THE LOVE TIDES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14808, 11 October 1911, Page 11

THE LOVE TIDES.

;■- BY FRANK H. SHAW, Author of "A Life's Devotion," " First at =* the Pole." etc.

rCBLISHKD BY SPECIAL ATIUAXQEURKT.

COPYRIGHT. v

CHAPTER XlX.—(Continued.)'... Jkwel had entirely forgotten everything, but he made amends. He steadied the ship on north-north-east, and intended to tell the second mate of the mistake that had been made, " but a fresh and agonising pain shot through his head when Stewart appeared, and be did no more than merely mumble the real course. He made no mention of the captain's command to be called at midnight, aDd Stewart did not ' notice the omission. Jewel slipped down to his nw& and sat with his head between his hand*, rocking to and fro in agony. His brain had suffered in the accident of months ago.

Presently he remembered that in a small

bottle in his locker remained » little, drop of chlorodyne that lie had been given long before. It promised him ease from his suffering; he took out the pßial and drank its contents.. Then he crouched down on the settee and slept profoundly. The Quadroon leapt away from the thrust of the wind, but she was by now a clear 15 miles out of her course—ls miles'that spelt all the difference between safety and disaster. .... '

It would have been about two o'clock when Fleming awoke suddenly. He stared about the darkened forecastle, saw no signs of movement in his companions, and turned over again. But sleep had forsaken his eyelids. The forecastle was stuffy and ill-smelling; a rain shower that day had filled the place with reeking oilskins.. The steady gush of wind without enticed him to the deck;. many a time before when sleep had been denied him he had paced the planking resolutely, seeking for some outward distraction that would set thought at bay. . He looked forward; he could feel rather than see the look-out man leaning on tho capstan; almost he could smell the smoke from his pipe. He drew in a deep breath of sheer enjoyment—his eyes were growing heavy. ■,'"■ . A strange, dull roar from a point some little distance ahead, a roar to which, in his ignorance of the sea, he could put no name. The look-out man was silent on the matter ; that he could smell his burning pipe was but a figment of Fleming's imagination. The man was fast asleep, his chin pillowed on his folded arms. The roar of the ship's canvas effectually drowned that other roar ahead. , Stewart

. noticed nothing ; he stood by the compass ;, and watched the swinging lubber's line 1 carefully, until the companion-way disgorged a wrathful figure. "Why the devil wasn't I called? Here it's past two—" .• A . strange, tearing crash shook the Quadroon from stem to stern. She stopped $ in mid-career, lurched back, and leapt forward again. The.re was a sickening sound of smashing spars aloft; the oretopmast carried away at the doublings, and fell over the side, taking with it the main top- ; mast. The mizzen, tottered uncertainly, leant wearily to leeward and \ followed jS$ £ partners. , Blocks, ropes, a tangle of potential death, hurtled down out of the dark- '"'.., ness ; the ship, drove forward again, and again came that- dull, heart-shaking stop; ? It had all happened suddenly, as momentous occurrences do. ■; One moment had been peace and ; safety,, the next . discord ; and death. For death was stalking every- „ where, sinister and terrible, the more ter- „ rible in that it was all unseen. „ . A, wave surged up over the arrested bow and broke along the decks; others leaped ■ ['.. up angrily, striving - to drag down their - {>rey. ■■ The : j forecastle, disgorged -'frantic v. forms that sped hither and -thither aimlessly, crying out in strange, high-pitched voices. "Terror and uncontrol filled the Quadroon's decksj and for the moment there was none to speak the seasonable "." word. • '.- ~. ' Captain Drinkwater had been flung to ; the deck as - the ship struck for the first time. Stewart was caught on the shoulder • by a falling block from aloft; the sickening pain drove all other thoughts from his ' brain. The crew had lost their heads; ; they realised from the forward slope of the decks that imminent danger was all about them, and with one accord they flung themselves upon the lifeboats. One was sound, , the other was a wreck, for after the great gale that had swept the decks clear the ¥ carpenter had never repaired the damage. But the hopeless condition of the boat was ' forgotten as the men tore at the tackles, yelling discordantly, whilst others fiung •' themselves on the covers and ripped them •?''. heedlessly away. . "Stand by, ail hands!" ' It was the voice of the captain, cool and resolute. In- „ stantly Fleming darted to his side, alert '- and capable, holding himself in readiness to obey. He had instinctively recognised f the danger. > , . , t . „ Ti " » Come away from that boat! It rang out like a pistol shot, but it was unheeded. S Drinkwater dashed into the mob of Struggling figures, and with a blow levelled ' one man to the deck. He was unarmed ; there had been no time to possess himself of his revolver. : A man behind him struck ' him savagely with a handspike that he had been using to lever the boat clear, but the blow passed almost unnoticed. , " " That boat's dangerous!" Cast loose the lee boat." He was amongst them again, striking furiously, dragging them back, ; ihsv would not heed him , until the boat swung dear. It was lowered, several men sprang into it; it dropped into darkness There a cry; but the tackles unhooked V. themselves, and the boat vanished-for ever. The rest of the crew turned to starboard and busied themselves with the . Sckles but they crowded one another so that no real work could be done. And the Quadroon lifted herself wearily, plunged forward again, and slid back. . -

' CHAPTER XX. , TWO CASTAWAYS. • ft was then that Fleming remembered the women S. He deserted bis. .port at * tnl bought and tojjjd. the poop. Two dim figures showed # above his head, they were atone, but Miriam was cool and collected. She knew that women were out of place in the work that was going on-for-k ward ?Stewart had vanished ;; he was probablv amongst the crowd about the. remaining iLfeboatt endeavouring to reduce order ° U WhSTs'it?" It was Mrs. Berry's voice, bretetS, afraid. Fleming darted up the !^' d The ship is sinking; they're getting the Boat.over/ he cried and shook off Mrs. , <hat spoke now. ' Mrs. Berry had dissolved into Srieta and sobs, her hands were bef°«Ye?, fSar so. Trust to me; I'll do %£kd forgotten the man stood self-con-demnedas "murderer; there was a ring of ri««f in his voice that quietened the confidence in nis jv „/„„„ ~z* a w pr hand fears that she would not express. Her nana f ~!♦ VJ, meet bis in the darkness; it W ent out to t tben it '" w fs relet d. Wwa* vowing silently to '■ Tave BlMegl %ffi. his < when fcS & near-looming trial t "omf when the boat » clear/" he told them, and remembereI the lifeb*» ' in chart-room.". He dashed within; a : Lb? stUl burned My lM d W^^d caWeovered things from overhead, and I dLhed. back te the deck., The.slope «f the-. Smdrcon's huil was -.now. *rrifying. * \ c ™ Sas no lieht on deck but he to • »ass the belt ovor ■ Miriam a j head and tie • Ft round £R =« He was about to perform L S Alio /or Mrs. Berry, there came ••'"' * SS crv fn»o forward., It was an vain hettteSte^l to restrain the almost dis- ■ tracted woman. With a f cry she leaped from " the poop and ran to the to«Mj'-... tha The boat wa* free «id Ringing m the ißcklesj already the men had crowded into

her. Captain Drinkwater stood on the rails, guiding and directing; bis had been the summoning voice. - ' "Look alive!" ho roared. "Wait! I insist! Save me!" Mrs. Berry shrieked the words and tore forward. She was caught up bodily and flung into the boat; someone lowered away. Drinkwater saw the craft disappearing into .the darkness.- He might have had some idea of hurling himself upon the men to stop their cowardly abandonment, but just then the Quadroon gave a sick lurch; he was pitched head foremost into the lifeboat the tackle* were released ; and a wave leaped up. The boat was caught like a feather and flung ahead; a splinter of rock planed away a plank as if it had been wet paper; she tilled and sank, and a loud, horrible cry rose high above the crash of the breakers. But the lashing foam quietened the cries; the serrated teeth of tho rocks dashed the life from floating bodies swiftly; almost before the yell had reached the ears of those on the poop death had claimed its own.

The ship was sinking fast. There,was no time for clear thought, no time to prepare for an emergency. Fleming looked once at the dim-seen oval of the girl's face, and knew then that, right or wrong, he loved her as he must love her to the end ii time. Marjory was forgotten, his sin was forgotten, the only conscious thought of which he was possessed was' that he loved this girl, and must save her, no matter what the price ho paid himself. "Trust me; I'll-save you." She said nothing as ho tore the gratings from the vheelbox and lashed them, together with the end of a rope that he had stumbled over. Nor did she speak ae he caught her roughly and dragged her to the rail,"

"Be ready; I'm going to jump," he shouted, for anything less than a shout would never have carried to her ears above the harsh grinding of steel and the thunder of the breakers. He steeled himself for what was coming, knowing that a single mistake now would be fatal to one if not to both.

• She watched him curiously; later, when the events had become adjusted in their correct perspectives, Fleming was to remember the curious intentness of her gaze, and her acceptance of his help. But now there was no time for thought; all was blind, swift, instinctive action.

The stricken vessel settled backwards wearily, as if glad of the long cessation from he* striving; there was barely a minute left. Fleming saw huge, foam , gouts leap out of the darkness, and know that sharpfanged rocks were there, rocks on which human bodies had already been torn to pieces. But there was no alternative; to remain aboard was death, to attempt escape seemed as certain death. He released bis hold of the girl for as long as it took him to hitch a rope through the lashed gratings; he waited until the ship swung towards the starboard, then he lifted the raft and launched it over the; rails. It floated at the end of its painter, rising and falling . threateningly in the wash of the surf.

Now!" He caught her, and with her sprang outwards, praying as he went that no rocks might meet them in their descent. A moment's horrid uncertainty, a rushing through thunderous space; then the breath was thrust out of his body violently; with B PP he rose to the surface. She was still m his arms; she made no attempt to struggle, but lay quiescent. "Make for the raft," he cheered her, and struck out as strongly as he could. Was it his fancy, or had the Quadroon already s slipped etill further back? ■■ No fancy at all; the screech of tortured metal was rising even above the crash of the surf. The ship was in her death-agony, wresting fiercely, at the bonds that held tearing herself loos© from the land. He hauled himself on to the raft, and felt it rock menacingly beneath his weight. Plainly impossible to support two; he must trust to his own powers of swimming. He reached down and dragged her upwards from where she clung to the grating's edge; and a second later he had hacked* the painter through. Then he slipped over the side, and waited. They were caught up and flung back by a rush of swirling water; they were borne forward again:; a vast mountain of white loomed up before them; Miriam closed her eyes with a queer little gasp of fear. A racking jolt; a sensation as if "every bone in her body were being articulated; a stunning crash, and then an ineffable peace—a peace that endured only for a moment. The raft had been flung clean over a ridge of rock into smoother water; a pool between the ridges; but as it went forward again with the impulse it had received from the hurling waves outside, it was seized again and flung high. It was a miracle it was not shattered to matchwood, but it held together, crossed another ridge, and floated in a long stretch of smooth water. Fleming swam on, conscious of an agonising- pain in his shoulder he did not know how it had come about, but he felt as though something had broken inside and lance-pointed fragments of bone were penetrating the flesh. " Hold fast!" he contrived to bellow, as the 1 raft was once more lifted and launched forward with meteoric speed. A whirl, va lift, a swooping descent; then the blackness of the hither void. A blissful peace out of strife; a numbing of agony; a slow falling into space. He opened his eyes wearily and gazed about him. Something warm was on his face —the sun must have risen and scourged the world with a whip of heat. No; the day was only breaking the sun had not yet risen. Then he saw Miriam's face, and marked how the tears rolled down her cheeks. "Oh, thank God!" she said a little hysterically. " I thought you were dead." " Never less," he assured her. '* Where are we? What's happened?" It was undoubtedly pleasant to lie there whilst consciousness slowly reclaimed its- throne, to listen to the girl's half-breathless explanations, to know, as he did vaguely know, that he had saved her still once more. " I think your head must have struck something—it" was when we went over the last ridgeit was horrible." She stopped to shudder and cover her face with her hands. **■ The raft was broken; I -thought I was killed, I called to you, but there was no answer— head hung down. Then wo were thrown up h«re, and—l managed to pull you ashore. That's all. Looking at her young slimness he marvelled at the strength sho had been given for the work. To drag an unconscious man out of the clutch of a raging tindertow was no child's work, but she had done it The sea lashed and foamed a good twenty feet away from where he lay; lazily because even to think was an effort, he imagined her frantic striving to bring him into safety. His blood warmed in his body at the thought and when •next she looked at him she could not meet the gaze of his eyes. (To be continued on Saturday next.)