I told of having to increase the length of the
towing-line as the heat grew greater, and of a fear I had that the
rope would separate, or that the mysterious hand that was the author
of the misfortunes would cut the line.
I told of the long nights without sleep, while, with our few
available men, we tried to work the Ella back to land; of guarding
the after house; of a hundred false alarms that set our nerves
quivering and our hearts leaping. And I made them feel, I think,
the horror of a situation where each man suspected his neighbor,
feared and loathed him, and yet stayed close by him because a known
danger is better than an unknown horror.
The record of my examination is particularly faulty, McWhirter
having allowed personal feeling to interfere with accuracy. Here
and there in the margins of his notebook I find unflattering
allusions to the prosecuting attorney; and after one question, an
impeachment of my motives, to which Mac took violent exception, no
answer at all is recorded, and in a furious scrawl is written: "The
little whippersnapper! Leslie could smash him between his thumb
and finger!"
I found another curious record--a leaf, torn out of the book, and
evidently designed to be sent to me, but failing its destination,
was as follows: "For Heaven's sake, don't look at the girl so much!
The newspaper men are on.
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