The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-06-14

chartered tug and went down to the
J., laden with lumber was anchored in the
b middle of the river, and they were debark.
t ed on this. President Sharp was the first
6 to plunge in. He is good swimmer, but
G ! he soon discovered that the tide was too
swift for anything to swim up except an
4 experienced native of the element, and he
caught, by great exertion the stern end of
a a sl1iff tied to the schooner.
Y 'Boys," said he, "don't any of you get
D too far from the boat, or you'll be drifted
into the gulf
} Unheeding this timely warning, Profess
sor Jayne dived into the river, and swan
out some fifty or sixty yards. He tried to
swim back to the boat, but after struggling
for several minutes, found the tide was too
swift.
"Holler," says Sharp, "and we'll bring
the skiff TO you"
won't holler," returned Jayne, "if I
have swim over to Cuba"
| Ah Ai6hVp ~ utloou puI blooE CicdL VI
the Sharks"
The spectators on the schooner looked at
Jayne fight against the tide for some time.
The contest was unequal and was getting
full of alarm. 1t could end in only one
result, the determination of Jayne. The
skiff was loosened, and three land>lubbers,
dressed in the original uniform provided
for Adam before the invention of fig leaves,
started out to the rescue of Jayne. None
of them had ever been in q skiff before, or
understood the mysterious art of rowing
They had another difficulty to contend
with. Two of the party were editorial light
weights and thin in an avoirdupois sense
The third man weighed two hundred and
fifty. Whichever side of the boat the fat
man got on, that side went down, and the
two thin subjects had to stand on the oppo-
site rim to save the craft from capsizing
They experienced much difficulty in pre-
serving proper balance of weight. The
trouble with the oars arose mainly from a
want of education upon the fulcrum prin> |
ciple of yachting. One man would give |
himself not enough of leverage, and the |
other fellow would take altogether too
much, and frequently job his companion
in his exposed short ribs with the handle |
end Of his oar. Besides, as ill fortune
would have it, the fat man and one of the |
the lean men got on the rowing seat, |
When the fat man put his paddle down in
the water, he could never get it out again
without embarrassing it, and the lean oars
man could never reach the water with the
paddle end of his oar. The cause of these
unsatisfactory results is philosophically
explained thus By the principle of avoir
| dupois and the laws of gravitation, the
side of the boat on which the fat man sat
sank down nearly to the waters surface, |
aud the lean mans side was, of course, |
correspondingly elevated; SO that the boat
was creened to an ungraceful angle of thirty |
three and a third degrees. Ia this unnat-
ural attitude of the boat the difficulty of
rowing will be seen and appreciated. 1t
was a ludicrous sight, and undoubtedly |
would have provoked laughter, but for the
impending fate of Jayne.
By this time Jayne had dfjfted some three
or four hundred yard ont among the sharks,
and every stroke seemed like his last. He
had exhausted his wind and strength in
trying to overcome the current, in the first
place. Slowly, however, the skif, uot~
withstanding its awkward management,
gained on him. There was dim ray of
hope from this source. The boat might not
capsize, aDa Il might get to him. 1t is said
that ga drowning man will catch at straws,"
and Jayne was in fix to catch at any chance,
even the chance this crude expedition held
out to save his life. With the inspiration
of this hope he redoubled his struggles to
keep his nose out of the salt water.
At length the boat had overtaken him,
but owing TO the absence of steering
knowledge on tue part of the amateur
craftsmen, it missed him, and shot by
about twenty feet on the right of him. 1t
looked now as if the jig was mp with Jayne
sure enough. However, the fat man nm
SHIPPED his oar and rounded the boat to, and |
the lean man at the bow had the presence of
mind to throw the tow>line to Jayne, who
seized it and pulled himself to the boat.
Jayne was saved, but now the party were
a quarter of mile from us, and tho rapid |
current was bearing them still further. Our {
steam tug had gone off to carry the ladies
out of the presence of the swimmers, and
would not be back for an hour. How TO ,
get back was the startling question that oc> {
Cured to the four nude adventurers in the
skiff. They undertook to row the boat up
the tide, but every stroke carried them fur'
ther into the Gulf. Their situation was dis
covered by the Light House man, who took
his trumpet, and hallood to them to turn
towards the bank and row out of the tide
current. This they did, and finally worked
their way back to the anchored schooner.
RS SHARK.
This episode, it may well be imagined had
the effect of preventing any more exper-
iments of swimming too far from the boat.
One bather tied long rope to the skif and
jumped out with one end in his hand to b
pull back by. Heleft his rOpein the water,
and when our county-man, ID. W. Rice,
swan up to the skia, the rope, unsoon and d
hid in the water, gently wrapped itself around
bis legs and body. ly