Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1866-03-02

{ Ohers, iouk chcTisntu, now iost III uespair;
and siiii others, cherished more fondly
than in their brightest days, pointing as
they aid to immortality-these with their
foil power of association and suggestion,
wih their effects of joy or sorrow, satis-
faction or regret, were strangely real
as in the hands of the angry waves, they
waited for the next sea tocrush the schoon-
er and change their cabin to tomb.
The water was rapidly rising. and soon
filed halt the space of their small room
The sea, still lashed by the tempest, toss
ed the wreck about with great violence
and as the men clung to the sides of the
cabin, the only way they could keep their
feet, the water would completely cover
Them, and they were sometimes obliged to
let 60 their hold and rish 10 the surface TO
avoid drowning, Then they were in dan.
ger from the waters that might instantly
dash them to the other side, and being in
utter darkness, they could not ward off
the blow or lessen its force.
Why did they not lie down in the wa
tiers and die at once Why did they SO
contend against what seemed to them an
inevitable fate They expected to per-
ish in an hour at the farthest, yet they
clung TO every moment as if an eternity. of
being depended thereon. o, love of life,
how strong, how universal are thy mystic
rious ties!
In this situation the captain conceived
the plan of cutting through the bulk-head,
into the hold of the wreck, where they
would have more room, more air, and es-
cape the increasing waters for a while
longer. This idea was suggested by COM
ing in contact with asmall hatchet in the
cabin, and feeling ais way to the spot,
which, in bis opinion promised most speedy
success, he commenced cutting through.
He could not see where to strike. He
could not stand firmly in the place where
he made the attempt, yet he worked with
all his remaining energies. The other
men were anxins to help him, and CON-
ing near he autioned them to bold on
where they we're, lest they should be
thrown againsthis Ratchet; yet in a mo-
ment Afterwards, Henry Small was dashed
that way, and ,utting out his hand to save
himself it cam directly where the hatch.
ct was fallingand was Gu: in most fear
full manner. lie was disabled, and from
that moment ould render no assistance to
his companies in peril.
The otltrs helped the captain, and in
less thanan hour, as they believe, they cut
throughhe finish, through the two-inch
plank, nd were in the hold. Had the
calamy overtaken them before they ar
rive9at Charleston, and while the hold
wasfull of cargo, they would have found
nc means of escape from the cabin, and
could not have lived another half hour. |
When they got through into the hold the
water was about four feet deep in the cab
in, and they had but two feet of air left in
which to breathe. Benumbed with cold,
half drowned and badly bruised, they
crawled up to that part of the hold where
the lumber was nearest the bottom of the
vessel, and strange as it may seem, they
fell asleep. Up to that time they had not
seen each other since the vessel went over.
They went to sleep in the darkness, as they
think, about two or three o'clock, three or
four hours after the schooner was capsized,
and they slept till after daylight for soon |
after waking the wreck was struck again
In such way as TO throw her upon her
side, and for an instant they thought she
would come over and right herself again.
In this they were doomed to disappoin,-
ment, though, had she come over. they
would doubtless have been crushed to
death with the lumber, as it would have
fallen back into its place. As it was, the
incident gave them momentary CLEAN of
hope, the only one which had cheered them
for an instant during those hours of terri
BILE Imprisonment, and they would gladly
have risked the consequences could the
sea have lifted the vessel a little further,
and brought her right side up again. But
though this was not done, something de-
sirabIe was accomplished by that noun
tain wave, and thus new hope was in
spired.
Thrown upon her side, the deck load of
lumber slid from under her, the masts
wen, away, one of The matches came off, and
the light of the sun shining down through
the water outside was reflected dimIy
through the opening thus made. SO that
for the first time, they saw each other.--
The captain, barefooied, with nothing on
but his shirt and pants, aud bleeding from
cuts and bruises he had received within
the cabin, was sight most pitiable to be-
hold. Small, with his terrible wound, was
in shocking condition, and they looked on