The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-07-17

within few feet of his poor, parched
hpsl Think of his last dying, starving
moments. disturbed by the incessant
rafting and rolling of those canisters
of food, touching him even as they
rolled backward and forward across the
floor of the cabin with every motion Of
the VESSEL Think, in short, of the
agony of a man dying for want of that
which is at his feetl Those who have
never known real hunger nor thirst
cannot conceive the suferings of that
man thus starving in the midst of
plenty.
There were ominous sounds of burst
ings of pent-up air in the hold of the
vessel, which confirmed my suspicious
that the wreck could not float many
minutes longer, so I fastened on deck.
1 hailed the cutter, which was lying off
at a little distance, TO come alongside,
and had hardly done speaking when
the bark suddsnly lurched over and
fell on her broadside. This rendered it
impossible for the boat to come along
side: and, whilst she was pulling round
to the stern, from whence could have
dropped into her, / felt the wrecked
vessel stagger two or three times; there
came the usual rush of wind bursting
up the hatchways; then, with mighty
plunge, she sank to rise no more, and i
found myself struggling for life in the
kissing sea. For an instant I battled
with the fierce waves that dashed in my
face, at the same time binding and
choking me; and then the whirlpool
caused by the ships sudden SUMNER
sion drew me with overwhelming
strength into its angry, roaring vortex.
AS the world of waters closed over
my head. felt myself sucked down and
down by this irresistible force. 1t was
an awful moment My brain was in
whirl caused by the frightful rapidity
with which I had revolved while being
dragged down by this terrible eddy. 1
was painfully aware of an overwhelm-
ing pressure that exerted itself on all
parts of my body, but principally on
the eyes, seeming to press them into my
head as if with the strong fingers of
giant. In my ears there was deafen-
ing roar, like the lower notes of stupen-
dous organs. 1 well remember, too, a
strangely horrible feeling of having, as
it were, lost my way, for could not by
any means tell which way was up, or
down, or sideways. This crushed any
little hope that 1 had, and was especial
ly dreadful, because was conscious OF
yet having the power to swim could L
but be sure that / was swimming up
ward and not wasting my strength in
any other direction. Ideas like these,
though taking long to write, flashed
across my mind by hundreds in Sec
ond. In such moments the brain seems
capable of marvelously vivid intensity
of action that it at no other time pos
sesses. --...-.-.--..--.-a.
With difficulty 1 opened my eyes,
smarting with the brine, but Jail was a
uniform dark grey green, and the pain
made me quickly close them again. As
the lungs filled with water, and suffoca-
ton supervened, the sensation was hor-
rible in the extreme. I never thought
it would have been such agony to die.
The common belief that to drown is an
easy death 1 hold to be one of the
greatest possible fallacies.
The climax of pain at length was
reached, and then became insensible
to it, and felt vague sensation OF re-
enacting scenes in my past life, many
of which until then had utterly forgot
ten. On came these silent phantoms of
the past, without, / think, any particu-
lar order, but with the intense distinct
ness of vivid dream. Gradually it be-
came lighter and lighter, until there
was a perfect blaze of white light; but
this as gradually died away again, and
the current of my vision, which had
been momentarily broken, was resumed,
though now dimly.
There was throughout nothing spec
ter-like nor appalling in these appari-
tons; they were simply friends, to
whom / had no power to speak, nor
they to me. By degrees they were be-
ginning to get fainter and more con-
fused, when the light became brighter
and brighter, and there came the same
blaze as before. 1t was Just again wan
ing, when, for an instant, I felt a terri
bly-sharp pain in the head, and the
glaring light returned, driving away all
my ghostly friends, and leaving in their
stead nothing but great white blank.
Then followed an excruciating bodily
sense of bursting, and knew no more,
until two days afterward I found my
self, very weak and i'll, swinging in my
cot on board the old Nonpareil.
1t seems that, when 1 disappeared
with the wreck, the boat, as soon as the
dangerous whirlpool had subsidized, con-
tinued to pull backward and forward
over the spot waiting for me to rise.
They had almost given me up for lost
when, at length, 1 rose to the surface,
and sank again before they were able to
reach me. The next time, fortunately,
they were more successful. for they
caught me by the hair Just as I was
sinking. This accounted for the sharp
pain in the head that 1 felt on coming
to the light for the second time. For
some time I was thought to be dead,
but, under skillful treatment, animation
returned, and, after a long and tedious
illness, I was eventually as well as ever,
but not likely to forget my sensations
while drowning.
1t may be satisfaction to the reader
it certainly was to me--to know that
the mutinous crew of the wrecked bark
never came to land, and that thus the
sea avenged the cruel murder of their
Captain.