Show ave F THE STORY THUS FAR zorie corey who hates herself for being meek and aby finds herself railroaded into taking a job she dow does not want assisting admiral duncan grandfather of her fiance paul duncan to write his memoirs aboard the steamer samoa en route to hawaii zorie dances with steve pauls handsome brother only to discover that paul is terribly jealous paul re refers fers to steve as a nazi spy the admiral dictates some of his memoirs to zorie steve and paul are critical on returning to her stateroom zorie discovers that her note took book and an important treatise on engineering are missing she suspects amber lanning with whom she shares her stateroom CHAPTER IX zorie came to the turn of the deck and started across she was outside the palm room she stopped at a 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 desperate she walked aft on the other side there was no moon it was a black night she found stairs leading to a lower deck she went down several 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 beyond 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 Fol somes desk the genuine jungle wishing buddha and 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 she would lose her nl meekness ekness since then everything had gone wrong it was as if the jungle buddha were granting a parody of her r wishes if she were superstitious she would believe that the buddha was an evil genie of iron who dealt solely in the cruellest cruel lest irony she suddenly tasted on her lips the dust and rust of his iron forehead A soft mocking whisper came out of the darkness just behind her ah nah it said ah nahl nah 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 churning white water zorie was falling through blackness as you fall in a dream falling and falling never reaching bottom it if you reach bottom in a nightmare fall ybur heart some people say stops beating her brain must have been working frantically because she did not have long to dwell on the horror of her fate it was like cold claws tearing her heart to shreds long before she struck the water zorie was fighting for her life she took a deep breath and held it paul had told her that anyone falling from a 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 thumping in her ears she was a helpless rag of a girl caught in insane convulsions of water she was violently jerked v 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 mi might ight 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 thumping steel blades she tried to hold her breath she held her breath until she thought her lungs would burst she nailed flailed the hissing water with her arms she could not draw in her breath or force it out some water was lodged in her throat and it would not let the air pass she tried to dislodge the obstacle but it stayed there but even in her panic her brain was trying to work out this problem zorie zone 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 a moment she coughed the water out she could breathe again but her heart was still a frantic ch chutte uttering rine in her ears she could see the samoa nowhere it had evidently sped on into the night her fate was inevitable she would paddle about in this great waste of water until she was too tired to paddle about any more then she would simply sink zorie began to think more clearly it would have been better if she had been sucked into the propellers and battered to pulp it would have been a far kinder fate zorie thought of paul and she su suddenly wanted to cry poor paull fault he would be sorry as people always are when someone has died sorry for the unkind things he had done to her and the kind things he done for her and how would steve feel and aunt hannah and the admiral all of them all these people who had treated her as a human doormat doorman door mat A white ghostly glow was beginning to fill the world it silvered the tips of the small rolling waves about her it seemed to fill the sky it was like the glow that is supposed to accompany a religious miracle zi Z 59 1 she fell down and down through the blackness toward the churning white water all this time zone had been lying on her r back resting getting her breath calming her heart now she turned over and faced the glow it of white glare was a dazzling spot not more ore than two hundred yards away it was floating on the water in the direction opposite to that in which she had thought the samoa had v vanished she ie cried out involuntarily with relief ef and joy I 1 it t must be a life ring 1 someone m must have seen her and thrown the ring go ov overboard a ver board paul aul had explained them to her when n the life ring was thrown into the water a magnesium flare ati cached to it by a S short h 0 rt rope was spontaneously baga ignited cited Us its glare would guide a swimmer in m the dark to the ring she struck out toward it the flare blinded her she did not see the samoa turning about until it miraculously stopped not far away a blaze of horizontal rows of lights blinded by the beam then she wa was the bridge it searchlight on u of f a we went nt off in a moment she swam steadily she was growing tired her slippers were gone in g all in she had not realized was as sl she e the shock the horror of d how ize immersion h had ad exhausted her her her arms a and nd tried to use she un until til legs this inability to reach safety something to cling to un until til she was was more nearly like a rescued than her moments in the nig nightmare the thrust of water from sava savage ge ships screws then the white whit e flare seemed suddenly closer she put what was left strength int into c a final spurt of her reached the life ring but she she weak she could hardly so i I 1 was gas now covered cork the canvas c ling cling to of the rest of it was a confusion shouts and mens red faces in the white glare and the rattling of oars in in oar oarlocks I 1 locks someone pulled her into a lifeboat A gruff voice she never knew to whom it belonged was cal calling linc her a brave kid a damned brave kid and she never knew wh who 0 it was who told her in a whining voice that an who had just come off watch had been leaning on the rail of the deck below the one from which she had fallen she had shot past him screaming he it was who had thrown overboard the life ring and then had telephoned the bridge zories zones next clear recollection wa was s of the woman in white the woman woma n in in white was square faced rather grim and very efficient she helped her out of her tattered rags all that remained of her white pique dress once she was in her nightgown and in her bed zorie had hysterics but it a bad attack later the nurse told her she had never seen anyone come through such an experience so bravely the nurse gave zorie a sedative and zorie went to sleep it was midnight when she awoke she felt tense she ached here and there and there was a faint drugged feeling in her brain the residue of the sedative otherwise her brain felt clear everything felt clear in all her life she had never felt so clear amber lanning was sitting on the bed across the room she was looking steadily at zorie except for a ghost of a smile at one corner of her mouth her face was expressionless si her eyes were like dark round holes when zorie sat up in bed ambers eyes followed her zorie swung her feet to the floor she winced as a pain shot through the small of her back her left knee hurt all her teeth ached a little and her right hand felt a little numb but she could stand and she could walk she walked across to where amber sat and she slapped ambers face there zorie said softly she waited for abberto Am berto do something she hoped that amber would resent it the smile was gone amber compressed her lips and stared at her but she did nothing and she said nothing zorie reached up to one of the hooks it was supporting several hangers of ambers clothes she took the hangers down and threw them on ambers bed she went about the stateroom taking ng down hangers and throwing them on ambers bed when the hooks were emptied she emptied one of the closets its contents she threw on ambers bed from now on said zorie in a calm assured voice this closet is mine amber sitting on the bed with her clothes all about her said nothing zorie now dumped the contents of two of the four drawers on ambers bed she put the drawers back and said from now on these are mine you are the first person of a great many who are going to learn that im never going to be pushed around again as long as I 1 live you will either behave yourself in this stateroom or you will get out amber shrugged and lifted eyebrows and eyes with a wryly despairing sp airing grimace all right my dear she said keep it up if you want to I 1 know youre a great actress god knows I 1 should I 1 have the greatest respect for you I 1 envy you more than any woman that ever lived you have more lives than a cat frankly I 1 think youre a witch ill be good who zorie wondered was this woman she resembled A notorious secret agent it do to ask que questions scions and at the moment she was enjoying this arrogant girls awe her submission this woman she resembled must be much more ruthless than amber it would be very dangerous zorie realized to permit amber to keep on assuming that she was the girl they thought she was yet it would be useless to deny it amber mr lanning and the sinister mr savoyard believe her she was nit afraid that was the surprising thing she afraid of anything any more she even afraid of death A few minu minutes tes ago she had accepted death and death no longer longe r frightened her she looked at the jumble of clothes 0 on ambers bed there was one evening d dress ress that looked new it looked as if it had never been worn tomorrow ow night zorie decided ill wear that dark red gown certainly dearl anything I 1 have is yours 1 the phone rang zorie zone answered it pauls crisp voice said coriel are you all right yes TO BE CONTINUED |