Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1860-04-21

boxes alone. q.
A little forward [ saw space where
Jack might easily have gone down, and
to that point I crawied on my hands
and knees. | called there, but could
get no answer. A short distance fur
ther on was wide S pace, which [ had
entirely forgotten, but which I now re-
membered had been left open on ac-
count of break in the flooring of the
hola, which would let anything that
was stored there directly upon the thin
planking Of the ship.
To this place I made my way, and
locked down. [ heard the splashing Of
water, and thought I could detect a
sound like the incoming Of tiny Jet or
stream. At first [ could see nothing,
but as soon as [ became used to the
dim light, I could distinguish the faint
outlines Of the boy atsome distance be-
low me. He seemed to be sitting on
the broken floor with his feet stretched
out against cask. I called out to him
and thought he looked up
"Jack, are you there?''
And he answered Ele in faint, wea-
ry, hollow tone
eyes, help me! For heavens sake
help me! Bring men and a lantern
the ship has sprung leak -
[ hesitated-When he added III q
more eager tone
"Make haste, will try and hold it
tiIl you come back.'
[ waited to hear no more, but hur-
rled on deck as soon as possible, and
returned with q lantern and three men.
| leaped down beside the boy, and
could scarcely believe the evidence of
my own senses. Three Of the timbers
We're completely worm eaten to the
very heart, and one of the outer planks
had been broken and would burst in
any moment the boy would leave it.
whose feet were braced against the
cask before him. Half dozen little
Jets Of water were springing in about
him, and he was wet to the skin. I
saw that the plank must burst the mo-
nlent the strain was removed from it.
SO [ made my men brace themselves
against it before [ lifted him up. 9th
er men were called d. Wn with planks
and spikes, and AIDES, and with much
care and trouble we finally succeeded
i'll stopping the leak and ayerting the
danger. The plank which had been
stove in was six feet long by eight in
Ches wide, and would have let in a
stream Of water of that capacity. tt
would have been beyond our reach
long ere we could have discovered it,
and would have sunk us in q very short
time. [ knew it must be where the
iceberg struck US.
Jack Withers was taken to the cab
in, and there he managed to tell his
story. Shortly after put him in the
hold he crawled forward, and when he
became used to the dim glimmer that
came through the headlights, looked
about for snug place in which to lie,
for his limbs were sore. He went to
sleep, and when he heard a faint sound
like water streaming through q small
hole, he went to the open place in the
cargo, and looked down, and he WAS
sure that he saw small Jet Of water
springing up from the shi p's BOTTOM
He leaped down, and in a few minutes
found that the timbers had wholly civ
en- away, and that the stream was in
creasing in size. He placed his hand
upon the plank, and found it broken.
and discovered that t'ne pressure ofthe
water without was pressing it inward.
tie had sense enough to see that if it
gained one inch more it must all go,
and the ship be lost, and perhaps all
hands perish. And he saw too, that if
he could keep the baoken plank in its
place he, might stop the incoming food
SO he sat himself upon it, and braced
his feet against the cask, and then call
&c. for help. But he was so far away,
so low down, with such a dense mass
of cargo about him, that his voice
scarbely reached other ears than his
own. Some Of the men heard him,
but thought that he was talking to him
self.
And there he sat, with his feet brac-
ed for four and twenty dreary hours,
with the water squirting in tiny streams
all over him, drenching him to the skin.
He thought several times Of going to
the hatchway and calling for help but
he knew that the broken plank would
be forced in if he left it, for he could
feel it heaye beneath him. His strength
was failing him, and his limbs were
racking with pain-but he would not
give up. asked him if he should not
have given up if had not come as I
did. He answered that he could not
have done it while he had life in him.
He said he thought not of himself-he
was ready to debut he would save
the rest if he could-and he had saved
us, surely saved US all, from a watery
grave. !