Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-27

The sea swept her deck and broke
over her masts. Seven men hung to the
rigging for life They looked ashore.
Only $50 yards away stood group of
islanders, as helpless to succor those in
peril as the latter were to save them
selves.
Now the position of the vessel was
this: Where Sandy point drops beneath
the sea it does not end, but it is pro-
longed under the water, making thus a
perilous sandbar. Out upon this bar
was the Warrior. The island tide from
the east and from the west meet here.
There is no more terrible place in gale
than that where two seas collide.
The storm grew. Such was the work
of wind and sea that times were when
the sandbar from the shore to the vessel
was swept naked. But its nudity was
speedily buried under heavier seas.
Passengers and crew, fatigued with
labor and loss of sleep, assailed by a
biting wind, at last succumbed to chill
and numbness, and made no more effort.
Then arose one of their number, a
tall, gaunt fellow, whom the captain
had called coward in harbor, and he
proceeded to belabor them and to keep
them active, that they might not perish
from the cold.
"There's hope yeti" he cried. ''Keep
alive, menl"
And one after another did he awaken
by rude shaking and warm by his
rough chafngs.
|. Some caught his spirit, and by the
labors of their weary muscles they set
their frozen blood in quicker motion.
'But what 1ser cried one. 'The end
must come.'
"Aye, but there's one chance" shouted
the coward, who now loomed up large
and resolute. "Looki the sea has rolled
back and left the bar uncovered. A
man could run ashore on that, maybe.
while the sea held back"
Two men laughed madly.
"Aye, maybe! Look now!' said one,
with savage sarcasm.
The coward looked. The sea had
swelled up and hidden the bar far be-
meath its foaming waters.
"Yet one may try" cried the coward.
"Try you thenl" shouted the other.
Now it is hard to meet death half way.
It is against mans nature to- walk tc
destruction. Even though he knows it
be coming he has the hope or the cow
ardice to shrink from it to the last.
Therefore no sailor of them would leap
into that sea or dare the deed suggested
by the coward.
eff succeed, will you follow at the
next fall of the seaY" he asked.
"What one man can do another can, !"
was the reply
The coward looked ashore. Sullenly
the waters rolled apart. The,sand bar
was naked. The man jumped from the
gunwale and ran.
The people on the vessel watched him
with waking hope and cessation of
breath. The hundreds of islanders on
shore stood silent, thrilled, eager. No
word was said; only the sea spoke.
The man ran shoreward, with shoul-
ders and head bent forward and eyes
set. The sea rose on both sides of him.
The huge waves walled his roadway.
The roadway began to narrow. A
IurDulenI nlSn Sea moved III pursuit OF
him. He heightened and quickened his
steps. 1t was race between so small 9
thing as a man and so great,a thing as
the storm impelled ocean.
The ocean won. With great roar il
came down upon the man. But-.h
would not be taken in flank, with his
back to his enemy. He TUNED and
faced the sea. He leaped into it head
foremost. Afterward his body was cast
upon the beach. The ocean had toyed
with it, and had then thrownsit back to
it's own kind.
Those on the island saw thatrwhen the
man turned to meet death a.smile was
ON his face. He had discovered he was
not afraid to die.-True Flag.