The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-09-04

| thought. Yet was awe struck. Down
in the depths Of the sea there is only silence
oh, how solemn! paced the long saloon,
which had echoed to the shrieks Of the
drowning passengers. All! are thoughts
which sometimes fill the soul, which are
only felt by those to whom scenes Of sub
Unity are familiar. Thus thinking, walk
ed to the after. cabin and entered
40, God of Heaven 20
Had not my hand clenched the door with
q grasp which mortal terror had made con.
vulsive, should have fallen to the floor.
stood nailed to the spot. For there before
me stood crowd of people, men and wo-
men--cuught in the last death struggle by the
overwhelming waters and fastened to the
spct, each in the position in which death had
found him. Each one had sprung from his
chair a the shock of the sinking ship, and
with one common emotion, all had storted
for the door. But the waves of the sea had
been too swift for them. Lo! then some
wildly grasping the table, others the sides Uf
The cabin-there they stood. Near the door
WIS crowd of people, heuped upon one
another-some on the floor, others pushing
over them-all seeking madIy to gain the
outlet. There was one who sought to clam
Der over the table, and still wus there hold.
ing to an iron post. So strong was each
convulsive grasp, so fierce the struggle OF
each with death that their hold had not yet
been relaxed; but each one stood and look
ed fran,ily to the door.
To the door-good God! To me, to me
they were looking! They were glaucing at
me, all those dreadful, those terrible eyes.
Eyes in which the fire of lite had been dis
placed by the,chIling CLEAN Of death. Eyes
which still glared like the eyes of the mani.
&C: with no expression. They froze me
with their cold and icy stare. They had no
meaning, for the soul had gone. And this
made it still more horrible than it would
have been in life; for the appalling contor-
tions of their faces, expressing fear, horror.
| despair, and whatever else the human soul
may feel, contrastcd with the cold and
CLASSY eyes, made their vacancy yet more
fearful. He upon the table seemed more
fendish than the others; for his long black
hair disheveled and hooted horribly down.
and his beard ard mustachc all losened by
the water, gave him the grimness Of de.
mon o, what woe and torture! what un'
utterable agonics appeared in the despairing
glance of those faces-tuces twisted into
epasmodic contortions, while the souls tha
lighted them were withering aud struggling
for life.
needed not the dangerous sea, which
even when we touched the steamer, hat
slightly rolled. Down in these awful depths
the swell would not be very strcng, unless
it should increase to tenfold fury above
But it had been increasing, though | had moi
noticed it, and the motion of the water be-
gun to be felt in these abysses. Suddenly
the steamer was shaken and rocked by these
swells.
At this the hideous forms were shaker
and fell. The heaps of people rolled assun'
der. That demon on the table seemed te
make spring directly towards me. fed
shrieking-all were after me, thought.
rushed out, with no purpose but to escape
I sought to throw off my weights and rise.
My weights could not be loosened-I pulled
at them with frantic exertions, but could
not loosen them. The iron lastenings hat
grown stiff. One of them wrested off ir
my convulsive efforts, but the other st II KEEP
me down. The tube, also, was lying down
still in my passage way through the machine
rooms. did not know this until had ex
hausted my strength, and almost my hope
in vain efforts to loosen the weight, and still
the horror of that scehe in the cabin restet
upon me. a-.. "
Where was Rimmer? The thought flash
Gu dCTOSS ue. 1At WcS Hot hSt0' AAC h"'
returned. Two weights lay near whicl
seemed to be thrown off in terrible haste
Yes, Rimmer had gone. | looked up; ther'
lay the boat tossing and rolling among tn
waves.
rushed down into the machine room tt
90 back so as to loosen my tube. ha'
gone through the passage carelessly, an
this lay there, for it was unrolled from abov'
as went on. went back in haste to ex
tricate myself. | couldstay here no longer
for if all the gold OF Golconda was in tn
vessel, l would not stay in company witt
the dreadful dead. >Z
Back-lear lent wings to my feet. hur
ried down the hold once more. retraced nj,
steps through the passage below. Iwalke
back to the place in which descended. |
was dark; a new feeling of horror sho
through me; lookedup. The aperture sca
closed!
Heavens! was it closed by mortal hands
Had Rimmer in his panic flight blindI.
thrown down the trap-door, which now re
membered to have seen open when ! descen
dedl Or had some fearful being from tn
cabin, that demon who sprang at me-
started back in terror.
But could not wait here; must 60;
,r,st oscoua from this den of horrors