The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-04-20
BY w. CLARK RUSSELL,
CHAPTER I'LL.

should have recovered my mind instead of
dying in that swoon must ever account as
the greatest wonder of life that has not
been wanting in tho marvellous had no
sooner sat up than all thai had happened and
my present situation instantly came To me- /
got upon my legs, anu found that could
stand and walk, and tina: life flowed warm in
my veins, for all that / had been lying mo-
tionless for an hour or more, lavcd by water
that would have become ice had it been still.
1t was intensely dark; tho pinnacle lamp
was extinguished, and tho light in the cabin
burned too dimly, to throw the fainteSt color
upon the hatchway. Ono thing | quickly
noticcd-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 resembled ink from contrast with
the passage, as il seemed, close under them
Of these pallid bodies, there was less spite in
It's wash, less fury in its blow.
Finding that had the use of my voice.
hallO4.i as loudly as | could, but no human
note responded. Three or four times l
shouted, giving some of the people their
namcs-but in vain. Father of mercy!
thought, what has come To pass! Is it posi-
BILE that all my companions have been washed
overboardi
stood for some moments as one 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 the
buoyancy 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 i'm which she had been torn and precipi-
tated past the iceberg.
Feeling Us though the very marrow in my
bones were frozen, l crawled to the compan-
ion and pulling open the door descended.
The lamp in the companion burned family.
There was a 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 had nine or ten bours of dark
ness before mel
! took down the lamp, trimmed it, and
went to the lazarette hatch of the after end
Of the cabin. Here We kept the stores for
the crew. i lifted the hatch and listened
and could 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 a pannikin Of the
hollands for the sake of the warmth and life
Of the draught, and 20 render myself as water
proof as possible-I took from the captains
cabin a stout cloak and threw it over me, en-
veloping my head, which had cased in a
warm fur cap, with the hood of it; and thus
equipped lighted a small hand lantern that
was used on dark nights for heaving the log
that is, for showing how the sand runs in
the glass-and carried it on deck.
moved with extreme caution, casting the
lantern light before me, sometimes starting
at q 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 batch, the rays Of the
lantern struck upon a mans body, which, on
my bringing the fame to his face, proved to
be Capt. Rosy. There was a wound over his
right brow; and, as il that had not sufficed
to slay him, the fall of the mast had in some
wonderful manner whipped a 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 a mass of rigging in the larboard
scuppers lay two bodies, as 1 could just
family discern. 1t was impossible to put the
lantern close enough to either one to distin-
guish his face, nor had the strength, even il
I had possessed the weapons, to extricate
them; for they lay under a whole body of
shrouds, complicated by a mass of other gear,
against which leaned a portion of the
caboose. viewed them long enough to
satisfy my mind that they were dead, and
then with heart Of lead turned away.
/ crossed to the starboard side, where the
deck was comparatively clear, and found the
body Of a 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
These were all of our people that could find
the others, ! supposed, had been washed by
the water, or knocked by the falling spars,
overheard.
! 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 / sat meditating upon
my situation and recalling the faces of the
dead.
1 will not pretend to remember how
passed the hours till the dawn came. rec
ollect 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 I was doing, and even
had managed this she stood to be swamped
and 1 to be drowned. And, in sober truth,
so horrible was the prospect Of going adrift
in her without preparing for the adventure
with oars, sail, mast, provisions and water
most Of which by the I;.inplight only were
not to 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 i'll her before the sun