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

| ears IL seemed to shape itself into the word
| "Sfnking!r
Up from the bowels Of the ship poured
the firemen, the appearance of whose
! blackencd faces, lined with white strcaks
| OF perspiration, added a new impulse Of
terror to the panic-strickcn throEg. Aft
| they came, accompanied by n crowd of
| sailors and emigrants.
| Rush the boats" sung out n voice with
| n strong Irish accent, 'or sure we'll be
| drowned!''
Taking the hint, the maddened mob
| burst toward the boats like n flood, bias.
pheming and shricking rs it came. In n
moment the women and children who
were waiting to take 10 the boat, in which
| Augusta and the two seaman were nj
| ready, were swept aside and determined
! effort was made to rush it, headed by q
| great lrishman, the same who had called
| out.
Augusta saw Mr.. Tombay, Lord Holm
| hurst who had come up, and the officers
| lift their pistols, which exploded almost
simultaneously, and the Irishman and an
| other man pitched forward on to their
| hands and knees.
Never mind the pistols. lads" shouted
n voice; las well be shot rs drown. There
isn't room for half of lis in the boats, come
our' And a second fearful rush was
made, which bore the three gentlemen,
firing rs they went. right up against the
nettings.
Bill" halloaed the man who was hold
ing on to the foremost TICKLE, 'lower
away; we shall be rushed and swampedr'
Bill obeyed with heart and soul, and
down sank the boat below the level of the
upper decks, just as the mob was getting
the mastery. In five seconds more they
were hanging close over the water, and
whilst they were in this position a man
lcapt at the boat from the bulwarks He
struck on the thwarts, rolled off into the
water, and was no naore seen. y lady, the
wife OF a Colonial Judge, threw her child:
Augusta tried To catch it, but missed and
the boy sank and was lost. In another
moment the two sailors had showed of
from the ships side AS they did so, the
stern of the Kangaroo lifted right out Of
the water so that they could see under her
rudder post. Just then, too, with yell
Of terror, Mr.. Mecson, in whom the cle-
mentary principle of self-preservation at
all costs were strongly developed, cast
himself from the side and fell with splash
within n few feet of the boat. Rising TO
the surface, he clutched hold of the gun.
vale and implored to be taken in.
KNOCK the old varmint over the knuck-
les, Bill,n shouted the other man; hell
upset u.s."
"No, no." cried Augusta, her womans
heart moved at seeing her old enemy in
such a case. There is plenty of room in
the boat"
Hold on, then," said the man addressed,
whose name was Johnnie; when we get
clear well haul you in"
And, the reader may be. sure. Mr.. Nee
son did hold on pretty tight till. after row.
ing about fifty yards, the two men halted.
and proceeded, not without some risk and
trouble-for there was considerable sea
running-to hoist Mr.. Nelson's large form
over the gunwale of the boat
Meanwhile the horrors on board the
doomed ship were redoubling as she slow
ly settled to her watery grave. Forward,
the steam foghorn was going increasingly,
bellowin. like thousand furious bulls:
while now and again rocket still shot up
through the misty morning air. Round
the boats hideous war was being ragged.
Augusta saw great number of men jump
into one OF the largest life-boats, which
was still hanging TO the daYits, having
evidently got the better of those who were
attempting TO fill it with the women and
children. The next second they lowered
the after tackle, but, by some hitch or
misunderstanding, not the foremost one
with the result that the stern OF the boat
fell while the bow remained fixed, and
every soul in it, some forty or fifty people,
was shot out into the water. Another
boat was overturned by sea as it settled
on the water. Another one, full Of women
and children, got TO the water all right.
but remained fastened to the ship by the
bow tackle When, a couple of minutes
afterward, the Kangaroo went down, no
body had knife at hand wherewith to Gu.
the rope, and the boat was dragged down
with her and all its occupants drowned.
The remaining boats, with the exception
OF the one in which Lady Holmhurst was,
and which had been got away before the
rush began, were never lowered ut all, or
sank as soon as lowered. 1t was impossi-
BILE to lower them owing to the mad be-
hnvior of the panic-stricken crowds, who
fought like wild beasts for place in
them. A few gentlemen and sober-headed
sailors could do nothing against mob of
frantic creatures, each bent on saving his
own life il it cost the existence of every.
body on board.
And thus it was exactly twenty minutes
from the time that the kangaroo sank the
whaler (for, although these events have
taken some time to describe, they did not
take long to enacD that her own hour
came. and, with the exception of
eighty -and-twenty souls, all told, the hour
also of every living creature who had TAX
en- passage on her.
CHAPTER XIIi.-REgGUELES LAND.
AS soon aS Mr.. Meeson, saved from
drowning by her intervention, lay gasping
ut the bottom of the boat, Augusta, over
come by momentary faintness, let her
head fall forward on to the bundle of
blankets In which she had wrapped up the
child she had rescued, and who, too terri
! fled To speak or cry, stared about him with
wide-opened and frightened eyes. When
| she lifted IT, n few seconds later, a ray
| from the rising sun had pierced the mist
| and striking fun on the sinking ship, as,
| her stern well ont of the water and her
! bow well under it., she rolled sulleuly 20
and fro in the trough OF the heavy sea,
seemed 10 wrap her from hull TO truck in