s thrown into the wildest panic.

The confusion and shouts above showed that some fearful disaster had
occurred. Instantly Miss Lacy made a rush for the deck to learn what
it meant. Quick as were her movements, she found the ship was already
sinking. Going aft was like climbing a steep hill, but she saw that
one portion was high above water, and she struggled bravely to reach
it. But, so rapidly did the _Quetta_ go down that she had hardly gone
forward, when the steamer was swallowed up in the furious waters.

That which followed is beyond description. In an instant, two hundred
human beings were struggling frantically, shrieking in their terror for
the help which was nowhere to be found, clutching each other, praying
and drowning by the score.

Miss Lacy was caught in this fearful swirl, and was in imminent danger
of being dragged down by those around her, who were crazed by the one
wild, despairing hope of saving themselves, no matter at what cost.
But she was a powerful swimmer, and retaining her self-command, she
shook herself free of several who attempted to cling to her. The
whirlpool caused by the sinking of the steamer pulled her beneath the
water, but, with the same wonderful presence of mind she had shown from
the first, she fought her way to the surface, and swam from the
dangerous spot.

Finding herself her own mistress, and fully aware that her life now
depended on her ability to swim, she removed all her superfluous
clothing and moved hither and thither in the darkness, in the hope of
coming upon some of the survivors.

It was about midnight, that she heard some one shout. The gloom was
too powerful for her to distinguish anything, but she swam toward the
point, whence the call issued, and came upon a raft, that had been
hastily thrown together by the chief officer of the _Quetta_. Several
persons were clinging to it, and she accepted the invitation to avail
herself of the temporary refuge and give her weary limbs a rest.

The dismal hours wore slowly away, and at last the growing light in the
eastern sky told that the longed-for day was breaking. As soon as the
rays of the sun illumined the wild waste of waters, every eye scanned
the ocean in quest of some sail; but on every side was the vast heavy
sea, with no sign of life except on the little raft. It was water,
water everywhere, with not a drop to drink nor a morsel of food to eat,
and with no prospect of escaping a lingering death of t