Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-03-14
early overheard there burst 6tlk all at once

saw and of deep bright blue: and, tn 70
it there blazed forth the full moon, with
lustre that never before knew her to wear
She lit up. everything about us with til,
greatest distinctness; but, o God what
scene it was to light upl
!" now made one or two attempts tx
speak to my brother; but in some manne
which could not understand, the din ha(
50 increased, that /. could not make hin
hear q single word, although / screamed a.
the top Of my voice. in his ear. Presently
he shook his head, looking as pale as death
and ghelf up one of his fingers, as if to say
Listen T. 49, e,ft $50. 800, 4..,it.,;-s
-. .Atfirst could not make out what he
meant, but soon a hideous thought flashed
upon me.5 dragged my watch from its
tobs! 1t was not going. I glanced at the
face by the moonlight, and then burst in
to tears as flung it far away into the ocean
1t had run down at sevenl We were be-
hind the time of the slack, and the whirl OF
the StrOm was in full fury ,ap3t ep
sjSWhen a boat is; we'll built, properly and
not deeply laden, the. waves in a strong
lgale, when she is going high, seem always
very strange TO 1andsmen, and this is what
is called riding, in sea phrase. Well, so
far we had ridden the sweIls very cleverly;
but presently aFgigantic sea happened to
take us right under the counter, and bore
us with it as it rose-up-up-as if into
the sky would not have believed that
any wave could rise so high. And then
down we came with sweep. a slide, and a
plunge, that made me feel quite dizzy, as
If were falling from some lofty mountain
top in dream. , .,,.r,r,1l 4 - ,,r,...,,,.,
,''It could not have been more than two
minutes afterwards, when we suddenly
felt the waves subside, and were enveloped
in foam. = The boat made sharp half-turn
to larboard, and shot off in its new direc-
tion like a thunderbolt. We were in the
belt of surf that always surrounds the
whirl; and I thought, of course, that an
other moment we must plunge into the
abyss, down which we could only see in
distinctly, on account of the amazing We
1ocity with which we were borne along.
1T may appear strange, but now, when
we were in the very jaws of the gulf,
felt more composed than when we were
only approaching it. Having made up my
mind to hope no more, got rid of great
deal of that terror which unnamed me at
first. suppose it was despair that strung
my nerves. 49,
After little while became possessed
with the keenest curiosity about the whirl
itself. positively felt a wish to explore
Its depths, even at the sacrifice was going
to make; and my principal grief was that
I should never be able to tell my old COM
ipanions on shore about the mysteries L
should see. These, no doubt, were singu-
lar fahcies to- occupy mans mind in such
extremity, and have often thought since
that the revolutions of the boat around the
pool might have rendered me little light
headed. f;ii5- iiA 1tl
:" How often we made the circuit of the
belt it is impossible to say. We careered
round and round for perhaps an hour, fly
ing rather than floating, getting gradually
more and more into the middle of the surge,
and then nearer and nearer to its horrible
inner edge. All this time had never let
go of the ring-bolt. My brother was at the
stern, holding on to small empty water
cask, which had been scarcely dashed un-
der the coop of the counter, and was the
only thing on deck that had not been swept
overheard, when the gale first took US. As
we approached the brink of the pit he let
/ go his hold upon this, and made for the
ring, from which, in the agony of his ter
rOr, he endeavored to force my hand, as it
wasnot large enough to afford us both a
secure grasp. never felt deeper grief
than when saw him attempt this act, al
though knew he was a mailman when he
did it-a raving maniac through sheer
fright. did not care, however, to contest
the point with him. Iknew it could make
no difference whether either of US held on
at all; so 1 let him have the bolt and went
astern to the cask. This there was no diff
ficulty in doing, for the smack flew round
steadily enough, and upon an even keel,
only swaying TO and fro with the immense
sweeps and swelters of the whirl. Scarce
ly had secured myself in my new posi-
tion when we gave wild lurch to star
board, and rushed headlong into the abyss.
] muttered a hurried prayer to God, and
thought aii was over.
-'tAs felt the sickening sweep of the de-
scent, had instinctively frightened my hold
upon tne barrel, and closed my eyes. For
some seconds dared not open-them, while
j, expected instant destruction, and won
dered that was: not already in my death
struggles with the water. But moment
after moment elapsed. I still lived. The
sense of falling had ceased, and the motion
of the vessel seemed much as it had been
before, while in the belt Of foam, with
the exception that she nowlay more along.
I took courage, and looked once again upon
the, scene. .,tt,ft.,s ,fn 49, --f ;-. .fr.
..Never shall 1 forget the sensation of
awe, horror and admiration with which
gazed about me. The boat appeared to be
hanging, as if by magic, midway down,
upon the interior OF funnel vast in cir
cumference, prodigious in depth, and with
perfectly smooth sides that might have been
mistaken for ebony, but for the bewilder-
ing rapidity with which they spun round.
and for the cleaning and ghastly radiance
they shot forth, as the rays of the full moon,
from that circular rift amid the clouds
which l have already described, streamed
in flood of golden glory, along the black
walls, and far away down into the inmost
recesses of the abyss. e-s.- b
eat first j was too much confused to OBJ
serve ything accurately. The general
burst OF terrific grandeur was all that be-
held. When L recovered myself little,
however, my gaze fell instinctiVely down.
ward. In this direction 1 was able to OBJ
tain an unobstructed view, from the man.
ner in which the smack hung on the
inclined surface of the pool She was quite
upon an even keel-that is to say, her deck
lay in a plane parallel with that of the wa
ter; but this latter sloped at an angle of
more than fOrty-five degrees, so that we
seemed to be lying upon our beam ends.
could not help observing, nevertheless, that
had scarcely more difficulty in maintain
ing my hold than if we had been upon a
dead level; and this, / suppose, was owing |
to the speed at which we revolved.
sour first slide into the abyss itself, from |
the belt of foam above, had carried us
great distance down the slope; but our
further progress was by no means prOpor-
tionate. Round and round we swept, not |
with any uniform movement, but in dizzying |
swings and jerks, that sent us sometimes |
only a few hundred yards, sometimes near
lY the complete circuit of the whirl. Our |
downward at each revolution was |
slow, but very perceptible.
's have already described the unnatural |
curiosity which had taken the place of my |
original terror. j now began to watch.
with strange interest, the numerous things |
that hOated in our company. Il must have |
been delirious, for even sought amusement |
in specializing upon the relative velocities |
of their several descents towards the foam
below. This fir-tree,'I found myself at |
one time saying, will certainly be the next |
thing that takes the awful plunge and dis |
and then was disappointed to |
find that the wreck of a Dutch merchant |
ship overlook it and went down before. At |
length, after making several guesses of this
nature, and being deceived in all, this fact
1.-The fact of my invariable miscalculation |
set me nnnnl q train of rnfiection that |