The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-01-28

1 tW
Il ~ Aant;s Aseu.6s Sm February
| = he following sketch By Naxk Twain;
A Aour be6egs snnsst II. B. tOoa
he wheel anA III. W. stepped aside.
For tAe next thirty minutes every maa
keld his watch IN his hand aad was rest
| less, silent and uneasy. At last some
body said with dooaful sigh:
"Well, yonder's Hat Island-and we
can't make IL"
All the watches closed with snap,
everybody sighed and muttered some
thing about it being "too Bad, too bad
-ah, If we could only have got here half
N hour sooner!" and the place was thick
with the atmosphere of disappointment.
Some started to go out but loitercd,
hearing no bell-tap to land The sum
dipped behind the horizon, the boat went
on. Inquiring looks passed from one
guest to another, and one who had his
hand on the door-knob and had turned it
waited, then presently took away his
hand and let the knob turn back again.
We bore steadily down the bend. More
locks were exchanged and mods Of sur
prised admiration-but no words. In
sensibly the men drew together behind
Mr.. B. as the sky darkened and one
or two dim stars came out The dead
silence and sense of waiting became OPP
pressive. Mr.. B. pulled the cord and
two deep, mellow notes from the big bell
floated off on the night. Then pause
and one more note was struck. The
watchman's voice followed, from the hur-
ricane deck:
"Labboard lead, there! Stabboard
lead :"
The cries of the leadsmen began to rise
out of the distance, and were grufiy re-
peated by the word passers on the hurri-
cane deck.
MARX three! Mark three! Quar-
ter.less-three! Half twain! Quarter
twain! Mark twain! Quarter-less"-
Mr. B pulled two bellropes and
was answered by faint jinglings far be-
low in the engine-room, and our speed
slackened. The steam began to whistle
through the gauge-cocks. The cries Of
the leadsmen went on-and it is . weird
sound always in the night. Every pilot
in the lot was watching, now, with fixed
eyes, and talking under his breath. No
body was calm and easy but Mr.. b.
He would put his wheel down and stand
on spoke, and as the steamer swung
into her TO mel utterly invisible marks
for we seemed to be in the midst of .
wide and gloomy sea-he would meet
and fssten her there. Talk was going on
now, in low voices:
There; she's over the first reef all
rightm
After pause, another subdued voice:
"Her stern's coming down just exactly
right, by George! Now she's in the marks;
over she goesp'
Somebody else muttered:
"Oh, it was done beautiful-beauti-
full"
Now the engines were stopped alto
gether, and we drifted with the cur.
rent Not that l could see the boat
drift, for l could not, the stars being all
gone by this time. This drifting was
the dismalest work; it held ones heart
still. Presently discovered blacker
gloom than that which surrounded us.
1t was the head of the island. We were
closing right down upon it. We entered
its deeper shadow, and so imminent
seemed the peril that was likely to SUI.
focate; and had the strongest impulse to
do something, anything to save the yes
sci. But still Mr.. B stood by his
wheel, silent, intent as a cat, and all the
pilots stood shoulder to shoulder at his
back.
"She'll not make it," somebody wins
pered.
The water grew shoaler and shoaler
by the leadsmen's cries, till it was down
to-
Eight-and-a-half! Eight feet!
Eight feet! Seven-and'-
Mr.. B said warningly through his
speaking tube to the engineer:
Stand by, now!"
AYE, aye, sir"
Seven and a half! Seven feet, Six
and"--
We touched bottom. Instantly Mr..
b set lot of bells ringing, shouted
through the tube Nov let her have it
every ounce you've gotr' Then to his
partner: Put her hard down! snatch
her. snatch her." The boat rasped and
ground her way through the sand, hung
upon the apex Of disaster a single ire
mendous instant, and then over she went!
And such shout as went up at Mr..
BIS back never loosened the roof of
pilot-house before!
There was no more trouble after that.
Mr.. B was hero that night; and it
was some little time, too, before his ex
plot ceased to be talked about by river
men. The last remark / heard that night
was compliment to Mr. B. uttered
In soliloquy and with JUNCTION by one of
our guests. He said: by the shadow
of death hut hos a l;ohtr;uv n;,otr.