ON THE BRINK OF ETERNITY.
Mate Robbins spoke as with authority, and no one thought to question
his orders.
All the same, the announcement created a tremendous excitement in the
cabin of the wretched yacht.
Diana became hysterical again, poor girl! the horror of that awful
night had almost unsettled her reason.
From my heart I pitied Gustavus, feeling that his task of saving a
woman whom fright had rendered worse than helpless, was something that
contained little of hope.
Heaven knows the thing was bad enough even when taken at its
best--Hildegarde, brave little woman, had just as much reason to
allow her natural fears to throw her into hysteria as Diana, yet,
white-faced, she controlled herself enough to face the terrible
situation, ready to do what little she might to snatch victory from
almost positive defeat.
I feel sure I would have a more doleful story to tell, even if I lived
to relate it, had she been as utterly helpless as the distracted beauty.
The seamen, grim fellows, knowing they had to face the fight of
their lives, began pushing for the deck, each man strapping on the
life-preserver with which he had provided himself.
They were apparently cool and ready to match their strength against
the brutal forces of the sea. For years they had braved the tempest’s
wrath, believing, as most sailors do, that it was only a question of
time ere their bones must rest far below upon coral beds or banks of
sea moss.
That hour had come, perhaps, and with philosophical grimness they faced
their fate.
I had arisen as soon as Robbins announced the dread crisis at hand.
“Come, Hildegarde, my darling--we must go on deck and meet what faces
us. If it be Heaven’s will I shall save you. If not, at least we may
die together.”
It was in no spirit of heroism that I uttered these words--they sprang
directly from my heart.
To look down upon this woman, dearly beloved, and consider that in a
brief time she must be at the mercy of those cruel waves beating so
madly around us was surely enough to wring the soul of any husband.
Yes, I lived years in that fleeting time.
Hildegarde had also arisen, and her blue eyes were fastened upon my
face--I saw love and trust there, but something seemed lacking.
“Oh! Morgan, what is your duty?--to stand by me or help--that woman? I
have heard her cry out your name again and again,” she said.
“That’s because she’s hysterical.”
“But your duty----”
“Is to stay with you now and always--nothing under heaven can tear me
away.”
“But--Diana--she has a claim----”
“Not on me, with you here. Let her look to her own husband for help; I
belong to you.”
My words, spoken so stubbornly, brought out a strange answer.
Hildegarde uttered a cry--it was not of fear such as Diana’s wails--oh,
no, something entirely different. Strange how that note of joy sounded
amid the exclamations of fright, the bursting of the waves against the
stranded yacht, and the whistle of the wind.
“Oh! Morgan, he her husband----”
“Yes, these fifteen months and more,” I cried, as the truth dawned on
me, and I saw as in a flash what the grave barrier was that in her mind
had stood between us.
“Forgive me--I thought--they told me you had gone away with your old
flame. Morgan, here with death facing us, tell me that you forgive
me--for, I love you, indeed better than ever before in all my life.”
Well, I even forgot that the yacht was going to pieces under us, and
that Death on a White Horse was riding very near, eager for victims.
A man may ignore even such important facts as these when the clouds
suddenly part to allow the warm sun a chance to thaw out his frozen
heart.
For the first time in our lives we understood each other then.
I saw upon her face such ecstatic love that it were even worth the
terrible danger to enjoy such a moment of bliss.
Eagerly I opened my arms and she sprang to their shelter--please
Heaven, never to leave it again save to cross the dark stream to
eternity.
It was strange to see us heart to heart in that moment of dread
uncertainty; I doubt very much whether a more remarkable reunion had
ever occurred on earth.
The clouds were all gone--she was mine, mine alone, be the time of my
possession minutes or years.
I strained her to me, and she looked up from my arms, just as I had
fondly pictured her doing, with an expression of angelic joy upon her
face--the daylight was creeping in through the open cabin door, shaming
the dim lamplight that had been our comfort all through that dreadful
night, and rested with almost a benediction upon her sweet face.
Gustavus had managed to get his wife on deck, swathed as she was in
cork belts. Alas! I knew too well their multiplicity would avail her
little unless she could use common sense while battling with the waves.
We were alone in the cabin; Robbins had carried off little Carmencita,
and I felt she would be saved if mortal power could affect it.
The yacht gave a tremendous shudder under the impact of a big wave, and
instantly a hand of ice seemed to clutch my heart, for I believed the
very end had come, and that disintegration was at hand.
But there was yet time.
It aroused me, however, to a consciousness of my duty, which was to
neglect no opportunity for advancing our cause--our chances would be
infinitely better on deck than when confined to the cabin, should the
yacht break and be engulfed in the boiling sea.
“Come, beloved, we must get out of this; the only hope we have is to
avoid being caught in the wreck when the awful moment arrives. Trust
me, Hildegarde,” I said, bending and kissing her, not passionately, but
with that holy affection we bestow upon the beloved one who perchance
hovers on the portals of eternity.
“Now and evermore, husband!” was the answer she made, as she threw her
arms about my neck and gave me one eager embrace.
Her new-found happiness seemed to have given the little woman
additional vigor.
Perhaps it was because life possessed more charms for her, or possibly
she realized that our chances of success must be strengthened by a
brave front on her part.
Be that as it may, I only know she needed no sustaining arm in leaving
the cabin, though with the staggering floor under our feet I would not
allow her to walk alone.
When we passed beyond the confines of the cabin and reached the deck,
the scene that burst upon us was really the most melancholy in my whole
experience.
I cannot imagine a picture more desolate than a brave vessel going to
pieces on the rocks, with the rollers pounding her torn sides, and the
forlorn passengers grouped about, waiting in painful and prayerful
silence for that summons which may in all probability send them to
final judgment.
The yacht was already battered out of all resemblance to the thing of
beauty that had slipped so gayly over the waves a short time back. No
marine fabric has as yet ever been constructed that could effectually
hold out against the awful battering-ram of the aroused sea.
Every object had been broken from the deck and swept away--forward the
hull was swimming with water, so that had the yacht slipped from the
reef on which cruel fortune had impaled her she must have sunk like a
plummet.
I turned an eager gaze toward the shore.
There our scanty hopes rested, and everything depended upon the
distance and what lay between.
It was not very encouraging, to say the least--the shore was in plain
sight, but between lay at least half a mile of boiling surf, leaping
in foamy tipped waves that rolled and surged with resistless force, a
whirlpool of wrath.
Alas! what meager chance had a frail human being amid such resistless
forces?
I was in no humor to allow any weakness to get the upper hand; if ever
I needed all the faculties nature had given me, it was then, when face
to face with the crisis of my life.
There was something else to rivet my attention besides despair--I felt
that this was my time to win my way back to paradise, or, failing, lose
all that man held dear below.
What concerned me most of all lay in my opportunity to advance my
cause. My worst fear was that I should be separated from this dear one,
that she might be torn from my arms by the remorseless waves.
I had snatched up a coil of rope as I started to leave the cabin,
something that had been forgotten by one of the men.
How could I secure Hildegarde to myself, so that we would be sure to
remain united?
A heaven-born thought flashed into my head. I remembered a patent cork
mooring-buoy I had purchased, intending to have it mark the spot where
our anchor lay when we remained in a harbor for a time, making little
trips here and there, to return again to our anchorage.
Leaving Hildegarde, with a hurried explanation of my purpose, I dashed
once more into the cabin--the painted thing had never as yet been used,
and had served merely as a decoration.
Tearing it loose and dragging it after me, I made once more for the
door.
It was then the yacht rolled frightfully, quivering in every timber,
like a stricken thing.
I was overwhelmed by the dreadful fear that the end had come, and
Hildegarde was alone and unprotected.
Down went the buoy and I whirled through the rocked doorway to the
deck, all my nerves wrought up to the utmost pitch; but, Heaven be
praised! that shiver was not her last, and another chance remained.
Hildegarde still crouched where I had left her, and I could go back for
the buoy upon which my hopes depended.
So I brought it forth.
Had I been alone, it should have been for Diana--I would have scorned
taking advantage of its floating powers; but Hildegarde came first,
since she was all the world to me.
Gustavus was doing what he could under the directions of Robbins; the
night had brought out all that was grand in his disposition, and he
stood there a hero, shorn of all the petty foppish ways in which he
delighted to masquerade.
When I came to her again, the little woman gave a cry of pleasure that
struck to my heart. She had the utmost faith in me and my ability to
save her. Alas! I realized when I looked out upon that churning sea
what a broken reed it was upon which she leaned.
Quickly I secured her to the buoy.
It would sustain her weight and might be the happiest thought of my
life. Little did I think when carelessly purchasing it in a French
maritime town to what blessed use it would eventually be put.
Then a portion of the rope was used to secure me to my precious charge.
I took off my shoes and tied them to my belt, that I might be the
better able to exert my whole powers in the water.
The break-up had been providentially delayed; but none of us indulged
in any false hopes; although the sea might not be so riotous as on the
night before, it still possessed the cruel power to beat the racked
frame of the yacht to splinters. So we only waited, eating our very
hearts out in suspense.
At last the awful crisis burst upon us. I felt a tremendous shock,
heard the crash and groan of timbers, caught Diana’s last despairing
shriek, and had only time to clutch hold of Hildegarde when the waters
engulfed us.