Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-10-19
THE STEAMER ON FIRE.
Fiom Rev. Mr.. Murray's new Book

-Tinsleys Magazine
THE STEAMER ON FIRE.
Fiom Rev. Mr.. Murray's new Book
The Captain stood another instant il
profound thought, during which time his
quick and fearless mind had considered
all the contingencies, and, without a sin
gle word to the three men who were with
him, he started for the deck and the ri
lot house. He summoned the Chief En-
gineer and his officers around him, anC
stated what he had discovered the
whole subject in few terse words be-
fore them, and said
Gentlemen, in five minutes the sa-
looms will be like an oven, and the win
dows of this pilot-house will be cracking
Have you anything to suggest?"
The first officer, sailor from boy
hood, whose head and beard were alrea-
dy gray, said promptly:
Captain, we must beach her." The
others looked their assent.
1t is our only course" said the Cap
tain. " Pilot" said he, turning to the
man whose eye was on the lookout, 'can
you beach her? "
The man deliberated moment, and
said:
Captain, am ready to take any re-
sponsibility that man in my position
should take. | am ready to execute any
order you give: but will not take the
responsibility of running this steamer
with 600 persons aboard, on on to coast
that l know nothing of beyond the
knowledge | have of the lights, the reefs
and the harbors. 1t would be a mere
chance if | got within half a mile of the
shore"
The Captain actually groaned. He
saw and admitted the force of the pilot s
assertion. For a moment not word
was spoken, while the ship went tearing
on through the water, and the Fremont
tlons OF rising tumult came to their ears
from below, showing that the passengers
were already on the move. He looked
an instant into each face below him,
lifted his hand and wiped the great
drops OF sweat from his forehead, and
said:
Gentlemen, what shall we do? | al
ready feel the floor under my feet heat
ing! The passengers are moving out of
the saloon! What we do must be done
quickly! We are overloaded. Our boats
wouldn't accommodate half, and besides
boat couldn't live in that sea. What
shall we dO?"
Not a man spoke. They felt as if the
horror of death was fast shutting down
around them. They were brave, they
were calm. They showed no evidence of
fear. They could meet death as men
should meet it; but they could not tell
how to escape it. Suddenly the Cap
tain 81 face lighted, with light which
was the reflection of hope, of cOnjec-
ture, of possibility. He darted out of
the pilot-house, swung himself down
among the crew, who were busy with
the pumps and hose, and shouted, with
the concentration Of voice that penetra-
ted the roar of the storm like a knife:
Is there man here who knows this
coast?"
When the Captain dropped among
them the men stopped their work and
stoofstaring at him. Only the old trap
per and Herbert, each of whom stood
above the forward hatch, hose in hand,
directing the streams that the pumps
sent through the swelling tube, down
ward, kept their position. The Captain
waited moment, while the light faded
from his cOuntenance as no response
came, and then, as if in despair, he
shouted:
Is there man here who knows this
coast?"
Again no reply came, and he was up
on the point of turning away when the
lad, who had been kneeling under the
protection of the bulwark trying to stop
a rent which the pressure had made in
the hose that the old trapper was tend
ing, arose out of the shadow and ap-
preaching the Captain, said:
Yes, sir. | know the coast"
Who are you" said the Captain,
that claim such knowledge? Are you
not the youth saw with the old hunter
at the table tonight? How should you,
born in the interior, know anything of
this cOast?"
Il was not born in the woods, re-
spOnded the lad. Il was born within
ten miles OF where we are now, and [
know every rock, reef and point, for |
have fished from them all; and | know
CNCIy UCdCil, IoI L uSCu W pay OH lIlCIll
when a boy"
The Captain looked incredulous. He
had associated him with the hunter and
the wilderness, and it seemed incredible
that he should have been born where he
said he was born, and that he should be
on that boat that night, and be discover
ed by the merest accident at the very
instant of supreme peril.
Captain, said the old trapper, who
had drawn nigh; Captain, whatever the
lad says, ye kin sartinly take for gospel
truth. And if he says he was born here,
he was born here; and if he says he
knows this shore, he does know it; and
ye kin rely on him to do what he says
he kin do; for his words be truth, and
his acts be like his words"
Young man." said the Captain, ''have
you any other friends on board besides
this hunter?'
Sartin he has," the old man answer
ing the question for the lad, there be
Henry there, who has boated with him
and camped with him, off and on, and
the lad saved his life once, and that's a
sarvlce man ain apt to fOrgit Yes,
you may set it down, Cap'n, that Henry
and me be the lads friends"
Call him here" said the Captain,
hoarsely, and then follow me to the pi-
lot-hOuse."
1t was with the greatest effort that
the four were able to reach the point
designated, for the gale was blowing
with increased violence, and the IRON
rod and the ropes they grasped to stea-
dy themselves, were already hot; and
even as they reached the upper deck,
the flames broke fiercely out from the
hatchway, and the fire began to run in
wavering lines along the inner timbers
of the bulwarks and the ornamental
edgings of the upper deck.
l have called you here" said the
Captain, "to ask you, in the presence of
my officers, if there is any safe spot
any cove or bay, into which the steamer
can be run along the coast abreast of
us?"
Do you mean to beach her, Cap
tain?" asked the lad,
Yes" he responded, 1T is our only
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