The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-10-03

Amid the believing roar of the tor
nado, speech. Of course, was impossible,
and vision, too, was limited. No human
eye could look into the wind, and even
to let it strike the face was a torture.
The sea did not get up. The crest Of
any wave which tried to rise was cut off
remorselessly by the knives of the hurri-
cane, and spread as a singing mist
throughout the wind. 1t was hard, in
deed, to tell where ocean ceased and air
began. The white sea was spread in
blur of white and green.
The big helpless liner astern plucked
savagely ut the Saigon's tail, and the
pair OF them we're moving cOastwards
with speed. Left to herself and steam
ing fun speed into the gale, the little
Saigon would have been able to main
tain her position, neither losing ground
nor gaining any. With the heavy tow
in charge. she was being driven toward
the roaring surf OF the African beach
with perilous speed.
1t was possible to see dimly down the
wind, and when Cortolvin turned his
face away from the singing blast of the
tornado, he could understand with clear
ness their exact position. Clost astern
was the plunging German liner, with
her decks stripped and deserted. aud
only the bridge officers exposed. Be
yond was the cotton white sea; and be-
yond again were great leaping foun-
tains OF whiteness, where the tortured
ocean roared against the yellow tortured
Thirty minutes passed, each second of
then brimmed with frenzied struggle
for both man and machinery. The tor
nado ragged and doomed and roared, and
the backward drift was thing which
could be measured with the eye.
Then the old mate heaved himself up
the bridge ladder by laboriOus inches.
His clothes were whipping from him and
the grizzled hair stood out from the
back of his head like the bristles Of a
broom. He clawed his way along the
rail, and put his great red face close to
Kettles ear.
1--WE can't hold her." he roared. "She's
taking us ashore. We shall be there in
n dozen minutes, and then it will be
James for the lot of u.s."
ticulate reply. II he could have spared
a hand from the wheelspokes, it is prob
a bale that Mr.. Murgatroyd would have
felt the weight of it.
The old fellow bawled at him again
"The hands know it as well as me, and
they say they're not going to be
drowned for anybody. They say they're
going to cast off the hawser."
This time Capt. Kettle yelled back
reply. "You thingw he cried. "You put
ty man, get back to your post! If you
want to live, keep those niggers' fingers
off the shackle. By James, if that tow
is cast off, I'll turn the Saigon for the
beach. and drown the whole crew of
you inside of three minutes. BY James
yes, and you know me, and you know
I'll do it. too. You ham-faced jellyfsh,
away aft with you, and save your
blooming life"
The man WINGED under the little cap
tain's tongue and went away and Capt.
Kettle looked across the wheel at his as
sistant.
Cortolvin shrugged his shoulders and
glanced backward at the beach and
nodded. Kettle leaned across and shout
ed:
II know it, sir, as we'll as you do. /
know it as we'll as they do. But I've got
a fortune in tow yonder. and I'd rather
die than set it adrift. 1t isn't one fortune
either: it's dozen fortunes: and have
just got to grab one of them. I'm mar
ried man, sir, with a family, and I've
known what it was to watch and see
'em hungry. You'll stand by me, Mr..
Cortolvin 2"
"It seems promised. You know I've
been long enough with Mahometans,
skipper. TO be somewhat fatalist. So I
say. God is great and our fates are writ
ten on our foreheads. and no man can
change by an inch the path which II II
foreordained he shonld tread. But they
are queer fntes. some Of them. went
away from England because OF my wife:
step out Of the middle OF Arabia and