Litchfield enquirer., 1867-06-06
LID. CONN.,, THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1se7
The business is very serious. "

: keel ofa capsizcd boat, two fail miles from shore, with no possibility of making way either forward or backward In addition to that this bay was svarIGed with sharks, anl the nigh{-which comes on with rust! out there, you know-was inst fallinG, SC that there was no chance Of being seen and picked up. If >ya wore forced to ra;Iain in ! this desperately uncomfortable situation RI night. there was every chance that some one. overcome hy sleep, would be slippin4 of his unpleasant perch into the s2a; and it was quite certain that tie sharks, attrac- ted by such promising feast, would be cruising about Us on all sides, waitin~ like dogs, for the crumbs that fall from thei1 masters table But what was to be done: The only remedy was one that made me shudder to think of-that some one would undertake to swim two miles. in defiance of.the sharks; and in darkness. and carrF intelligence of OUT misfort1lnes to the ship A more risky expedition you can scarcely imagine, and 1t almost took my breatl! away when I heard Jones voice from the other end of the boat say: Somebody has got to go and get assistance. and IS I'm the best swimmer of yon al I'll go''
 By gad think ef the sharks old fellow, ; said the man next to him.
 ' Just what shan | do, said Jones, ] shall think Of them just as little as possible There's no help fer it, you know; some one must go."
 ''It was 50 thoroughly one man talk ing the danger of ten on his own shoulders, that each of ils, from very shame, endeay- ored to dissaade ltim; but $ all we could say made no in1 pression upon him, mid i shipman named Knapton, who wasa very good swimmer declared he'd accompany him.
 1 G It's better for two of us to go, said Knapton; for if oGly one went and he were to come too grief On the way you know, l these fellows would be no better off than they are now"
 ''People talk Q good deal about our na- 1 tional degeneracy nowadays; it doesn't look much like degeneracy, I imagine, when out of ten men-some of whom not being able to swim ct all, must be left out of the account-two could be found to go in for ruch forlorn hope as this. Well Jones and Knapton stripped them te the skin-The less luggage you take with you on journey of this kind, the better and dashed into the water; and you may ! fancy with what anxious hearts We on the boat watched, as long as the falling light would let us, their heads rising and falling with the waves; and the splashing made by their feet,''
 "'Kick we'll, said Jones to Knapton, fo, you know what towards sharks are, and what little thing will sometimes frighten tlem-'kick well: make as mucl splash as possible, it's your only chance if they get sight at you"
 And there we sat in silence-even the Jooto,. 1,oo ,1,,y,h thot fl, q two heroes for, heroes they were, if there are such things at all; first their heads were lost in the darkness, then the white foam made by their feet. and knowing as we did the dangers that surrounded them, when we lost sight of that, the hope that they could ever reach the shore, seemed to mix with the darkness, and to be lost as well. i It is a terribly painful thing to have to re, main inactive while others are incurring great danger to feel that you cannot raise 1 finger to help them, however desperate their position. 1 don know that I ever passed a more wretched time than I did af ter Jones and Knapton had got beyond ou1 sight. As l sat shivering on that disma
 boat, thinking of those two fellows swim ing along in the midst of perils which they had no power to avoid, there came into my mind scene from an old book, which had not read since l was a child. in which
 @ man had to pass in the dead of night
 through valley set everywhere with snares and pitfalls which in the darkness he could not see, but still was forced to go walking 1 b;indly on, conscious that at any moment
 he might step into an absolute destruction
 But Jones and the midshipman were swimming steadily all the while, for some
 time almost side by side, their faces set fol
 the shore, and their thoughts dwelling a$ little as possible upon what might happen
 at any moment down below; Some men, among them-have 6 horror touching any thing. under water; and l am certain Ii
 had been either of those fellows, the very knowledge that every kick i gave mtgh
 send my foot against @ shark, who would
 snip off my leg in Q twinklng, would have
 acted like the touch of the electrical eelu
 on me, and derived my muscles Of all pow
 CT of motion It did not operate so witt them however The apprehension made
 them more active in trying to esc1pe iron
 it, and for about three quarters of a mile
 we could not see them, of course but a
 you may imagine, we had every single in cident related to us afteTwards-they pro
 ceeded swiftly and evenly, But as they
 accomplished that distance, Hampton be gan to CIOp SIbuistllNN DCii1ei. AAN' i4's>. >A
 ther overated his powers, or exhausted
 himself with kicking to vigorously; at an.
 rate. from whatever cause when they hae
 gone about mile he cried out to Jones
 I can't go no further. I must shut up
 You go on. Never mind me, go. Jone however, was the last man in the world t'
 desert a friend in difficulties; he turned end swam back to him at once.
 ssAre you done up, old fellow" Jone: said to him.
 "Yes," said the midshipman, Il can go on any farther. But you go on; yot had better leave me-"
 "Not I,'' said Jones; "we set out to
 gether, and we'll finish together, or not 8 all. Now. look here. Don't you grasp a
 me, and cling to me; you re too good { ]; swimmer not to know that's raving mad
 ness. Rest your hands upon my hips; le ?, your body float quietly. out; and I'll SCI what can do.'
 "Knapton did what he was exactly bid den: Jones stretched himself out befor him: and with more than ever resting up
 on him, now, in every sense o1 the term struck out again for the shore as resolutel. as before. Who was that rusty old hero
 Eneas. was it? pious 1Eneas?-that the.
 made so much fuss about, because he car ried his father on his shoulders out o burning Troy, all the while in mortal drea' ] that the Greeks would pop out upon hin | ,t ,x-o~,- oo,,,oro Well he WAS not nor