Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-10-10

By night the wind had died flat away |
and the sea was fast going logn The |
worst was over, and we could now shake |
ourselves and utter congratulations. The |
passengers had been terribly sick, and
each OF them had given himself up as
lost, but now that things had mended |
we could almost be said 10 be 5ovial |
crowd. While the boatswain got one OF |
the men to singing to increase our cour-
age, inc whispered to me that he was full
Of anxiety. We had two water kegs. bu,
they were leaky and hai lost much Of
their contents. We hal sheltered the
ships bread as mucl as we could, but a
good half of it had oeen spoiled. You
might figure that we had dropped to
three days supply, aud that wasn't the
worst of it. That gale must have drift
ed us at least hundred miles farther off
the coast.
The boatswain talkcl these matters !
over with me becausc no .;,l.r me ~ be,
begging your pardon, 4 sober, steady
lad who could look thc worst in the face
and help to meet it. We were not to say
anything to the lest until next day. As
there was NJ wind to move US, and as
everybody was badly use up, it was de-
cidc1 that we lay to as We were for the
night. 1t had come nine clock or
later and some of tn" men were asleep,
,uddenly pitched overheard. We were
still pitching briskly about, and perhaps
t was sharp dive of the boat which
.ent him to his death If he rose to the
surface he dia not call ont. He simply
sent right out Of sight and never even
allied out IS ne MAS going.
Little or nothing WAS said that night
as to who should command the boat, bat
morning had hardly dawnel when there
was a row about it. Being a lad not set
out Of my apprenticeship, | was Of course
when the boatswain went forward ana
etood on the thwart with his arms around
the mast to steady himself. | think he
was looking about &C. see if nc could tlnd
ANYTHING Of the other boats. Just how
t happened no one could tell, though
t,i:cc Of Us hal onr eyes Oil him when he
out OF the question, but eaca Of the three
other sailors was determined to act as
captain. From words they came to
blows, and another horror fell upon us.
The three young men were drawn into
the quarrel, an the six had savage
fight with such weapons as could be laid
hold Of. 1t was dead calm, with the
sea 4uieted down, and couple of great
sharks were lying off our port quarter.
No one had seen them, nor did any one
see them until two of the young men
we're knocked overheard 1t wasn't ten
seconds before both were seized aud
drawn under The horrible climax to
he row cooled the men of at once.
One OF the sailors had been stabbed in
the back. another badly hurt about the
head and the third young Ecelis!lnan
had his right arm broken Nor was this
the full extent OF the Calamity. Ii their
fight they had knocked the water kegs
about, and lost us nearly all their con
tents, anl a gooi share Of our bread had
been ground up under their shoes.
The sailor who had been stabbed took
command Of the boat, aud wnen things
had settled down breakfast was served
| Of water and oozsa biscuit, and the day
was hot and without breath OF air
| stirring. The water ought to have been
loled OUT drop by drop; but no sooner
was i seen what u small quantity was
/ left than Davidson, the one in commatd,
| declared that eacn should have his share
on the SPOT. Their injuries hal made
the inen terribly thirsty, but the water
was fairly divided and each one drank
his portion After that the sailors lay
! down and vent % sleep, aud the young
| Eaolishm IN, wlosc name WAS He. me,
came over 10 Us ana we tried to 10 some
timing for his arm. You can guess tha
it was little we could do, however, an
he was soon suffering terrible PAIN.
The aunt | now heard called Mrs
Norton, while tine .:rovn girl was al-
dressed by her maiden name, Edith.
Before noon the amt took very sick, ano
we were terrified at our hflples,ness
She was soon in u high fever aui raving
and we hadn't even :. drop OF water L
| give her Hearne was also mad iron
| thirst and iee:lur taat the sailors lat