Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-04-23

We pehcil the treacherous rooki
straight ahead OF us. AS saw the
white waves-whlter beeause of the
darkness which surrounded us-dash-
ing against them, had no shadow
doubt that we were lost Pitch dark "
1t was, but sailor can see rocks Wills
out light to guide him-for the matter
Of that, / believe he can smell them
and it does not need a sailors eye Il
see the white foam from a raging 80.
dashed from an iron bound shore back
into the black waters. Many's the time
l have seen the spotless spray leapine
up the sides of the rocks that line TIN
foreign shores, and, curling back aSai1
in beautiful showers, laughing III Ia
sun-sparkles that filled them With hent
and made them look like millisus o.
living silver stars; but then the days
were fine, and the sun was shining. Il
was different now. There was no sun
and no moon, and the swell Of the SCI
toward the shore came to my ears like
the sound Of muff1ed drums.
The task we had before us now wai
to prevent The Rising Sun from set
ting bodily toward the land; but the
task was too much for us, and though
we worked with will we could not
avoid our fate. The vessel hardly had
steerage way, and the heavy southwest
swell was driving her nearer and near
er to the black rocks. BY midnight
she had become perfectly unmanage-
able; and all the passengers, being now
alarmed and aware of their peril, were
on deck, keeping their feet as we'll az
they could. looked out on the lee
beam, and saw the land, like fog
bank, creeping nearer and nearer to US.
In the midst Of my duties had strivep
hard, but without success, to discover
Bob and Pearl, and it was while I was
thinking of the land with feeling OF
agony that a woman's voice, falling on
my ear, sent shock through me which
curdled my blood.
Hush, my child-hushw were the
spoken words; and 1t was my wife who
uttered them to my boy.
Dumb with fearful joy and amaze
ment l turned toward the voice, when
The Rising Sun came crash
against sharp, jutting rock,
and, If you will believe 1t,
carried part of it away. In the midst
of the cries of despair that accompanied
the crash, l myself called out: "Ma.
bel! Mabel! give me my boy" But my
voice only added to the general terror
and confusion, and before we had time
to recover ourselves, the ship lurched
on to another point of rock, which
carried away her spanker-boom and
rNlder. And now, dark as it was b.
fore, it grew darker. Ay, it was like
the Egyptian darkness, for it could al.
most be felt, and The Rising Sun
seemed to be slowly cutting her way
through it, as if 1t were substance,
The two points of rock which the YES
sci had struck formed the entrance t
a huge water cave, and into this cave
we were now fatally working our way
This accounted for the increasing dark
ness, for above us and before us Vert
savage rocks, from the walls of Hnicl
the thick slime was crawling down tt
the sea. This much I know, and thii
much l saw, S1t I was mercifully
spared from the conscious knowledge
of a great deal of the agony and terror
of that awful night. The mizzen-top-
gallant mast coming down with tire.
mendcus force, I was struck prone te
the deck by it, and for time partial
ly lost my senses.
ITO scoNTINUsDj