Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-03-08

brought suit of oilskin and pair Of sea-
boots for himself, and another for me, put
food, water, and grog within reach. and
lighted the lanterns. When he had done
all that was necessary, or, rather, all that
he could, he joined me at the wheel, for, az
he said, it would take two to steer, and all
little enough.
And so it proved The wind rose every
moment and though we had so little sail
set, the ship went through the water like
an Atlantic liner at full speed. Then it
lulled little and the rain came down as
it only can come down In the tropics, rat
Ting on the deck like discharges of mus
kerry, and tumbling out of the scuppers in
cascades. From time to time there came
tremendous clap of thunder; the sky was
ablaZe with lightning, which brought every
spar and rope Of the ship into vivid relief,
and cast a lurid glow on an angry sea bill
lowed with foam crested waves. But we
were by no means in the center Of the
storm, else IL had gone i'll with US; and the
rain, by keeping the sea down somewhat,
probably prevented US from being popped.
When morning broke the rain was still
falling, and the wind blowing In strong
gusts; the Diana" was scudding before it,
and we were still both at the wheel; and
one or other of US snatched morsel of
food or took a pull at the bottle of half
water grog which Tom had put under the
pinnacle, we remained at the wheel all that
day and all the next night.
What distance we made in this time we
had no means Of exactly computing; but
when the wind began to fall off, Tom tried
our rate of sailing with the patent log, and
found it to be eight knots; but our average
speed during the thirty-six hours the gale
lasted must have been much more, and we
probably ran not less than four hundred
miles. Where we were we could form on
ly the very vaguest idea, for our course
had been most erratic, the wind shifting
continually.
When the storm abated, and there was
promise OF better weather, Bolsover sug
gested that should turn in.
81 ain more used to this sort OF thing
than you are" he said. II can stand it
awhile longer; but you are about used up,
think. Lie down for an hour or two, |
will waken you up when want you"
Irequired no second bidding. / was ut
terly spent. and only half conscious. With
out undressing, | threw myself on the
bunk in the captains cabin, and almost
before my head touched the pillow was
fast asleep.
When | awoke, as 1t seemed to me an
hour or so later, the sun was shining
brightly, and the boatswain lay asleep on
the floor
"HallOop' I thought. HAS old Tom de-
serted his pOst' Why didn't he waken mel"
But when | looked out saw that the sea
was perfectly calm-nOt a breath Of air
ruffled its CLASSY surface-and the Diana"
lay there, as still and mOtiOnless as "a
painted ship upon a painted ocean"
Clearly no need for man at the wheel,
and Tom had done quite right to take his
rest without interrupting mine.
After a wash and walk round the ship,
/ went to the galley, kindled the fire, made
lobscouse and pea soup, and when all was
ready returned to the cabin to look after
Tom. He was Just opening his eyes.
. Have you had a good sleep'" l asked.
Every; and your
ooh, pretty we'll must have had three
or four hours, and if 1 had not been so
may take our ease a bit now, Mr.. Erie.
This Is a calm as will last, this Is"
How long will it last, do you think"
THE Lord only knowsI May be a fort
night may be three weeks / have heard
of Gains in these latitudes-we must be
hungry should have gone on awhile long
err"
'.Three or four hoursl Why, bless you,
Mr.. Erie, you have slept more like thirty
hoursr'
Nonsense, Bolsoverl l know better"
well, then, the sun is going wrong. It
was a good deal past noon when | turned
In, and"-glancing at the sun-''it cannot
be much past eleven now. Yes, Mr.. Erie,
you have slept something like thirty hours,
and me about twenty-four-and good
thing, too. We wanted it. When 1t fell
calm knew rs the ship could take care OF
herself, so just dashed the wheel amid
ships, laid myself down on the cabin floor
just as | was, and let you go on with your
sleep And now let us have some grub,
| for am most terrible sharp-set. and that
| lobscouse smells as sweet rs """v W."
somewhere about the dDldrums-Tve heard
of 'em lasting six and seven weeks"
"A pleasant prospect Why we shall be
nearly frizzledi | would rather have a
storm or two"
That's a sentiment as Ishould say amen
TO, II we had a rather more powerful crew
Mr.. Erie; but with ships company of
two, officers and passengers included,
would not pray for gale, though might
of canvas light breeze would not do us
much good and it would not be safe to
spread more, even II we could But Pm
In no hurry, Mr. Erle-Pm in no hurry.
We've plenty of grub and water aboard,
and Pm quite content to abide in these
ATTITUDES awhile longer; for it is hereabouts
or, IL not hereabOuts, bit further south
that l expect to light on the Santa An
ma"
You old idiotP' | was going to say; but
not wanting to hurt the foolish fellows
feelings or fall out with him, | merely
asked why on earth he expected to find the
treasure ship in that particular spot es-
pecially as we did not know within thous-
and miles where we were.
eve are In the doldrums," he answered,
dogGedly; there can be no doubt about
that: and | have always said as IL the
Santa Anna was not cast away-and l
don't think she was cast away-I have al
ways said as she was somewhere in the
doldrums; and am sure am right"
This was conclusive and could only say
that hoped we should sight the Santa
Anna" soon, and find her treasure aboard.
"Oh, we shall find the treasure, sure
enough! What would be the use of sight
ing her IL we didn't"
CHAPTER XII-BEFOGGED.
As may be supposed, life on the becalmed
vessel was not particularly amusing. We
had not much to talk about, and out of
his own line old Tom was as ignorant as
an infant There WERE fortunately, plenty
OF books on board-at least hundred of
them being tiction-and l spent much of
my time in reading. and studying, as well
As 1 could with the means at my disposal,
the theory of navigation. Then wrote up
the log book, or rather, made an entry in it
every day, for there was very little to set
down. Had | not done SO l should have
lost count of time, so like was one day to
another. Now and then l went into the
engine-room, and by getting up steam,
starting and stopping the engine, famil-
iarized myself with its working. After
awhile, became fairly expert engineer,
and had our coal bunkers not been so
nearly empty, l should have shipped the
screw and steamed in the direction whittier
/ thought lay the nearest land.
Bolsoyer pottered about the ship, mend
ed sails, spliced ropes, washed the decks,
smoked, and slept; yet he got very weary,
and one day proposed that, by way OF d.
version, We should make war on the rats
l asked how he would do it, seeing that we
had neither cats. traps, dogs, nor ferrets.
Il will make the beggars drown them
selves" he said