The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-14

by 'em, but as got each one dashed, ]
stuck his tail in front the other fefIer. an
each bein' mad enough to ffght'Ttheyid
snap an catch the tails afore 'eins boldin,
on like death, so keepin' you see, nay raft
held as tight as a triyet +, You may.snile.
sir; can't help doin it myself. as I think
of all o. them ridikerlous snakes holdin'
each other so fast by the tails!
well. | launched my craft. the water
only maxim the snakes curl tighter, and
riggin' up my shirt as sail, steered due
east, takin' bearin's by the sun. NV only
grub was a little bareback had in nv
peacoat, and my only water a little grog
in my flask. l sailed, an | sailed, an
sailed, until begun to think I'd wear the
bottom off my raft, but nary a sail did
speak. One day / had the misfortune TO
lose my sail, for bloody old bos'n's bird,
sailin' so high above me, saw my shirt. and
prob bly, thinkin' it was a new sort O.
fish swooped down and carried the
bloomin' sail way up again with him.
He dropped it arterward, when he
found out his mistake, but too far away
for me to get 1t. pretty near give up
then, with nary rag to keep my steer
age way, but as l looked despairing-like
CHATS pretty word the lady used. |
kinder like it) l saw that the bloody old
raft was goin' along as we'll without a
sail as she'd done with onel Here was
rum 90, thought 1, volts givin me all this
blOomin way2 An Ill give you my divy,
if while looked the bloody raft didn't
keep a-goin' faster an faster, theremark-
ablest part of 1t bein' as all the drift an
seaweed was goin' the same pace. I'm in
current, says l, but not current says
l; no bloomin' current chases along at
ten-knot gait for that's wot was a-goin
at, an goin' faster all the time j looked
up from the water an, blow me, if all the
wreckage of the Pacific didn't seem to be
DRAWN in from the horizon; there were
trees an masts an riggin' an hulks an
all manner o. dunnage all floatini toward
one spot like, an as if someun was a-pul-
lin O. them p .ss
Then l knew where was at, why
was goin' so fast an why all that drift
was comm from all directionsl l had
been caught by the current of tremen-
jouS whirlpool, an even then could see
in the distance the great cloud o. spray it
caused an hear its terrible roar. / came
nearer to bein' scared than in any time in
my life, but SEEM as how there was
nothin' to do l took my pipe--this VERY
identical pipe-from my cap, an lightin'
1t, sat peacefully down an listened to
that bloody old whirlpool roar louder an
louder .f
Talk about your maelstrom Why, it
couldn't hold candle to this old Teller.
who swallowed everything like he was a
prentice boy on dun days. +...
THE raft was goin' at awfurl speed
now, the smoke was comm out from I'M
der her an every one o. the snakes had
their skins tore off, but still they held on,
each with the other feler's tail in its
mouth. l didn't have much more time to
think, when | was all at onct in the thick
o. the spray. Meanin' to have one more
chance for my life stood up an looked
at the whirlpool. Well, sir, just afore
me was TREMENDOUS black hole, big
enough for a squadron to sail down an
never scrape yards, all hanked round by
great swirlin' wall o. twistin, bilin
water.
Seem myself so close, an almost
goin' out o. my head with 'mazement |
give one powerful screech an jumped
plumb amidships into that bloody hole in
the bloomin' sea. Falll Well, you may
better believe it, fell, an fell until
l thought I'd fallen through to Inja, but
never drop o. water touched me, though
l could see the bloomin' walls of it all
around me all filed with a twistin',
twirlin' mass o. wreckage AFTER had
fallen for nigh on to twenty-five mintites
| landed squash on a big pile of sea weed,
an by the force o. my fall was driven
into its softness purity near five cable
lengths. Holdin' my breath with one hand
forced passage with the other until l
". j
sir, but a crag o. rock jettin' out through
the round wall O. the whirlpool had ac-
cumylated great load of seaweed, which
had broken my fall an saved me from
the small end of the whir1pool's funnel,
which must have come together some
place beneath It'll"
but Bill" feebly demonstrated, 81
am told that whirlpools, like waterspouts,
break their force if an obstruction
M n
who was in this here whirlpool-you
or mel" he demanded, 81 tell you this
whirlpool warn't like ord nary ones; this
was-was-was a buster!n he added,
triumphantly.
ooh, see, answered humbly, ''pray
go on with your narrative"
''As I said" continued Bill severely,
this here whirlpool, this buster, had
this bloody crag comm out through, an
thinkin' l might find a. better restin'
place than on that bloomin' wet seaweed,
which of the dampness was already
givin' me symptonians of a cold. bur
rowed down through it close to the rock,
and was more'n surprised to find, half
choked by the weed, the openin' of dark
passage way. l wriggled in it, and as i
went along, it come 10 be broader an
higher, till at last 1 could walk up
straight on my legs. ASH walked, the
whirlpool's bloody old believing, got
stiller .an's stillhFa tilLsSf ceHdnlt hear
nothing but my own ,featrSteps,g 1t was
very lonesome-ike, waikiki along in that
dark passage so many miles under the
sea, an was almost goin again for to
give way to despair, when i see afore
me little CLINT o. light. l begin to run
then, an as | run, the light became big
ger until tumbled out into the middle
of it,
AS an honest sailor man, can only
say that never before, or never arter,
have l seen such sight as met my bloom
in eyesswhen l got enough used 10 the
light to open them. There, reaching
afore me, as far as L could see, was a ire
mendous cavern, all a-glowin' an a-gleam-
in as if its walls was made o. fire.
stood on sorter ledge in the wall TO- the
cavern, an beneath me was great river
o. golden fire, which flowed swiftly aud
silently along as if it was creased.
touched the bloody blazin' wall at my
side, but didn't feel no fire at all, but all
my hand seemed to be covered with the
same fire which didn't leave no more feel
in than so much slush. Well, sir. that
bloomin' stuff was nothin' but the phos-
phorus you see in the ocean at your wake
just plain phosphorus, an that big cake,
every square inch of it, was COW
cred with that bloomin' blazin' phos-
phorus. Even the river was the
same stuff, an thought to myself as |
looked, here's a rum go, for young Bloody
Bill to be standin' in the place where all
the nhnenhOp1to cornac From a F,.,If,, - a.,