The Placer herald., 1873-05-10

vuls've, l should have fallen TO the floor.
stood nailed to the spot. For there, right
before me, stood crowd Of people-men
and women-caught in the last death strug-
gle by the overwhelming waters, and fastened
to the spot, each in the position in which
death had found them. 1, Each one had
sprung from his chair at the shock of the
sinking ship, and, with one common emotion,
all had started for the door. But the waters
of the sea had been to swift for them. Lo!
then-some wildly grasping the table, others
the beams, others the sides of the cabin
there they all stood. Near the door was a
crowd of people, heaped upon one another
some on the floor, others rushing over them
all seeking, madly, to gain the outlet
There was one who sought to Chamber over
the table, and still was there, holding on to
an iron post. So strong was each convulsve
grasp, SO fierce the struggle of each one with
death, that their hold had not yet been re-
laxed; but each one stood and looked fran
ticly to the door.
TO the door-good God! To me, to me
they were looking They were glaring at
me, all those dreadful, those terrible eyes!
Eyes in which the fire of life had been dis
placed by the chilling CLEAN of death; eyes
which still glared, like the eyes of maniac,
with no expression. They froze me with
their cold and icy stare. They had no
meaning, for the soul had gone. And this
made it still more horrible than it could have
been in life, for the appalling contortion of
their faces, expressing fear, horror, despair,
and whatever else the human soul may feel,
contrasting with the cold and CLASSY eyes,
made their vacancy yet more fearful He,
upon the table, seemed more fendish than
the others, for his long, black hair was
disheveled, and Aoated horribly down; and
his beard and moustache, all loosened by
the water, gave him the grimness of demon.
Oh, what woe and torture! what unutterable
agonies appeared in the desparing glance Of
those faces--faces twisted into spasmodic
contortions, while the souls that lighted them
were writhng and struggling for life.
l needed not the dangerous sea which,
even when we reached the steamer, had
slightly rolled. Down in those awful depths
the swell would not be very strong, unless it
increased with ten-fold fury above. But it
had been increasing, though had not noticed
it, and the motion Of the water began to be
felt in these abysses Suddenly the steamer
was shaken and rocked by the swell.
At this the hideous forms were shaken
and fell. The heaps of people rolled asunder.
That demon on the table seemed to make a
spring directly toward me. l fled, shrieking
all were after me, thought. rushed
out, with no purpose but to escape. l tried
to throw off my weights and rise.
My weights could not be loosened. l
pulled at them with frantic exertions, but
could not loosen them. The iron fastenings
had grown.stiff. One of them wrested off,
at last, in my convulsive efforts, but the
other still kept me down. The tube, also,
was lying down still along the passage-way
through the machine rooms. did not know
this until had exhausted my strength, and
almost my hope, in vain efforts to loosen the
weight, and still the horror of that scene in
the cabin rested upon me.
Where was Rimmer? The thought flashed
across me. He was not here. He had re-
turned. Two weights lay near, which
seemed thrown off in terrible haste. Yes,
Rimmer had gone. looked up; there lay
the boat, tossing and rolling among the
waves.
l rushed down into the machine-room, to
go back, SO as to loosen my tube. | had
gone through the passages carelessly, and
this lay there, for it was unrolled from
above as | went on. went back in haste
to extricate myself; could stay here no
longer, for if all the gold of Golconda was in
the vessel, would not stay in company with
the dreadful dead.
Back-fear lent wings to my feet. ] hur-
ried down the stairs into the lower hold once
more, and retraced my steps through the
passages below. walked back to the place
into which had first descended. 1t was
dark; a new feeling of horror shot through
me; looked up. The aperture was closed
Heavens! was it closed by mortal hands u?
Had Rimmer, in his panic fight blindly
thrown down the trap-door, which now re-
membered to have seen open when | de-
scended? or had some fearful being from the
cabin-that demon who sprang towards
me-?
! started back in terror.
But l could not stay here; must go;
must escape from this den of horrors. l
sprang up the ladder, and tried to raise the
door. 1t resisted my efforts. | put my
helmeted head against it and tried to raise it;
the rung of the ladder broke beneath me, but
the door was not raised. My tube came
down through it and kept it partly open, for
it was a strong tube, and kept strongly ex-
panded by close-wound wire.
seized bar of iron, and tried to pry it
up; l raised it slightly but there was no way
to get it up further. looked around and
found some blocks; then raised the heavy
door, little by little, placing the blocks under
it, keep what gained. But the work was
slow and laborous, and had worked long
time before l had raised it four inches.
The sea rolled more and more. The sub
merged vessel felt its power, and rocked.
Suddenly it wheeled over and lay on its
side.
] ran around to get on the deck above, to
II Al l. <>