Part 13 (1/2)

And Joey was beco restless He danced backwards and forwards on the table where he had taken refuge fro before Elsie, that the _Kansas_ was afloat again

At last she noticed that the water in the cabin was gurgling to and fro, and, in the sa shi+p She was speculating on the outcome of this new condition of affairs when the door opened and Walker thrust his lantern-jawed face within He grinned cheerfully

”I've come to fetch you to yo' cabin, h, an', as yo' pwobably winging wet, the captain says you ought to change yo' clo'es”

Joey followed her out, but deserted her instantly She saw the reason, when Walker helped her to reach the bridge coave her a friendly nod as she passed Somehow, Elsie felt safe now that the shi+p was in the captain's hands again

CHAPTER VII

UNTIL THE DAWN

Walker was about to take her to the saloon, whence an inner staircase communicated with the principal stateroo to the pronaled hih there was a perceptible improvement in the weather, Elsie found the wind even harder to combat than when she traversed the deck with Courtenay This apparent contradiction arose fro with the boats the sailors had cut away the greater part of the canvas shi+eld rigged to protect passengers from adventurous seas

Nevertheless, all flustered and breathless as she was, she held Walker back when he would have left her in the shelter of her cabin

”Do spare , what a rather than remain alone”

Walker jammed hi deluge of spray

”Well, ines, Mistaw Tolle up the donkey-boiler, an' Doctaistobal is with Mistaw Boyle

You kno the captain is, so I weckon yo' best place is the saloon”

”Dr Christobal said you were ot off, we tackled othaw jobs She is ow-ah best waft”

”And--do you think--we have any chance”

”Nevah say 'die,' uess at theof ”owt”

”May I not look after some of the injured men?”

”That you can't,” was Walker's prompt assurance ”You'd bettaw stick to the saloon I'll tell the captain yo' the-aw”

”Tell hie?”

”Telephone!” shouted Walker, as an unusually heavy sea caused him to slam the door unceremoniously He bolted it, too Not if he could help it would his charge come out on that storhtly in Elsie's cabin, exactly as she had left it an hour ago This was one of the anomalous conditions of the disaster It lent a queer sense of Midsus In a few days it would be Christmas, the Christmas of sunshi+ne and flowers known only to that lesser portion of the habitable earth south of the line In Valparaiso the weather was stifling, yet here, not so very far away, it was bitterly cold And the shi+p was driving headlong to destruction, though electric bells and switches were at coineer had just spoken of the telephone as awith the captain Away down in her feirl wondered why Courtenay himself had not come to her Why had he sent Christobal first and Walker subsequently? Oh, of course he had h, in the helpless condition of the shi+p, it was difficult to appreciate their precise degrees of importance

Anyhow, he had sent word that she was to change her clothes, and he must be obeyed, as Dr Christobal said Then she discovered, as a quite new and physically disagreeable fact, that her skirts were soaked up to her knees, while her blouse was al to the quantity of spray which had run down inside her thick ulster

It was an absurd thing to be afraid of after all she had endured, but Elsie cried a little when she realized that she had been literally wet to the skin without knowing it In truth, she had afit, and it was not until she untied the veil which held her Tam o' Shanter in its place that she learnt how the knot had co her