The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-11-24

|
blcs that exploded into spray on the sur.
face
The men groaned, the child stared stupe-
fed, and Augusta cried out, 'Oh! Ohr' like
one in pain.
"Row backn' she gaspcd, 'row back and
see if we cannot pick some of them upr'
mo! no." shouted Meeson, they will
sink the boat!'
"'Iaint much use. any way" said John
ME. II doubt that precious few of them
will come up again. They have gone too
deep"
However they got the boats head round
egain-slowly enough, Augusta thought
and rs they did SO they heard Il feeble cry
| or two Bat by the time that they had
reached the SPOT where the Kangaroo went
down, there was no living creature to be
seen; nothing but the wash OF the great
waves, over which the mist once more
closed thick and heavy as pail They
shouted, and once they heard n faint an-
swer, and rowea toward it; but when they
got To the spot whence the sound seemed
to proceed, they could see nothing excep,
some wrcckage. They were all dead, their
agony was done, their cries no more as
cended to the pitiless heavens; and wind,
ana sky, and sea were just as they had
| been.
"Oh, my God! my God!" wept Augusta,
clinging TO the thwarts of the tossing
| boat"
| "One boat got away-where is itf" asked
Mr. Meeson, who, n wet and wretched iig-
nre, was huddlcd up in the sternsheets, us
he rolled his wild eyes round striving TO
| pierce the curtain Of the mist.
There's something" said johnnie.
| pointing through q fog-dog in the mist,
that seemed TO grow denser rather than
otherwise as the light increased, Mt n
round, boat-like object that had suddenly
| appeared to the starboard of them.
! They rowcd up to it; 1t was n boat, but
empty, and floating bottom upward
| Closer examination showed that it was tha
cutter, which, when full Of women and
children, has been fastened to the vessel
and dragged down with her as she sank.
At certain depth the pressure OF the
water had been too great and had torn the
/ ring in the bow bodily out of her, so that
she returned to the surface. But those in
her did not return-at least, not yet. Once
more, two or three days hence, they would
arise from the watery depths and look up
on the skies with eyes that could not see,
and then vanish forever
Turning from this awful and most mov-
ing sight, they rowed slowly through
quantities of floating wreckGge-barrels
hencoops, lin one of these they found two
drowned fowls, which they sccured) and
many other articles, such as oars and
wicker deck chalrs-and began to shout
vigorously in the hope OF attracting the
! attention OF the survivors in the other
boat, which they imagined would not be
far off. Their efforts, however, proved
fruitless, owing TO tho thickness OF the
fog; and in the considerable sea which was
running it was impossible to see more
than twenty yards or so. Also, what be-
tween the wind, and the wash and tur-
moil of the water, the sound of their voices
did not travel far. The ocean is n large
place, and rowing boat is easily lost
sight of upon its furrowed surface; there
fore ii is not wonderful that, although the
two boats were at the moment within half
q mile of each other, they never met, and
each took its separate course in the hope
of escaping the fate Of the vessel. The
boat in which were Lady Holmhurst and
some twenty other passengers, together
with the second officer and q crew of six
men, after seeing the Kangaroo sink and
picking up one survivor, shaped course
for kerguelen Land, believing that they,
and they alone, remained to tell the tale
of that awful shipwreck. And here il may
be convenient to state that before night
fall they were picked up by a sealing
whaler, that sailed with them to Albany,
on the coast of Australia. Thence, an ac-
count of the disaster, which, rs the reader
will remember created IL deep impression,
was telegraphed home, and thence in due
course, the widowed Lady Holmhurst and
most of the other women who escaped
were taken back 10 England.
To return TO our heroine and Mr.. Nee
son
The occl pants of the little boat sat look
ing at each other with white, scared faces,
till at last the man called Johnnie, who,
by the way. was not a tar Of n very amin
vessel came into collision, had informed
her that he was making kcrguelen Land,
which was not more than sixty or seventy
miles away. They had a compass in the
boat, and they knew the course the Kan
garoo was steering when she sank. Ac-
cordingly, without wasting further time,
they got rs much sail up as the little boat
could carry in the stiff breeze, and ray
bic cast of countenance, possibly owing to
the fact that his nose was knocked almost
| fiat against the side of his face, swore
| violently, and said, "It was no good stop
! ping there all the etceteraed day" There
| upon Bill, who was n more jovial- looking
man, remarked that he, Johnnie, was
etceteraed wei! right, SO they had bett or
hoist the foresail."
| At this point Augusta interposed, and
told them that the Captain, just us the
nearly due east before the steady westerl,
wind. All day long they ran across the
misty ocean, the little boat behaving splcn-
didly, without sighting any living thing,
| till, ut last, the night closed in again.
! There was, fortunately, bag OF biscuits
| In the boat, and q breaker OF water; also
there was, unfortunately, n breaker OF
rum, from which the two sailors, BIZ and
Johnnie, were already taking quite as
much as was good for them. Consequent
| iy, though they were cold and wet with
spray, they had not to face the added
horrors of starvation and thirst. At sun.
down they shortened sail considerably,
only leaving enough canvas up 10 keep the
boat ahead of the sea.