The Land That Time Forgot | Page 6

grave of another ship in this greatest cemetery of the seas.
When the turbulent waters had somewhat subsided and the sea had ceased to spew up
wreckage, I ventured to swim back in search of something substantial enough to support
my weight and that of Nobs as well. I had gotten well over the area of the wreck when
not a half-dozen yards ahead of me a lifeboat shot bow foremost out of the ocean almost
its entire length to flop down upon its keel with a mighty splash. It must have been
carried far below, held to its mother ship by a single rope which finally parted to the
enormous strain put upon it. In no other way can I account for its having leaped so far out
of the water--a beneficent circumstance to which I doubtless owe my life, and that of
another far dearer to me than my own. I say beneficent circumstance even in the face of
the fact that a fate far more hideous confronts us than that which we escaped that day; for
because of that circumstance I have met her whom otherwise I never should have known;
I have met and loved her. At least I have had that great happiness in life; nor can Caspak,

with all her horrors, expunge that which has been.
So for the thousandth time I thank the strange fate which sent that lifeboat hurtling
upward from the green pit of destruction to which it had been dragged--sent it far up
above the surface, emptying its water as it rose above the waves, and dropping it upon the
surface of the sea, buoyant and safe.
It did not take me long to clamber over its side and drag Nobs in to comparative safety,
and then I glanced around upon the scene of death and desolation which surrounded us.
The sea was littered with wreckage among which floated the pitiful forms of women and
children, buoyed up by their useless lifebelts. Some were torn and mangled; others lay
rolling quietly to the motion of the sea, their countenances composed and peaceful; others
were set in hideous lines of agony or horror. Close to the boat's side floated the figure of
a girl. Her face was turned upward, held above the surface by her life-belt, and was
framed in a floating mass of dark and waving hair. She was very beautiful. I had never
looked upon such perfect features, such a divine molding which was at the same time
human-- intensely human. It was a face filled with character and strength and
femininity--the face of one who was created to love and to be loved. The cheeks were
flushed to the hue of life and health and vitality, and yet she lay there upon the bosom of
the sea, dead. I felt something rise in my throat as I looked down upon that radiant vision,
and I swore that I should live to avenge her murder.
And then I let my eyes drop once more to the face upon the water, and what I saw nearly
tumbled me backward into the sea, for the eyes in the dead face had opened; the lips had
parted; and one hand was raised toward me in a mute appeal for succor. She lived! She
was not dead! I leaned over the boat's side and drew her quickly in to the comparative
safety which God had given me. I removed her life-belt and my soggy coat and made a
pillow for her head. I chafed her hands and arms and feet. I worked over her for an hour,
and at last I was rewarded by a deep sigh, and again those great eyes opened and looked
into mine.
At that I was all embarrassment. I have never been a ladies' man; at Leland-Stanford I
was the butt of the class because of my hopeless imbecility in the presence of a pretty girl;
but the men liked me, nevertheless. I was rubbing one of her hands when she opened her
eyes, and I dropped it as though it were a red-hot rivet. Those eyes took me in slowly
from head to foot; then they wandered slowly around the horizon marked by the rising
and falling gunwales of the lifeboat. They looked at Nobs and softened, and then came
back to me filled with questioning.
"I--I--" I stammered, moving away and stumbling over the next thwart. The vision smiled
wanly.
"Aye-aye, sir!" she replied faintly, and again her lips drooped, and her long lashes swept
the firm, fair texture of her skin.
"I hope that you are feeling better," I finally managed to say.
"Do you know," she said after a moment of silence, "I have been awake for a long time!

But I did not dare open