The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-07-30

times stuck our heads 10 for a good sniff
Of air. though " llham Anderson Was OPP
posed % TINS, beng OF the opinion that
We ough; 10 put ourselves on short rat
ions Of breathing 50 a. TO make the sup
pig Of air hold oat - long a. possible
But whats the good. said | To William.
of irving tn make the air hold aut #
ge .e got Ia he suiocated ia this place
after al What's the good says lac
'Hayentyou enough biscuits, aud canne''
meats. aud plenty of other ia nKs 10 eat,
aud q barrel of water IN that room oppo-
site the pantry, not 10 speak of wine and
brandy i, YOU want 10 cheer yourself up 3
bit, aud haven't We good mattresses to
sleep on. aud why shouldn't We Try 10
i've aud be comfortable a. long n, W cauf
w hat ! want, said |. i 10 ee, U OF
hi. box. The idea 81 beng shut up in
here down under the water j. more than
[ can stand. Id rather take my chances
going up to the surface aud swimming
| about TILL | found a piece Of the wreck.o or
something to foat on You needn't
think Of anything of that sort said VIII
liam, for /! we were To open a door or 3
window to get out. the water'd rush IN
and drive Us back and I'LL up this place
in no time and then the whole concern
would 20 TO the bottom. And what would
you do if you did get to the top OF the
water? It's not likely you'd find any
thing there to get on, and if you did you
wouldn't live very long floating about
with nothing to eat. No, sir. says he,
what we've got to do is to be cpntent
with the comforts we have around Us, and
something will turn up to get Us out Of
this you see if IT don't. There was no
use talking against William Anderson,
and [ didn't say any more about getting
out. As for Sam, te spent his time al
the windows of the state-room a-lookIng
out. We could sec a good way into the
water, further than YOU would Thick, and
We sometimes saw fishes, especially y r
poises, swimming about, most likely try
lug to find out what a ship Was doing
hanging bows down under the water
What troubled Sam was that a sword fish
might come along and jab his sword
through one of the windows. In tha,
case 1t would be all up, or rather down,
with u. Every now and her he'd sing
out, Here comes one : and then, Just "a
I'd give a jump, he'd say, No, it ism
it's a porpoiSe.' | thought from the
first, and | think now, that it would nave
been a great deal bet or for US If that boy
hadn't been along. That night there was
a good deal OF motion to the ship, and
she swung about and rose up and down
more than she had done since we'd been
lett in her. There must be a big sea
running on top, said William Anderson,
and il we were up there we'd be tossed
about dreadful. Now the motion down
here Is just as easy as a cradle, and,
what 5 more, We can't be sunk very deep !;
for if We We're, there wouldn't be any
N ptiou at all About MOOT the mex day
we felt a sudden tremble and shake run
through the whole ship, aud far down
under Us we heard a rumbling and grind
ing that nearly scared me out OF my Wits.
| first thought We struck bottom, but
William he said that couldn't be, for t
was Just as light in the cabin as it had
been, and if we'd gone down it would
have grown much darker, of course. The
rumbling stopped after a little while, and
then 1t seemed to grew lighter instead of
darker and Sam, who Was looking up
at the stern windows over our heads, he
sung out, Sky" And, sure enough, we
could see the blue sky, as clear as DAY
light, through those windows Aud
then the ship, she turned herself on the
H'dui. fiCt'y LHuCl tS SIN q DtCH WiiCI
her forward compartment first took IN
water, and we found ourselves standing
on the cabin floor instead ofthe bulkhcad.
| was near one of the open state rooms,
and as | looked in there was the sunlight
coming through the wet glass in the win.
dow, and more cheerful than anything |
ever saw before in this world. William
Anderson he just made one Jump, and,
I,nSpra VInr ono Of Tho ctafo room, WIN
dows, ne jcrked itopen. We had thought
the air inside was good enough to last
some time longer; but when that window
was open aud the fresh all came rushing
In, it was a different sort of thing, | can
tell you. William put his head out and
looked up and down and all around.
She's nearly all out Of water! he shout
ed, 'and we can Open the cabin door
Then we all three rushed at those stairs,
which were nearly right side up now and
we had the cabin doors open in no time.
When we looked out we saw that the
ship was truly floating pretty much as
she had been when the captain and crew
left her, though we all agreed that her
deck didn't slant as much forward as it
did then. DO you know what's hap
pcned 2 sung out William Anderson, al
ter he'd stood still for a minute to look
around and think. That bIbbing up
and down that the vessel got last night
shook up and settled down the pig iron
inside of her, and the iron plates in the
bow. that were smashed and loosened by
the collision, have given way under the
weight, aud the whole cargo Of pig-iron
has burst through and gone to the bot
tom. Then, of course, up we came.
Didn't | tell you something would happen
to make us all right?
well, | wont make this story any
longer than | can ..elp. The next day
after that we werc aiken off by a sugar
ship bound north, and we were carried
safe back to Ulford, where we found our
captain and the crew, who had been pick
ed up by a ship after they'd been three
or four days in their boats. This ship
had sailed our way to find US, which, of
course, she couldn't do as at that time we
were under water and cut of sight
Frunk Il. Stockton.