The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-06-27

| pass, ana once more the dlSmantled and
bruised hulk sprang forward on her fear
tul race, galvanized, as it were, into pre-
ternatural activity by force not her
own. Stripped bare as she was, and
weighted by the water she had taken on
| board, she moved more steadily than at
first. Nor could the nerves of those
who still manned her continue to re-
| spond as before to the call of hor-
ror. The worst was past for them, even
should death itself be in store. None
knew at that time who were living and
who were dead; each held on to what
ever support was nearest him and waited
in darkness and uncertainty for what
might come. The engine fires had been
| put out, and all the men available were
taking turns at the wheel, in desperate
and unequal struggle to keep her before
the wind. Some felt that it would be q
relief if the ship would founder and go
down. But she swept on, outstripping
death itself Suddenly one of the pas
! sengers, who had been alternately pray
ing and disappearing in the cabin, broke
out in a yell of mad laughter, and rushed
up the companion way and out OBJ the
deck. The hurricane caught him and
hurled him forward; he was jammed be-
tween the stump of the mainmast and
the shaft of one of the anchors which
had somehow been carried there the
wind turned his coat over his head and
whipped it into ribbons in moment; in
another moment he was naked to the
waist; then he was twisted and beaten
and lashed about until he was q shapeless
mass of bloody flesh and shattered bones.
At length sudden pitch of the vessel
loosened the anchor, and it and the
corpse went overheard together, and the
ship swept on,
1t was perhaps an hour after this, and
long after the most sanguine had yielded
dumbly to despair, that the steamer rose
on monstrous wave, which mounted
and mounted beneath her until it seemed
as if it would end by carrying her through
the sky; then, with a last furious effort,
flung her forward, and slipped back
under her keel. The great vessel was
carried on by the impetus of the onset,
and fell with an appalling crash, not on
the sea again, but on the solid earth.
Her voyage was over, and she was in port
at last.
Her iron ribs were crushed by the fall,
but her frame still held together, and all
motion ceased. The wind still shrieked
and the sea beloved and Numbered, but
no waves struck the ship. She seemed
to have been lifted beyond their reach;
but where they were no one, knew, nor
could have guessed within hundred
miles. After an interval the quarter
master, who had been the last man at
the wheel, crept to the companionway,
and, securing himself by a rope passed
round his waist and made fast to the
railing below, looked out.
At first he could distinguish nothing,
and the rush of the wind stihed him; he
dragged himself back and waited He
had not waited long before it appeared
to him that the noise of the hurricane
was abating, and the darkness was less
intense. At length he ventured forth
again. Moment by moment the wind
was decreasing; the change was not SO
sudden as it had been when the center of
the tornado passed over them, and occa-
sionally there was return of rage and
fury. But these became less and less
| frequent, and there were great cleavages
upwards through the clouds, revealing
the remote sparkle of stars, for the sun
| had gone down long since. One by one
those of the ships company and passen-
w n
stared about them. Were they on
desert island?
A number of square objects, curiously
| symmetrical in shape, and distributed
with an appearance of regularity, be-
| came visible in the immediate neighbor-
hood of the steamer. They were all of
nearly the same height, though in their
other dimensions they varied consider
| ably; their sides were whitish, the tops
darker. In front of the vessel, as she
lay, the land rose upwards in a gentle
slope, and these rectangular objects
showed themselves thickly in that direc-
ton.
"They don't look unlike houses" re-
marked the quartermaster, peering earn
estly through the gloom. II don't know
any coast hereabouts that has rocks like
that"
"1f they were houses" said the second
officer, who stood near. with his arm
broken, 1--WE should be in the midst of
town, and no small town either"
clark! what's thatT"
ALI listened. There was the sound of
halloo, clearly repeated, and in a mo-
ment it was answered from a further
distance. Then In several directions.
near and far, were heard calls. cries and
lamentations. The listeners uttered mur-
murs of surprise and perplexity.
Just then a great mass of cloud In the
east broke away, and the full moon
shone forth with surprising brilliance,
shedding over the scene light which,
in comparison with the previous dark
ness. seemed as bright as day. 1t re-
vealed an extraordinary spectacle.
Beyond the stem of the steamer ex-
tended the tossing waters of large bay,
strewn with wreckage and an indescrib-
able medley Of floating objects. In front
and on either side were the streets and
hOIena Of q half dactrovad to1,,, nI,o