The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-03-03

ment of mine was quick; rushed up
ward; sprang out upon the deck.
1t was Rimmerl
He stepped forward and clutched my
arm. He pressed it with convulsive
grasp, and pointed to the cabin.
attempted to go there.
He stamped his foot, and tried to
hold me back. He pointed to the boat,
and implored me, with frantic gestures,
to go up.
1t is appalling. to witness the horror
struck soul trying to express itself by
signs. 1t is awful to see these signs
when no face is plainly visible, and no
voice is heard. L could not see his face
plainly, but his eyes, through his heavy
mask, glowed like Goals of fire.
81 will go" exclaimed. I sprang
from him. He clasped his hands to-
gether, but dared not follow.
Good heaven L thought, what fear
full thing is here2 What scene can be so
dreadful as to paralyze the soul of a
practiced diver. L will see for myself.
walked forward. L came to the cabin
door. l entered the forward saloon, but
saw nothing. A feeling of contempt
came to me. Rimmer shall not come
with me again, L thought. Yet L was
awc-struck. Down i'll the depths of the
sea there is only silence-oh, how sol
emn 1 paced the long saloon, which
had echoed with the shrieks of the
drowning passengers. All! there are
thoughts which sometimes fill the soul,
which are only felt by those to whom
scenes of sublimity are familiar. Thus
thinking, walked to the after-cabin and
entered.
Had not my hand clenched the door
with grasp which mortal terror had
made convulsive, l should have fallen to
the door. L stood nailed to the spot.
For there before me stood n crowd Of
pcople-men and women-caught in the
last death struggle by the overwhelming
waters, and fastened to the spot, each in
the position in which death had found
him. Each one had sprung from Lis
chair Mt 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 too swift for them. Lo!
then-some wildly grasping the table,
others the beams, others the sides of the
cabin-there they oil stood Near the
door was 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 convulsiye
grasp, so fierce the struggle of each with
death, that their hold had not yet been
relaxed; but each one stood and looked
franticauy to the door.
TO the door-good heaven! To me,
to me they We're looking They were
glancing at me, all those dreadful, those
terrible eyes! Eyes in which the fire of
life had been displaced by the chilling
gleam of death. Eyes which still glared,
like the eyes of the maniac, with no ex-
preston. 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 tiendish than the others, for his
long black hair was disheveled, and
tloated horribly down--nnd his beard
and mustache, all loosened by the water,
gave him the grimness of demon.
oLl, "iiiU Woo ! WlaU unllU-
terable agonies appeared in the despair
ing glance of those faces-faces twisted
into spasmodic contortions, while the
souls that lighted them wero writhing
and struggling for life.
needed not the dangerous sea which,
even when we touched the steamer, had
slightly rolled. Down in these awful
depths the swell would not be very strong
1tY,1n ~ oh,
fury above. But it had been increasing,
though had not noticed it, and the mo-
tion of the water began to be felt in the
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 spring directly toward
me. L fed, shrieking-all were after
me, thought. L rushed out, with no
purpose but to escape. L sought to
throw off my weights and rise.
My weights could not be loosened-I
pulled ut them with frantic exertions,
but could not loosen them. The iron
fastenings had grown stiff. One of them
L wrested Off i'll my convulsive efforts,
but the other still kept me down. The
tube, also, was lying down still in nv
passage-way through the machine rooms.
L did not know thisuntil I 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 Rimmer2 The thought
flushed across me. He was not here.
He had returned. Two weights lay
near, which seemed thrown off in terrible
haste. Yes, Rimmer had gone. 1
looked up; there lay the boat, tossing
and rolling amonp the wayes