The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1889-12-13

distorted vision, seemed springing up
to meet me and thus hasten my fate of
being dashed to death. Wildly throw
ing out my arms and clutching at the
air the instant | fell, something the
next moment touched one of my
hands 1t was, as | afterwards learn
ed, dangling rope--the foreto' gal
liant stndding sail halliard-which had
previously been accdently loos
ened from the Delaying pin below, and
around this rope my fingers closed
with convulsive grasp, while my 9th
er hand was quickly used to add to the
force of my grip. Alasl Iny decent
had been too swift to enable me to re-
tain my hold As my body "righted'
my hands kept to the rope but for a few
seconds, my fingers slid away from the
strands, and my descent through the
air continued. In some degree my
grasp of the line had checked the
force of my fall, but l had as yet de.
scended only about thirty feet, and the
frightful distance of nearly seventy
feet OF space yet interviewed between
me and the deck, when, to my surprise,
my further downward course was sud.
denly stopped with a jerk that nearly
took the breath from my body, and |
found myself swaying like pendulum
in mid-air. with rope securely tied
about my breast beneath tn arms.
1t is perhaps needless to state that
this rope had been made fast to me
while | was asleep, though by whom |
could not imagine at the time. 1t had
proved to be the means of saving my
life, but had not my fall been previous
y checked by my clutching the stud
ding-sale ballard, as have mentioned
think l would have been somewhat
injured by the jerk of the rope when
my swift descent was SO suddenly stop
ed
Now as / swung inward towards the
shrouds, | clutched them, and shaking
like leaf, still feeling faint and dizzy,
| had braced myself against the rig
ging, while | stood on the rat-lines,
when, despite the dense gloom, ina
gined l saw, directly ahead of the fri
gate, the dim outline of small partly
dism7sted vessel looming up, not four
,nips lengths off, her hull and por-
tion of her shattered jib-boom lighted
by the phosphorescent CLEAN of the
raging, foaming waters.
"Sail o! right ahead!" l cried, as
loudly as l could, and my cry was re-
peated by the sailiDg-master and one of
~ lo)kouts on the forecastle, the
master calling out, an instant after, to
the Lieutenant, in voice of thunder:
"Hard-a-port, sir, hard-a-port, or we
will be a-foul of herr
"Hard-a-port, quartermaster!" roared
the officer of the deck.
"Hard-a-port it is, sir!" bawled the
quartermaster, but it was evident that
no human power could now save us
from running into the craft ahead.
"My God, sir, she is doomed!" shout
ed the sailingmaster to me. "Why
IL d you not sing out before?'
A choking sensation in my throat
prevented my answering, One of the
occasional flashes of lightning that ac-
companied this tempest had just plain
ly revealed to me the fated craft ahead,
and that brief glimpse had shown to
me that she was the brig, our tender,
wbiih was commanded by my father.
We would run her down-this could
not, it was plain, be now avoided-and
it was all my fault. Had not l gone
asleep-had | held a strict watch, as
Lieutenant Biddle had ordered me to
i would, from my lofty position,
have seen the craft soon enough to
have enabled us to keep the ship off
and away from her.
| Now, although the two men at the
helm iammed the wheel hard over, the
great frigate, in that gale, with nearly
every stitch of canvass slowed, was
slow to answer, and on she went with
terrific velocity, until suddenly there
was a tremendous crash, as she struck
! the brig amidships with her enormous
bows.
| ! heard the noise of the splintered
woodwork, the grinding sound of the
frigate's keel as she dashed along,
scraping few cracking fragments
under her forefoot; then she went
booming on, probably leaving behind
only a few shattered pieces of the
craft she had destroyed.
Meanwhile hal listened for some
} wholesome cry-from the ill-fated
vessel, and had fancied-though i
might have been the wild shout from
one of our own crew blending with tn,
| din of the fierce gale-that | had heard
a yell of agony as we went c. ashinl
through and over the brig.
} But whether or not that cry hst
come from the destroyed craft, the ter
rble sense of my being TO blame fo
the loss of her crew aud of her Cap
tain-my oaon ,father - lay like
heavy weight upon my conscience, AM
as ! now unfastened from my breas
the rope which had saved my life whe
| fell from aloft, | wished, for tn
moment, in my wild grief, that ther
, had been no hindrance to my bein,
I dashed to instant death on the dec
4 below.
In that tempest and in the dee
gloom there was evidently no chanc
j of any of the briggs hapless ere,
e being saved, nevertheless, as the win
g by this time had slightly shifted an
:, abated, the frigate, by means of tn
: reefed fore and mainsail, was &C
e round, and she cruised about for
e couple of hours burning blue light
= and firing signal guns, but, as expec
n ed, no sign of the stoven vessel
e people was discovered.
;, Lieutenant Biddle, ere now, had cal
j. ed me down, but he said not a wor
e to me about negligence of duty, unit
k the hopeless cruise for survivors of IL
d wrecked craft was nearly ended. The
} he sternly summoned me before hin
/ and demanded why had not kept
- good lookout as he had ordered.
y | made no attempt to excuse myseI
but miserable and detected, confess,
er my going to sleep alcft, and describ,
If my fall, which, in the intense elool
# no one aboard had observed, and to
ID how | was saved.