The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-01-12
CHAPTER VII.
'.ALoNE, ALONE, ALL, ALL ALONE: ALONE

'.ALoNE, ALONE. ALL, ALL ALONE; ALONE ON
A WIDE, WIDE sEA.n
By the glare Of streaming fires l could
watch the boats driving deliriously before
the wind. which still blew with hurricane
force. To any eyo but that sharpened by
the terror of despair the flying, leaping
specks would not have been distinguisha-
bio from momentary riffs in the careering
billows, for in that terrific scene nothing
was distinct, nothing individual. There
was no ocean and no sky, but high and low
whirling chaos Of foam and spray, with
CLEANS Of ghastly green in the breaking
mountains and of hellish liyidness in the
swirling chasms and shattering erests.
The din was as the crack of doom, Sea
and thunder crashed together as il the uni
verse were splitting and rending, the wicked
treble of the tempest breaking in at times
like the spiteful screams of congregated
demons exulting in the work Of destruc-
tion. The waves, in certain aspects blood
red and dripping a crimson froth, reared
and curled like monstrous snakes as they
rushed, trampling, upon the helpless and
staggering brig They seemed alive and
mad with a passion to destroy. Leaping
upon their victim like the furies broken
loose, they would pound her as with steam
hammers, then catch her and throw her
aloft as IL to see her go to pieces in the
fall; then, disappointed at her toughness
hurl her headlong into boiling gulf, and
as she foundered heavily fling themselves
afresh upon her in frenzied effort to put
her forever out Of sight.
Then there would be swift recoil and q
momentary pause, but only because the in
furiated waters were gathering for flcrcer
and deadlier attack. Rallying in piled up,
seething masses, on they would come again
in wreathed and yeasty avalanches, burying
her deep and crushing and tearing her tim
bers till she groaned and cried like thing
In the last agony. How she lived was a
marvel. A right good sailor she must have
been in spite of her ugly looks and evil
name, tighter sailer than many craft
with a prouder head and q better reputa-
tion.
Smothered and pelted and tossed, only
the tenseness of grip which the fear of
death gives to nerve and muscle could
have held me in my place. As often as 1
had vent | shrieked in competition with
the storm-shrieked till my voice failed me
aud my cry sank to the hoarse, gasping
rtl-,le that tore chest and throat as raw as
il barbed cylinders revolyed inside.
My situation was the more cruel that
had strength enough to feel and none to
act. Had been myself. should have been
on deck in an instant and headlong into
the surging wilderness in pursuit of the
deserters. My fate would have been soon
decided, for the swimmer did not exist
who could that night have escaped the
devouring NAV of the sea. But there
would have been an instant's diversion in
battling and speedy end to suffering. As
it was, even the solace Of making an effort
xua fad 4 1,
head crushed into the portfolio and the
Jagged edges of the broken glass like saws
in my flesh, battered, bufTeted, choked by
the pitching ship and the preaching seas.
yet frantically straining to hold on and to
hail the quickly vanishing boats.
Every fiber in my body shook with q
mortal weakness and terror My fingers were
getting cramped and palsied; my breath was
gone to a gasp, yet ever as my strength
waned the desire to shout for succor be-
came the more desperate. Have you ever
seen spent animal painting with open
mouth for a little aid in its extremity
Even so | painted then with disteuded but
voiceless lips. would have given a mil
lion worlds, had | owned them, for the re-
turn of my voice just for au instant to
make one last appeal for help that would
rise above the voice of the storm. But my
weakness doomed me to silence.
In a sudden dark kness the shock of a tre-
mendous broadside hurled me back with a
bellyful of salt water. / scrambled up,
spu.tering to be hit and knocked down
again. The second time rose with greater
difficulty, and clutching dizzily at the port
hole looked over the weltering flame lit
waste. There were no boats Either the
sea had SWALLOWED tharn nr thav w.~- hii-