Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-05-02


was semi-delHious, and having sat so long
with deaths hand in mine was in a passion
ately defiant mood, with perfect rage OF
scorn of peril in me, and walked right ON to
the forecastle, giving the flying sheets OF
| water there no heed In minute block of
sea tumbled upon me and left me breathless;
| tho iciness of it cooled my minds heat, but
| not nv resolution. was determined 10 judge
| as best could by the light of the foam Of
what had happened, and holding on tena-
ciously TO whatever came TO my hand, and
progressing step by step, got To the fore
| castle and looked ahead.
| Where the ice was the water tumbled in
milk; twas four or five ships lengths distant,
| and could distinguish no more than that. |
| peered over the lee bow, but could see no ice
| The vessel had gone clear; how, knew not,
| and can never know; but my own fancy is
| that she split the bed with her own weight
when the sea rose and threw the ice up, for
she had floated ON a sudden, and the noises
| which attended her release indicated that she
| had been forced through channel.
| returned aft, barely escaping a second
| deluge and looked over the quarter; no ice
was there visible to me. The vessel relied
horribly, and perceived that she had de-
cided list to starboard the result of the shift
| ing Of what was in her when the lee came
| away from the main with her; and it was
1
| the bow | took hold of the tiller to try it,
but either the helm was frozen immovable,
| or the rudder jammed in its gudgeons, or In
| some other fashion fixed.
Had she been damaged below' was she
taking in wateri knew her TO be so thiclily
sheathed with ice that, unless it had been
scaled Off in places by the breaking of her
bed, had little fear until this covering
melted or dropped Off by the working Of the
frame) of the hull not proving tight, l
should have been coated with ice myself had
| | stayed but little longer in my wet clothes
| in that piercing wind; So | ran below, and
bringing an armful of clothes from my cabin
to the cook room, was very soon in dry at
| tire, and making an extraordinary figure,
don't question, in the buttons lace, and "trip
peries Of the old fashioned garments
Meanwhile was crazy to ascertain if the
schooner was taking in water If there was
"A sounding rod in the ship did not know
where to lay my hands upon it. But he is a
poor sailor who is slow at substitutes, There
were several spears in the arms room (pTati-
cal plumber, no doubt with mere spikes for
heads, like those weapons used by the Callers
and other tribes in that country; they We're
formed of hard heavy wood. | took
length of Tatline line and secured 1t to one of
these spears, and carried it on deck with the
powder room bulls eye lamp. but when |
piObtt bilS Souililll55 I'lpc lpullI II lAlll VI
ice, and as it was impossible to draw tho
pumps l flung my ingenious sounding rod
down in a passion of grief and modification.
Yet was not to be beaten. Such was my
temper, had the devil himself confronted me
l should have defed him to do his worst, for
had made up my mind to weather him out.
l entered the forecastle lantern in hand,
pried open the hatch, and dropped into the
hold 1t needed an experienced eur to detect
1 H1aa .F1l zF 81
yearning gushes, the long gurgling washings,
the thunderous blows, and Shrewd rain like
hissngs of the seas outside. / listened with
! strained hearing for some minutes but dis
| tinguished no sounds to alarm me with as
surancc of water in the hold. | could not
mistake. l hearkened with all my might,
but the noise was outside. l thanked God
very heartily, and got out of the bold and
put the hatch on. There was no need to go
aft and listen. The schooner was by the
head, and there could be no water in the run
that would not he forward too.
Being treasured in respect of the stanch-
ness of the hull L returned to the fire and
proceeded to equip myself for a prolonged
watch on deck. While was drawing on a
great pair of boots l heard a knocking in the
after part of the vessel. l supposed she had
drifted into little field of broken ice and
that she would go clear presently, and fin
, iSIeu my SILL luS weather, Dut JDe
knocking continuing went into the cabin,
where l heard it very plain, and walked as
far as the laZarette hatch, Where | stood lis
tenng The noises were a kind of irregular
humping, accompanied by a peculiar grind
ing sound. In moment guessed the truth,
rushed on deck, and by the dim light in the
air saw the long tiller moving to and frol
The beat of the beam seas had unlocked the
frozen bonds of the rudder, and there swung
| fLot 4, A. l..
wagging her tail for joyl
The vessel lay along, rolling so as to bring
her starboard rail to a level with the sea her
main deck was full of water, and the froth
of it, combined with the ice that glazed her,
made her look like fabric of marble Us she
swung on the black fold ere it broke into
snow about her seized the tiller and ran
it over hard starboard, and l had not held
it in that posture half minute when to my
inexpressble delight, l observed that she was
paying off. Her head fell slowly from the
sea- she lurched drunkenly, and some tons
of black water rolled over the bulwarlEs; she
| reeled consumedly TO larboard, and rose
squarelY and ponderously to the height of
the surge that was now abaft the beam. In
few moments she was dead before it, the
helm amdships, the wind blowing sheer over
the stern with half its weight seemingly gone,
through the vessel running, the tall seas
|
ward, till looking forward was like gazing
down the slope of hill
My heart was never fuller than then. 1
was half crazy with the passion of joy that
| possessed me.
However, 1 was still in a situation that
made prodigious demands upon my GOODNESS
and wits. The wind blew southwest, the
schooner was running northeast the bulk of
the icebergs lay on the larboard bow, but
there were others right ahead, and to STAR
board, where also lay the extremity of the
island, though l did not fear that if / could
escape the rest. 1t was n dark night me
thinks there should have been young moon
curled somewhere among the stars, but she
was not to be seen.
l could.just make out the dim, palid loom
of the coast Of ice upon the starboard beam,
and blob or two of faintness-most elusive
and not to be fixed by the eye staring straight
at them--on the larboard bow. But it was
not long before these blobs, as 1 term them,
grew palmer, and half a score swan into the
dusk over the bowsprit end, and resemblod
dull small visionary openings in the dark
sky there, or like stars magnified and dimmed
into the merest spectral light by mist 1
passed the first at a distance of n quarter of
mile; it slid by phantasmally, and another
stole out right ahead.
This could have gone widely clear of by
little shift of the helm; but while was in
the act of starboarding three or four hergs
suddenly showed on the larboar1 bow, and /
saw that unless had mind to bring the
ship into the trough again l must keep
straight on. So steered to bring the berg
that was right ahead little on the bow, with