Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-24
CHAPTER III.

LOSE MY COMPANIONS.
| / lay for long while insensible, and that
should have recovered my mind instead of
diving in that swoon must ever account as
the greatest wonder of a life that has not
been wanting in tho marvellous, L had no
sooner sat up than all that had happened and
my present situation instantly came to me.
got upon my legs, and found that l could
stand and walk, and that life flowed warm in
my veins, for all that / had been lying mo-
tionless for an hour or more, laved by water
that would have become ice had it been still.
1t was intensely dark; the pinnacle lamp
was extinguished, and the light in the cabin
burned too dimly to throw the faintest color
upon tho hatchway. One thing | quickly
noticed-that the gale had broken and blew
no more than a fresh breeze The sea still
ran very high; but, though every surge con-
tinued to hurl its head of snow, and the
heavens resemblel ink from contrast with
the passage, as it seemed, close under them
of these pallid bodies, there was less spite in
its wash, less fury in its blow
Finding that l had the use of my voice.
halloaed as loudly as l could, but no human
note responded. Three or four times
shouted, giving some of the people their
names-but in vain. Father of mercy
thought, what has come to passa Is it posi-
bic that all my companions have been washed
overboardl
stood for some moments as ono stunned,
and then my manhOod-trained to some pur
pose by the usage of the sea, reasserted itself;
and may be l also got some slender comfort
from Observing that dull and heavy as was
the motion of the brig, there was yet tho
buoyaucy of vitality in her manner of mount
| ing the seas and that after all her case might
not be so desperate as was threatened by the
way in which she had been torn and precipi-
| tated past the iceberg.
| Feeling as though the very marrow in my
| bones were frozen, crawled to the compan-
| ion and pulling open the door descended.
| The lamp in the companion burned family.
| There was u clock fixed to a beam over the
table; my eyes directly sought it, and found
| the time twenty minutes after ten This sig
| nified that l had nine or ten hours of dark
| ness before mel
| l took down the lamp, trimmed it, and
went to the laEarette hatch of the after end
| of the cabin. Here we kept the stores for
| the crew. l lifted the hatch and listened,
and coull hear the water in the hold gurgling
and rushing with every lift of the briggs bows
| and could not question,-from the volume of
| water which the sound indicated, that the
vessel was steadily taking it in, but not
| rapidly. l swallowed half pannkin of the
| hollands for the sake of the warmth and life
/ Ol anu 10 myself us water
| proof as possble-I took from the captains
cabin n stout cloak and threw it over me, en-
veloping my head, which 1 had cased in
warm fur cap, with the hood of it; and thus
equipped lighted n small hand lantern that
was used on dark nights for heaving the log
that is, for showing how the sand runs i'll
the glasS-and carried it on deck
| moved with extreme caution, casting the
lantern light before me, sometimes starting
ut a sound that resembled groan, then stop
ping to steady myself during some particu
lar wild leap of the hull until, coming
abreast of the main hatch, the RAYS of the
lantern struck upon mans body, which, on
my bringing the flame to his face, proved to
be Capt Rosy. There was a wound over his
right brow; and, as if that had not sufiiced
to Stay him, the fall of the mast had i'll some
wonderful manner whipped rope several
times round his body, binding his arms and
encircling his throat so tightly that no exc
cutioner could have gone more artistically to
work to pinion and choke a man.
Under mass of rigging in the larboard
scuppers lay two bodies, as / could just
family discern. 1t was impossible to put the
lantern close enough to either one to distin-
guish his face, nor had l the strength, even if
had possessed the weapons, to extricate
them; for they lay under a whole body of
shrouds complicated by mass of other gear,
against which leaned a portion of the
caboose. I viewed them long enough to
satisfy my mind that they were dead, and
then with a heart of lead turned away.
i crossed to the starboard side, where the |
deck was comparatively clear, and found the |
body Of q seaman named Abraham Wise |
near the fore hatch This man had probably |
been stunned and drowned by the sea that |
filed the deck after had loosed the staysail I
1,Df 4
the others, supposed, had been was he'd by |
the water, or knocked by the falling spars,
overheard.
L returned to the quarter deck, and sat
down in the companion way for the shelter
of it and to think, No language that have
command of could put before you the horror
that possessed me as l sat meditating upon
my situation and recalling tine faces of the
dead
l will not pretend to remember how 1
passed the hours till the dawn came rec
object of frequently stepping below to lift the
hatch of the lazarette, to judge by the sound
of the quantity of water in the vessel That
she was filling | knew well, yet not leaking
so rapidly but that had our crew been pre-
served, we might easily have kept her free,
and made shift to rig up jury masts and haul
us as best we could out of these deSolate par
allels. There was, however, nothing to be
done TILL the day broke. | had noticed the
jolly boat bottom up near the starboard gang
way, and so far as l could make out by
throwing the dull lantern light upon her she
was sound, but could not have launched her
without seeing what l was doing, and even
had managed this she stood to be svyaruued
and to be drowned. And, in sober truth.
so horrible was the prospect of going aCirift
in her without preparing for the adventure
with oars, sail, mast, provisions and water
most of which ly the lampight only were
not 70 be come at amid the hideous muddle
OF wreckage-that sooner than face it was
perfectly satisfied to take my chance of the
hulk sinking with me in her before the sun
rose.
TO BE CONTINUED ,