Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-07

The Inspection or the lite saving sta
ton was finished, and | was compli-
menting the captain upon the efficiency
of his crew when it suddenly occurred
to me that one of them, whom I had es-
pecially remarked at my last visit, was
missing.
"What has become of the man you
used to call Harry" l inquired. "He
was the strongest and handsomest fell
low / ever saw-quick as cat and light
on his feet as feather. Has he left
your"
The captain looked at me aghast.
"Whatl Haven't you heard about it?'
he faltered. "No? Well, it's quite a
story. If you've plenty of time I'll tell
you about it,"
had plenty of time and wanted to
hear the story, SO we sat down near the
door, and the captain began:
81 suppose you recollect that long,
fierce southeast gale we had last winter,
don't you? Well, it blew from the south
east for two days, with heavy squalls of
snow. 1t was bitter cold. Everything
was covered with ice and snow, and the
tumbling up on the rocks.
son the morning of the third day the
clouds began to break away and the
wind died down to light gale. Almost
all of the schooners in the roads got un-
der way and started for Harchy harbor.
Some of the smaller ones had to put
back, the sea being too heavy, but the
larger ones kept on, and l suppose they
made good run of it, as the wind was
fair.
s'That night it started in to blow as
if it was possessed to blow the earth off
its foundation. At 10 o'clock it began
showing. The flakes were about as big
as fifty cent piece, making it inpossi-
BILE to recognize anything over five feet
away. The snow fell until about 10,
think. After that it slowly began to
clear up and the wind came in gusts of
diminished strength. At daylight it
was blowing moderate southerly
breeze and the sky was clear. We
searched the shore and sea for signs of
wreck, but could not find any.
II was just going to put the glass
away when my eye caught the waving
of something on Daming's island. As
soon as the glass was brought to bear l
saw three or four men running around
there. l suppose they were trying to
keep themselves from freezing. There's
the island off there-the one that is al
most round. ~
s'The island rises about twenty feet
out of the water. The cliffs are almost
straight up and down, with twenty-one
fathoms of water at their base. But on
the southern side there is small beach,
which is bare at low water. From this
beach are projected two reefs that are
awash at low tide. They form natural
jetties, and they are about fifteen feet
apart and parallel to each other. They
extend out from the beach in south
ern direction for about two hundred
feet. tss ~
ssI had the crew called, and every
thing was soon ready for starting. We
decided that the only safe way for us to
get the men off from the island would
be for us to go as close as possible and,
lying there, shoot the life line to them
and haul them through the surf to the
boat. 1t was a rough way, but as there
was no other feasible plan we made
our preparations for its execution. The
only place ON which boat could land
on the island was on that small beach,
and to get there we would have to go
between those jetties, and even in fine
weather it was risky job with such a
large boat. With the sea then running
it was not to be thought of.
GAS soon as had seen every arrange.
ment completed and the gear in place.
we ran the boat out of the house and
succeeded in launching her without
taking drop of water on board We
had long, tedious pull 1t was like
walking in deep, loose sand. When we
arrived at the island we pulled around
it once, looking for the most favorable
position for us to work from. We de-
cided that the mouth of the jetties
would be the best place. So taking our
station there we boated the two bow
oars, and Harry uncovered the gun and
got her ready for use, while Bill looked
out for the line.
"The noise was simply deafening, and
the sea was q mass Of froth and foam,
as the waves dashed themselves on the
reefs. Seeing big wave coming, and
looking as If it was about to break,
sung out, Stern allr but owing to the
noise they did not hear me, and seeing
me working as if for dear life at the
steering oar, they gave a stroke ahead
so that the wave would break astern
of us.
"That stroke carried us between the
reefs, and in the next instant the wave
was upon us. Its light green and semi
transparent sides lowered high above us,
while the foam on it's crest overhung
the boat, threatening to swamp us. The
spectacle was so awe inspiring that we
were unable to move, but sat in our
places with our eyes fixed on this al
most irresistible mass. Each second
was like an age. Would the boat never,
rise? She started to rise SO suddenly
that she was almost perpendicular be-
fore we could realize it, and we were
thrown in confused heap against the
forward bulkhead. We were now afraid
that she would be thrown end over end,
and for few seconds we hung in that
awful position, hurried along at an in
credible speed Then slowly the wave
began to pass under us. and as soon as
could grasped the steering oar and
tried TO steady her. When the wave
had passed us we found ourselves about