freeze dead. By gar, jump you, Kelly, an' get blanket roun' him!" "I hardly know what tbey did, for I scarcely retained sufficient life to realize re-alize that I was still alive; but, when I was fairly warm beneath a pile ol blankets, I saw Doris sitting where she could look down into my face, and the men busy stepping the masl and getting up sail. I pushed my hand out from under the covers and found hers. With All My Strength 1 Flung Myself Forth Straight Out Into the Sea. SYNOPSIS. The story opens with the introduction of John Stephens, adventurer, a Massachusetts Massa-chusetts man marooned by authorities at Valparaiso, Chile. Bein interested in mining operations in Bolivia, he was denounced de-nounced by Chile as an insurrectionist and as a consequence was hiding. At his hotel his attention was attracted by an Knirlishman and a voting woman. Stephens rescued the youn? woman from a drunken officer. lie was thanked by her. Admiral of the Peruvian navy confronted con-fronted Stephens, told him that war had been declared between Chile and Peru and offered him the nrnce of captain. lie desired that that nifiht the Ksmeralda. a Chilean vessel. should be captured. Stephens accepted the commission. Stephens met a motley crew, to which he was assigned. lie Lrave them final instructions. in-structions. They hoarded the vessel. They successfully captured the vessel supposed to be the Esmeralda, through strategy. Capt. Stephens ave directions for the departure de-parture of the craft. He entered the cabin cab-in and discovered the Rmrlish woman and her maid. Stephens quickly learned the wren:? vessel had been captured. It was Lord Darl Eton's p-ivate yacht, the lord's w ife a tu.i maid bein, aboard. He explained the sanation to her ladyship. lady-ship. Then First Mate Tut lie laid bare the plot, sayinft that the Sea Queen had been taken in order to go io the Antarctic Antarc-tic circle. Tuttle explained tiiat on a former voyage be had learned that the Donna Isabel was lost in 1753. He had fotind it frozen in a hugre case of ice on an island and contained much gold. Stephens consented to be the captain of the expedition. He told Lady Darlington. She was greatly alarmed, but expressed confidence in him. The Sea Queen encountered a vessel in the fos. .Stephens attempted to communicate. This caused a fierce struggle and lie was overcome. Tuttle finally squaring the situation. sit-uation. Then the Sea Queen headed south again. Under Tuttle's guidance the vessel ves-sel made progress toward its goal. De Nova, the mate, told Stephens that he believed Tuttle, now acting as skipper, insane because of his queer actions. Stephens was awakened by crashing of glass. He saw Tuttle in the grip of a spasm of religious mania and overcame him. The sailor upon regaining his senses was taken ill. Tuttle committed suicide by shooting. Upon vote of the crew Stephens assumed the leadership and the men decided to continue the treasure hunt, the Vislands being supposed to be only 200 miles distant. Tuttle was buried in the sea, Lady Darlington pronouncing the service. Stephens awaking from sleep saw the ghost, supposed to have formed the basis for Tuttle's religious mania. Upon advice of Lady Darlington, Stephens started to probe the ghost. He came upon Lieut. Sanchez, the drunken drunk-en officer he had humbled in Chile. He found that at Sanchez' inspiration, Engineer En-gineer McKnight played "ghost" to scare the men into giving up the quest. Stephens Steph-ens announced that the Sea Queen was at the spot where Tuttle's quest was supposed sup-posed to be. The crew was anxious to go on in further search. De Nova and Stephens Steph-ens conquered them in a fist fight. Lady Darlington thanked him. The Sea Queen started northward. She was wrecked in a fog. Stephens. De Nova. Lady Darlington and her maid being among those to set out in a life boat. Ten were rescued. Stephens saw onW one chance In a thousand thou-sand for life. Lady Darlington confessed her love to Stephens and he did likewise. Lady Darlington told her life story; how she had heen bartered for a title, her yearning for absent love. She revealed herself as the school chum of Stephens sister. She expressed a wish to die in the sea rather than face her former friends and go back to the old life. A ship was sighted. The craft proved to be a derelict. They boarded her. She was frozen tight with hundreds of years of Ice. The ves-sel ves-sel was the Donna Isabel, lost in 1753, 12G vears previous. The frozen bodies of the former crew were removed. They read the log of the Isabel, which told how the Spaniards had died from cold, one by one. Ladv Darlington sang to prevent the men from becoming moody. The crew commenced the hunt for treasure. They found the iron chest, said to contain a part of 3,000.000 pesos, firmly imbedded1 in ice. Lady Darlington expressed the belief that it would never benefit the men, for she said the Donna Isabel would never reach port. The men got a lust for gold. Stephens quelled it by whipping one. The Donna Isabel showed indications of sinking. sink-ing. They prepared to depart with what treasure had been found. CHAPTER XXVIII Continued. The negro Cole acted as though he had lost his mind, entirely, and after studying him awhile I concluded to let him do as he pleased. He ate breakfast with the rest of us, but without with-out speaking, and afterward, when we left the table, picked up the cleaver and made directly for the lazarette. I called to him, but he merely rolled his eyes up at me from the blackness below be-low and disappeared, the icy water slushing underfoot. We soon heard him vigorously slashing away at the ice, muttering constantly to himself. I went part way down the ladder, with a candle in my hand, whence I could see him toiling away at the end of the hole the men had excavated in the tee, though he paid no attention to my call. The water was fully six inches deep over the lazarette deck, splashing splash-ing back and forth as the vessel rolled, and I could see drops of sea-water sea-water squeezing in through the sides of her and dripping steadily down. There was nothing to do but leave the fellow alone, so after telling Dade to look down the ladder once in a while and keep an eye on him I joined the others on deck. "Gone clear nutty," commented McKnight, Mc-Knight, tapping his head. "The very sight o' them yellow boys was too much for him." "I only hope it wasn't my blow," I said soberly. "Blow hell! Why, that crack never hurt his skull, Mr. Stephens. The fellow was plumb crazy as soon as the box was open. He never thought there was so much money in the world. Why, you ought to 'a' heard him tell of the junk he was goin' to buy when he got his share back to the States. Oh, he'll come out of his dream all right if we only let him alone for a day or so." So we left him down there alone, cogging away in the dark. He cauie p. however, at the1 call for dinner, iting away heartily without uttering "Don't cry, little girl," I whispered tenderly; "it is all right now." She bent down, her cheek pressed against mine, unable to speak. "Did did the Donna Isabel gc down?" I asked, after a moment's silence. si-lence. "Yes, and and it nearly caught us," her voice sobbing, as the memory ol it all came back. "I I saw you jump, and then there was nothing nothing but the sea. Oh! how did God evej save you ever bring you back tc me?" I could only press her hand undei the warmth of the blankets, still feeling feel-ing it difficult to breathe. "Did did you see Cole?" she questioned ques-tioned at last, more calmly. "No, but I heard him; he was down in the lazarette, chopping at the ice poor devil." I felt her shiver; then she lifted hei head, looking forth . over the sea. "To the very end the dead are doomed to guard that gold," she said soberly. "I wish we had none of it aboard." I lay watching the delicate profile of her face, happy, yet with little of foreboding. "Lift me up a little, dear, until t can look about." She did so with much gentleness and I leaned against the gunwale. It was a raw, cloudy morning, sea and sky the same dull, dreary expanse ol gray, with nothing anywhere to re lieve the awful loneliness of water on which we tossed. Our eyes' met and our handclasp tightened. CHAPTER XXIX. In Which We Fight Death. 1 remember distinctly enough th first six days of that boat voyage; ii seems as if every detail was burnec upon my brain with fire. I see th faces of the men constantly becoming more haggard and hopeless as thej stared, dull-eyed and aimlessly, out over the endless waste of water to th dun sky. We were so tired of it; ii had grown so hateful in its pitiless vacancy, its dull, dreary void. II seemed to me that with every re curving dawn those within the boat appeared older, grayer, more deeply lined; their exposed flesh caked more heavily with the salt spray; then limbs cramped from confinement and cold; their eyes lusterless and heavy with despair. They conversed with some effort at cheerfulness at first figuring on the speed with which we sailed, dividing up the treasure, count ing the gold pieces, and speculating upon their probable value. Hut de pression followed swifily as daj. merged into day, with only that same desert of tumbling waters stretching . about us, that same wild Bky over head. Finally the growling oicej ceased entirely, the fellows becoming moody and sullen, scarcely answering even when addressed. (TO BE CONTINUED.) a word and going back to his solitary labor, paying not the slightest heed fo any of us. When night came I compelled com-pelled him to remove his icy trousers and boots and lie down in one of the bunks. When I looked in a few minutes min-utes later he was sound asleep. That the wreck was slowly settling down under us was beyond doubt, and laden with ice as she was the sodden hull would probably drop at last like a stone. The thickening sky to the southward south-ward made me exceedingly anxious; and just before dark we talked the conditions over together, each man having his say. The decision was to remain on board, all alike believing the Donna Isabel would keep afloat several days yet, unless the weather became serious. Everything was made ready, however, for a hasty escape, and a deck-watch set. Doris passed the greater part of my watch on deck with me, and as Kelly was on the poop we were the nearest to being alone together we had ever been. It was an exceedingly dark night, but still an awful sense of loneliness lone-liness brooding over the black waters, the canvas forward flapping mournfully, mourn-fully, the huge rudder continually creaking to the slap of the waves, and a faint .gurgle of water sounding from below. The dreariness of it affected us both, in spite of an effort at cheerfulness; cheer-fulness; besides, we had little to talk about except our perilous situation. Yet there was an acute pleasure in thus being together, and so she lingered lin-gered on beside me, her eyes wandering wander-ing from my face out into the gloom, much of the time silent, yet content. Finally, after urging her to go in out of the chill, I took a turn forward, even clambering up the ice hummock to the fore peak, and testing the rise of water with a measuring rod. As I returned aft, where Kelly was slapping slap-ping himself to keep warm, a light flaky snow began falling and soon powdered the decks. I did not undress, but flung myself on the conch in the main cabin after replenishing the fire, and lay there some time, staring up at the smoky deck-beams, listening to the slush of water in the lazarette, half-frightened by the soddenness of the hulk's rolling. roll-ing. Yet my conviction that she would keep afloat for hours yet finally lulled me to sleep. De Nova woke me wilh a fierce grip on the shoulder, and I started up, noting no-ting the gray dawn on the front windows, win-dows, and reading the truth In his face before he uttered a word. "Is she going?" "Oui, Oui; by gar, she sink quick!" "Call all hands; get the boat clear and ready to swing. I'll bring the women." The men were tumbling out as 1 pounded on the after state-room door. A glance through the stern-ports brought my heart into my throat, the crests of the pursuing waves were so close. Knowing that both women would be fully dressed, I flung open the door and began hastily gathering up their belongings. Within a brief minute we were outside on the deck. A single glance told ub there was no time to waste. The sea ran somewhat heavier, yet with a regular swell, the Donna Isabel reeling and staggering like a drunken man. The vessel had sunk so deeply that her main-chains dipped, while her list permitted the water wa-ter free entrance through the gap in the port bulwarks, and flooded the deck. There was a desperation to her mad wallowing which made me think each plunge would prove her last. I swung Doris into the stern of the longboat, long-boat, bidding her hold tight. "Now jump, men lively, or she'll go down under us! De Nova, Johnson, John-son, tumble in and handle the ropes; Sanchez, fend off, and have an oar ready. Now, then, tail on the rest of you, and let her go easy, there, easy! Slide down the line everybody, and cast off oars, men, oars, or she'll swamp us." The dip of the chains missed us by the barest inch; then we swung clear, tossed high on the creamy crest of a huge roller, which enabled us to look straight down on the sloping deck. "Is every one here?" I asked. "All but Jem Cole, sir." "Cole, where is he?" It was Johnson who answered. "Well, all I know about it is, I hauled him out o' the bunk, and shook him wide awake. Then I left him to go out and rout out Kelly. That's the last I saw of him, sir, but it's a sure thing he ain't here." De Nova had hold of the tiller, and I sprang forward, pushing past Sanchez, San-chez, who was in the bow. "Lay her nose close in where I can jump for the chains," I ordered sharply. sharp-ly. "We can't leave Cole behind to drown." It was a bit of a ticklish job the way the sea was running, and that lumping wreck sagging under, but the mate knew his trade, and, as the boat rose high on the swell. I leaped and hung on. my feet dangliug in the froth. As the sodden hull swung reeling over I clambered up, and dropped to the dock. The missing negro was nowhere in sight. I leaned over, staring down at the bobbing boat being hurled back by the rebound of the surge, yet. seeing see-ing only the white face of Doris upturned up-turned appealing toward me. i "Pull out, boys; strong, now! Give her plenty of room so she won't suck you down when she drops. I've got to try the cabin." I got aft that far. I even got fairly fair-ly within the door, and my ears caught the dull, muffled sounds of blows between be-tween decks. My God! the fellow had actually gone hack into that icy hold to dig for gold! As I stood there, trembling, trem-bling, wondering if I could dare the passage, I felt a sudden quiver of the deck, heard a sharp, ripping sound forward, a yel of mingled voices, and turned and ran for the rail. With all my strength I flung myself forth straight out into the gray sea. I went down, down, down, feeling as if the very life was being sucked out of me, every muscle paralyzed by the icy coldness of the water. As I came up, gasping, struggling, scarce able to move a cramped limb, the suction caught me, dragging me back and down again. I battled against It like |