The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-10

rose again. in the breathless. baking air,
and the captain of the liner had TO
yield. He threw up his arm in token
/ of surrender, and a hush fell upon .he
! scene like the silence of death.
My company shall pay you hondred
J touSdnd pound captain, und you hat
| der satisfaction dot you make me
ruined man.
i have been ruined myself" said
! Kettle. heaps of times, and my turn
! for the other thing seems to be come
( now L II run down closer to You cap
| tain, or 90 You bid your hands heave
me line from the fo'c's'lehead as I
! come past. You've cut it pretty hna
/ You've no time left to get a boat in
| the water, The wind may come away
! any moment now"
! Captain Kettle was changing into an
! other man. All the insouciance had
! gene from him. He gave his orders
with crispness and decision. and the
| mates and the lascars jumped to obey
! them. The horrible danger that was TO
! come lay as an open adYertiseme nt,
and obey knew that their only way to
pass safely through it-and even then
the chances were slin-Was to obey the
/ man who commanded them to the
uttermost.
The connection between the steamers
! had been made, the snaky steel-wira
haWser had been hauled in through a
stern fair lead by the Saigon's winch,
and the old mate stood ready with the
shachle which would link it on to the
manila.
The heavens yielded up an overture
like the echo of a Titan's groan. ''Hur
! ~, there, you sloW-fo dogsr' came
/ Kettles voice from the bridge.
The lascars brought up the eye of the
hawser and Murgatroyd threaded it
on the pin Of the Shacl1le. Then he
! cried. IAN fast and picked up a
spike and screwed home the pin in its
/ socket. Already the engines were on
! the move again. and the Saigon was
! steaming ahead on the tow line 1t
was a time for hurry.
The air thiekened and grew for the
! moment If anything more hot, and the
! tornado raced down upon them as a
J black Wan stretching far across the
sea, with white water cleaning and
| churninG at its foot. It hit the steam
| efS IKE solid avalanche, and the
} spindrift in 1t cut the faces of $he men
who tried to Withstand it as though
whips had dashed them.
( The cooi1e Quartermaster chung on to
! the Saigon's wheel spoloes, a mere
whisp OF limp humanity, incapable of
steering or of doing anything else shat
required modicam of rational
I thought. The little steamer fell away
/ before the blast like a shaving in q dry
! street; the tonnage of the tornado
heeled her till her lee scuppers spouted
( green water, and she might we'll have
| been overturned at the very outset.
! But Kettle beat the helpless lascar
J from his hold, and spoked the wheel
hard up, and the engines, WORKING
( strongly, brought her round again in
a WalloWing circle to face the torrent
of hurricane.
J ho
/ recovery, and when she was stearutng
| en- again, head to the thunderoug
J gusts. the tale Of what she had endured
! was written in easy lettering. On both
1 fore and main decks the buIwarks were
( gone level with the covering boards;
! the rattle OF crates. harness caekc
/ gangplan6s and so ON, that a small
! trader carries in view 10 the sky. mai
| departed beyond the ken of man, and
! indeed those lower decks we're secured
! clean to the naked, TUSted ion. The
/ port Gfeboat hung stove from bent
I davHs, and three of the CooMe crew
( had been swept from life into the grip
( OF the eternal sea
/ CortolVin fought his way up on to the
4 upper bridge, sep by step. against the
( frantic beating of the wind. and wtrtl-
/ out being hidden relieved at the lee
J SpOl1eS of the wheel. Captain Ketf{e
( nodded his thanks. The Saigon had no
steam steering gear, and in some of
( the heavier squalls the wheel threat
/ ened TO take Charge and pitch the lit
! tie shipnnaster clean oyer the spokes
/ Amid the believing roar of the tor
nado. speech, of course, was impossi-
/ bile, and vision toe, was limited. No
! human eye could look into the wind.
I and even to let it strike the face was a
! torture. The sea did not get up Tha
crest Of any wave which tried to risa
was cut off renorselessly by the knives
( Of tbs hurricane and spread as
( singing mist through the wind. 1t
! was hard, indeed, TO tell where ocean
/ ceased and air began. IT, white sea
was spread in a - o. white and
{ green.
The big helpless liner astern pluclled
! saVagely at the Saigoh's tail, and the
pair of them were moving coastwards
I with speed. Left to herself and steam
! ing fun speed into the gale. the litctla
I Saigon would have been able 10 main
( tain her position neither losing ground
( nor gaining any. With the heavy low
! in charge. she WAS being driven TO-
! ward the roaring surf CT tlla African
/ beach With periIous speed.
1t was possible to sac d5rnly down
| the Wind. and when CortolYin turned
! his face away from The singing blast
/ OF the tornado, he could Understand
N-'t-i NlIeN' AANF7rs N3l'~4i N-Ne'NN lN'SASiSi4-
! Close astern was the pIunsing German
/ liner, With her decks stripped and de-
! serted, and emily the bridge officers eN-
! posed. Beyond was tho cctton white
{ sea; and beyond again were great
1 Ieaping fountains OF wh-tenes5. where
/ the tortured ocean reared against the
! yellow beach
/ Thirty minutes passed. each second
! of them brtmmed with frenZied strug-
! gle for both man aad maehipesy. TAa
1 tornado ranged and booned and
roared. and the backward drtit was a
thing that could be measured with the
! eye. II
Then the I'D mate heaved himself up
! the bridge ladder by lab0ricus inches.
/ His clothes we're wlipplng from HIN
/ in tattered ribbons, tis haf was gone.
and the grizzled hair stood out from
/ the back of his head like the hristles
! of a broom. He clawad his way along
/ the rail, and put his great red face
I close TO Kettles ear.
we cant hofd her" he reared
She's taking US ashore We shall be
there in a dozsn minutes, and then it
4 VIII BE Jones for the lot Of us"
Captain Kettle giared. but made no
articulate reply. If he could nave
spared q hand from the wheelspokes,
| it is probable that Mr. Murgatroyd
| would have felt the weight of it
] The old fellow bawled at him again.