Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-04-24

But 1t had been increasing, though | had
not noticed it, and the motion of the water
began to be felt in these abysses. Sudden
ly the steamer was shaken and rocked by
the swell
At this the hdeous forms were shaken
and fell. The heaps of people rolled asun-
der. That demon on the table seemed to
make a spring directly towards me- fled,
shrieking-all we're after me | thought
| rushed out, with no purpose but to escape.
| sought to throw of my weights and rise
My weights could not be loosened; | pull
!, ed at them with frantic exertions, but could
not loosen them. The iron fastenings had
grown stiff. One of them [ wrested off in
: my convulsive efforts, but the other kept
me down, The tube, also, was lying down
still in my passage-way through the ma
chine rooms. did not know this until !
t had exhausted my strength, and almost
my hope, in vain efforts to loosen the weight
and still the horror of that scence in the
cabin rested upon me.
Where was Rimmer? The thought flash
ed across me. He was not here He had
returned. Two weights lay near, which
seemed thrown off in terrible haste Yes,
. Rimmer had gone. looked up; there lay
the boat, tossing and rolling among the
waves.
rushed down into the machine room,
to 90 back, so as to loosen my tube. | had
gone through passages carelessly, and this
} lay there, for it was unrolled from above as
[ went on. | went back in haste to extri-
cate myself; | could stay here no longer;
for if all the gold of Golconda was in the
: vessel, | would not stay in company with
the dreadful dead
Back-fear lent wings to my feet. Thur
5 ried down the stairs, into the lower hold
once more. and retraced my steps through
4 the passages below. | walked back to the
t place into which | had first descended. II
was dark; new feeling of horror shot
through me; l looked up. Tile operturo
w0s closed!
| Heavens! was it closed by mortal hand;
Had Rimmer, in his panic flight, blindly
\ thrown down the trap-door, which | now
t remembered to have seen open whenI des-
G cended? or had some fearful being from tho
G cabin-that demon who sprung towards
me-?
started back in terror.
2 But | could not wait here; | must 90;
: must escape from this den of horrors.
! sprang up the ladder and tried to raise tho
door. 1t resisted my efforts; l put my
D helmeted head against it, and tried to raise
: it; the rung of the ladder broke beneath
4 me, but the door was not raised; my tube
came down through it and kept it partly
open, for it was strong tube, and KEPT
, strongly expanded by close-wourd wire
| seized bar of iron and tried TO pry il
up; raised it slightly, but there was nc
: way to get it up further. looked around
the heavy door, little by little, placing a
D block in to keep what had gained. Bu
A the work was slow and laborious, and had
, worked long while before | had it raised
: four inches.
] The sea rolled more and more The sub
5 merged vessel felt its power, and rocked
/! Suddenly it wheeled over, and lay upon It's
side.
ran around to get on the deck above, to
5 try and lift up the door. But when came
TO the other outlet, knew it was impossible
r for the tube would not permit me to 90 SC
far, and then | would rather have died 4
thousand deaths than have ventured again
SO near the cabin.
, returned to the fallen door; sat down
f in despair and waited for death. saw no
{ hope of escape. This, then, was to be my
end.
But the steamer gave a sudden lurch,
. again acted upon by the power of the
waves. She had been balanced upon a
rock, in such Il manner that a slight ac-
ton of the water was sufficient to tip her
, over.
She creaked, groaned, and labored, and
then turned upon her side.
| rose; clung to the ladder; pressed
the trap-door open, while the steamer lay
with her deck perpendicular to the ground
| sprang out and touched the bottom of the
sea- 1t was in good time; for moment af
ter the mass went over back again.
Then, with last effort, | twisted the
iron fastening of the weight which kept me
down; ierkcd it, 1t was loosed, it broke,
it fell. In a moment began to ascend,
and in a few minutes was floating on the
water-for the air which is pressed down
for the divers consumption constitutes a
buoyant mass, which raises him up from