Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-06-25
fherel

4
we could see that they were throwing over
board her guns and other heavy articles tc
| tighten the vessel. They cut adrift large
boat, and apparently got rid Of everything
they could spare.
| After this it could be seen that she held her
own, and in fact she soon appeared to be gain
ing ground. The wind, however, had be
| come very light, and neither vessel made
much progress.
We passed close by the drifting boat, but
our commander made no attempt to secure
| her, probably not wishing to be encountered
with such thing. In the hurry and confu-
sion of the moment the Frenchmen had for
gotten to stave hole in her bottom, and had
even left a number Of oars on board Of her.
A few minutes later we entirely lost the
breeze, but the privateer still had light
breath of air, and Tom and I were very glad
to see her make of, swapping her fingers, as
one might say, at the helpless old seventy
four
1t happened that we two were often close
to each other, and as we cast sly giances
toward the drifting boat the same thought
was in both our minds.
''Tom," whispered at last, "if the breeze
shouldn't spring up again till after dark, why
"The very thing Pm thinking Of" ne an
swered softly. 1.-THE trade wind will be sure
to spring up soon, and that will take us
straight toward Martinique. know it is a
risky piece Of business, but I'm willing to
take the chances"
We spoke to the other two men-the two
who had been impressed respectively with
him and myself-but they would not make
laa Ia tot nd
the boat in the darknessl they asked; and
what were we TO do for provisions and water
In the event Of reaching her?
But we believed the stake to be worth the
risk, and our resolution was fixed. We were
only afraid that the ship would get breeze
before dark
The boat was about three-fourths of mile
Off, and as twilight gathered we saw that she
ranged exactly under certain large star
which it would be easy to distinguish from
all others
As the evening advanced, a light breeze be-
gan 10 eli the sails till the ship gathered
steerageway. There was now not moment
to lose; and, dropping silently under the
bow, we struck out for the boat. l have
since thought that this was q prodigious
thing to do there IN the midst of the Atlantic
ocean The picture we made as we dropped
from the bow Of that big ship has often
required to me.
More and more the wind breezed up, so
that we were obliged to allow something for
the drift Of the boat, for we could not see her.
She must have moved little to one side OF
the star-and suppose we should miss her al
together, we thought!
At length it seemed to us that we must
have swum more than mile. We were very
tired and began to realize the fearful position
10 which we had placed ourselves. Could we
have passed the object Of our search? The
breeze increased rapidly, and the water dash
ed in our faces. OF course the boat must
now be drifting very fast. and probably we
had not made allowance enough for the wind
Throwing ourselves upon our backs, we
rested awhile 10 gain strength for further
effort; but such effort must now be feeble at
the best. The dash Of the waves confused
US; and as to the stars we had by this time
got them sadly mixed.
Suddenly Tom topped over upon his breast
and uttered some kind Of an exclamation.
"What Is itf' asked. "Do you see herg'
''No; but see something else Lookl look
there's vessels topgallant sails against the
sky!"
Sure enough, it was as he said Close upon
US rose the canvas Of square rIgger, tower
ing through the darkness like the form of
great tree.
We shouted as loud as possible; and soon
''creak, creab" went her mainyard as it
swung around till the sail was laid to the
mast.
A boat was sent for u.s. and we were taken
up almost speeches.. What was my surprise
to recognize in the crew of the yawl the sec
ond mate aud two of the hands of the brig
Amelia, the very craft from which I had
been impressed.
They took us on board the vessel, and had
we descended there from the sky her good
captain and bis men could hardly have been
more astonished at our appearance. The
Amelia, they told US, had left Barbados i'm
mediately after ourselves. and had not at
any time been entirely becalmed. But that
she should happen to come jogging along
just in the nick of time to save us seemed
surprising thing indeed.
We arrived home after a short passage,
seeing nothing more Of the old Poictiers, and
whether or not her commander ever knew
what had become of us is more than | can
tell But l am sure of this, that a drifting
boat in the night, in the middle Of the At
lantic ocean, Is very uncertain thing to
swim for!
George Il. Coomer in The .Argosy.
CosmicaI Water.
We know that water exists IN three forms
upon our earth: that the solid and liquid
water covers nearly three-fourths Of its sur
face, and that the air above contains water
in the gaseous state. But the law of gaseous
diffusion of water is not so generally under
stood, though very simple. Wherever water
exists exposed TO free space, or to space oc-
cupied by other gases than its own vapor, it
evaporates into that space until the space is
filed with gaseous water, having tension
or density proportionate to the temperature
Of the space.
Thus the water Of our ocean being exposed
to solar heat, and equally capable Of evapora-
ton into the dense air Immediately above it,
or the lighter air above the clouds, or into all
the boundless space beyond. be that space a
vacuum or plenum, must thus evaporate, or
have evaporated until all that space be satur
ated according TO its temperature, if not
saturated already. Therefore, the fact that
our ocean is not dried up indicates the exis-
tence Of water, water everywhere. The spec
troscope ratiiies this conclusion; water, or its
chief constituent set free hen water is raised
to certain temperature, is found to envelop
every star, % we'll as our sun ana its planets
Cnole Dick.
The largest locomotive engine ever con-
sfrrctai DriOr no 1880 was that made at the