Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1864-05-18

the main hatchway, and had the hatch
taken off. / then thrust him down, and
swore l would keep him there till his stub
bornness was broken. The hatch was then
put on and went into the cabin. I suf-
fered good deal that afternoon. not with
any compunctions of conscience for what
l had done, but with my own temper and
bitterness. 1t made me mad to think that
l could not conquer that boy-that |
could not break down qis cool, stern Op-
position. "But I'll do it," | said to my
self; "Tll starve him into it, or he shall
die under the operation
After supper went to the hatchway
and called out TO him but ne returned me
no answer. At 8 o'clock l called out
again, and again got no answer. might
have thought that the fiogging had taken
his senses, had not some of the men as
sured me that they heard him, not an
hour Before, talking to himself l did not
trouble him again until morning. After
breakfast l went to the hatchway and
called to him once more. heard moth
ing from, nor could see him-I had not
seen him since l put him down there. l
called out several times, but he would
make no reply, and yet the same men told
me they had heard him talking that very
morning He seemed to be calling on
! them for help, but he would not ask for
me. l meant to break him into it. He'll
beg before he'll sta:ve, L Thought and so
determined to let him stay there, | sup
posed that he had crawled forward to the
| forecastle bulkhead, in order to make the
| sailors hear him. Some of the men asked
leave to 90 down and look for him, but l
refused, and threatened to punish the first
man that dared to 90 down. At noon l
!. went again, and as he did not answer me
'ttfis time, resolved that he should come
to the hatchway and ask for me, ere L
went again. The day passed away, and
when evening came again, | began to be
startled l thought of the many good
qualities the boy had, and of his widowed
mother He had been in the hold thirty
six hours, and all of forty hours without
| food or drink He mus: be too weak TO
cry out now. 1t was hard for me to give
up, but if he died there. from actual star
walton, it might 90 hard with me STILL
So at length made up my mind to 90 and
see him. 1t was not quite sundown when
I had the hatch taken off, and jumped
down on the boxes alone. A little way
! forward l saw space where Jack might
easily have gone down, and to this point
crawled on my hands and knees. called
out there, but could get no answer. A
| short distance further wasa wide space,
which l had entirely forgotten, but which
[ now remembered had been left open, on
account of break in the flooring of the
hold, which would let anything that might
have been stored there rest directly upon
the thin planking of the spip. To this
place l made my way, and looked down,
| thought l 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, l could dis
tinguish the faint outline of the boy at
some distance below me. He seemed to
be sitting on the broken floor, with his
feet stretched out against a cask called
out to him and thought he looked up
"Jack, are you there ?"
He answered me in faint, weary tone :;
" Yes help me! Do help me! Bring
men and bring lantern; the ship has
sprung leak 2
/ hesitated, and he added, in a more
eager tone, "Make haste, l will try and
hold it till you come back"
l waited to hear no more, but hurried
on deck as soon as possible, and returned
with a lantern and three men. leaped
| down beside the boy, and could scarcely
believe the evidence of my own senses
Three of the timbers were completely
worm eaten to the very heart, and one of
the outer panks had been broken, and
| would burst in any moment the boy might
leave it, whose feet were braced against
the plank before him. Half-a-dozen lit
tie jets of water were streaming i'll about
him, and he was wet to the skin. l saw
that the plank must burst the moment the
strain was removed from it, so l made my
men brace themselves against it before
lifted him up. Other men were called
down with planks, and spikes, and adzes,
and, with much care and trouble, we
finally succeeded in stopping the leak and
averting the danger. The plank which
had been stove in was six feet long by
eight inches wide, and would let in a
stream of water of that capacity. 1t
would have been beyond our reach long
before we could have discovered it. and
would have sunk us in very short time.
I knew il must be where the iceberg
struck II