Once, they were
startled by the fall of an avalanche, which thundered down a mountain
side on the farther shore, and tore a great gap in the belt of trees
until it crashed into the water. It sent a four-foot wave across the
bay, and the _Kansas_ rocked so violently that the men toiling below
raced up on deck to ascertain the cause of the disturbance.
This was the only exciting incident of a day that seemed to be
unending. Elsie, worn out by the strain of the preceding twenty-four
hours, and, notwithstanding her brief sleep in the morning, thoroughly
exhausted for want of rest, was persuaded to retire early to her cabin.
She lay down almost fully dressed. Somehow, it was impossible to think
of a state of unpreparedness for any emergency.
She was soon sound asleep. She awoke with a start, with all her nerves
a-quiver. Joey was tearing along the deck, barking furiously. She
heard two men run past her door with ominous haste. Then, after a
heart-breaking pause, there was some shooting. Some one, she thought
it was Courtenay, roared down the saloon companion:
"On deck, all hands, to repel boarders!"
With a confused rush, men mounted the stairs and raced forward.
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