Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-04-01
Ieaden whistle between his lips ana blew

leaCcn WnlStle between MS lips ana DEW
shrilly.
At frs: no one answered his summons.
From the forecastle, from the stokehold,
from aft, came the ships company, max
ing by instinct for the high land of the
bridge deck, and from his eminence tho
little captain scowled down upon them
and swore. It is not n wholesome sight to
see grown men screaming through sheer
terror, and the sooner they are ASSOCIATED
either by words or blows from this frame
of mind the more they will be able subse-
quently to respect themselves. BY dint of
vinegar tongue and suggestive move
ments toward a pair Of implements which
bulged his jacket pockets Kettle drove a
gang OF five to set the mizzen trysail to
keep the steamer head to sea. She was
rapidly losing her way, and If she preached
to beam on, with that heavy sea running,
the lower decks would be filled with green
water continuously, and that with such "a
gaping rent where the hatch had been
meant simply rapid swapping
Then the captain looked round him
seemingly for messenger. The mate of
the watch hung Oh to the handle Of the
engine room telegraph, which still pointed
to full speed ahead, looking dazed and
helpless. The quartermaster's hands were
mechanically saving at the spokes of the
wheel, but it was equally evident that he
also did not know wha, he was doing Just
then Cambel raced up the bridge ladder
three steps ut a time.
All" cried Kettle. now. you are o
man who can keep his head in a bit of
fluster, and, by James, you re the only
one on board. Just tumble forward. will
you, and get down into that hold and
see what's wrong"
Cambel nodded and turned to 60 with
out word. From two or three of the
men thin cheer rose as he passed them.
and before he had gained the bottom OF
the ladder on 10 the iron lower deck half a
dozen were on the top rungs after him
Sailors will seldom refuse to follow when
superior shows the way, and besides
these fellows were getting over their first
panic and were beginning to be ashamed
OF themselves for giving way tc it.
The mizzen trysail was not then set and
because the steamers way had left her she
was falling off into the trough and rolling
bulwarks under TO every sea. she was
shipping water fast. The Dreaming, solid
masses sluicing across the deckpiates
smote the men breech high with the
weight of rams and he who, when the
waters were upon him, left his hold would
have been swept like cork TO lecward.
But by the hatch coamings. the winches
ana odd wet streamers of rope they claw
ed their way forward and covered round
the great hole made by the explosion,
holding there by the edge of the twisted
riven plates. The seas creamed over their
heads. falling in noisy cascades into the
tlackness below, and from out of that
darkness above all the believing of wind
and the changing Of iron and the other
din, came sodden whistling of water
which seemed to confirm the worst fears.
'PoE. said some one, trying to be
CHEEKY, that's only the small sup she's
shipped since the matches were blown off.
The bilgo pumps'll soon kick that drop
overheard
Guess you lie." said another with o
weary shake Of the head
Then the ink of the heavens overhead
was splashed with n vivid fork of light.
ming, and the men saw Cambel, with his
face as white as his teeth, lowering him.
self over the brink and gripping with his
knees a twisted iron pillar below The
light above snapped out, and within the
dim jagged outline of where the hatch
had been all was blackness. And overhead
the thunder rumblcd like the passing of a
Titan's gun train. The men shivered.
One of them, an old white haired able sea.
man. was physically sick. And mean
while the Port Edes rolled through i2 de.
2rees. and the gulf water flowed green in
and back over each bulwark alternately.
The men hung over the dark abyss c.
the hatch. listening intently, and above
the noises of the gale they could hear the
suilen wash of water in the hold growing
heavier and more sodden with every roll.