The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-09

or twelfth piece of timber was wrenched
away from my hands by wave that came
in crosswise and had to watch closely for
another piece. The wreckage was getting
scattered now and ] clenched my teeth
hard as l grasped another plank and made
up my mind that l would hold on to this
piece in spite of all. But couldn't. TWAS
wrenched away like the others by what
was, for me, the last big wave of that storm.
| seemed to be drifting away from the storm
belt, and presently, when / had caught
hold of the only piece of wreckage within
not much difficulty in holding on to this
piece. Twas nearly naked all this time,
you know, for when 1 came up from the
vortex of waves over the sinking Colima
my life preserver and all but a shred of my
undershirt had been completely torn off
my body.
when the sea was bit quiet saw, at
some distance from me, raft and what
thought was the figure of man on it.
found l was drifting toward it, aud / swan
little to catch up to it. When got with
in yard or two I let go my bit of wreck
age and swan for the raft. There was a
man lying on it-Zangaree, the man-of-
warsman. We said nothing to each other
for long time. caught hold of the raft
with both hands and ioated along that
way for half an hour or so. Then asked
him if it would bear US both.
Yes, and half dozen more he said.
Better come aboard.
~ climbed on and sat down beside him.
The raft sank little deeper in the water
then-we were about eighteen inches under
water all the time The raft was a piece
Of the deck cabin roof, about 8x10 feet in
area. l should think. 1t was very stout
and held together well. sat there, hold
ing fast with both hands to the rafters-
the roof was turned upside down in the
water, you see.
81 had been sitting there about an hour
or more, / suppose, when we saw another
man floating near by on raft 1t was a
smaller raft than OURS, and we told him to
leave it and come with US. But when he
joined US he said he was sorry he cid so,
because his own raft was better than ours
We had both-that is, Zangaree and /
occasion afterward to wish the third man
had staid on his own raft. He was sea-
man of the Colima-the one who broke
open the keg Of wine we found and drank
so much that he became intoxicated. 1
don't like to go over that story again. He
assaulted me, and we had to throw him
overheard. We fished him out again, and
he let US alone, but he was wild with the
wine, and presently swan off against our
utmost efforts. / suppose he was drowned.
We never saw him again. And in the
afternoon, while kangaroo was sleeping,
y
ton for both of US.
what did we do on the raft, all night ?
Great heavens, / can't tell you that. It
was century in length. Did we sleep? l
never closed my eyes, nor did kangaroo,
after dark. We did not talk much. Once
or twice we spoke of the possibility of
reaching land. Early in the evening we
resolved to watch for floating timbers,
hoping to find piece that would serve as
an oar or paddle and help US to make the
shore. At first we thought VIC could see
the land and had strong hope that the
tide might take us in. But as it grew dark
we lost even the direction in which we sup
posed the land to lay and not stick or BIZ
OF driftwood could be seen on the water.
We had absolutely nothing.
Yes; that was the night of a lifetime.
A man couldn't live through MANY of
them. had not much hope. Sometimes
thought of my brother, and wondered if
ne had saved himself. Sometimes thought
OF home-yes, often, often | thought abOut
nome. Once in the night remember the
tnought occurred to me whether the cable-
cars mad stopped running on Market street
yet Then recalled that the last ferry
ooat Lett San Francisco for Oakland before
the last car left the foot of Market street.
IL was queer how those kind of thoughts
would come into mans head at such a
tiime, out then, you know, a man can
think whole lot in a hundred wears. 7
thought how foolish it was to measure
time by hours and minutes, and decided
that the only way to measure time was hv
what one suffered or experienced. / thonoht
of my things l had lost in the shin.
l.wondered If / should ever wear clothes