The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-04-04

see where they broke in thunder ON the
beach; and all the time that naphtha
launch hung doggedly in our wake.
The hands were making steam for
everything they were worth, and all
had to do was to run about my machin-
cry with a hot oil kettle and keep every
thing fabricated. 1t said much for my
keeping of those engines the way they
bucked up to work then. They couldn't
have run smoother if 10 men with chief's
tickets had been tending them every
day since they left the shops. | wish
the beastly board of trade examiners
could have seen me then.
The excitement was too big for me to
keep myself below all the time. | lust
had to pop my head out of the engine
room door every now and again to look
astern. But if for a moment the naphtha
launch was out of sight. she'd roll ND
again high against the horizon over the
next swell, and if we dropped her at all.
it was only for a few fathomS to the
hour. Still it wasn't her duty to board.
She was only acting as jackal to the
bigger craft, and presently the mastS
and smoke of that showed up against the
sea line. Landsman might have chucked
up the sponge then. But we hung on.
Everything was possible in Il stern chase
at sea; besides darkness wOuld be down
in another hour and we might slip away
under its cover. We felt crampcd about
the throat / can tell you then. 1t didn't
take much imagination to sec the gallOws
ready rugged.
tb.. {
FIVE miles astern, but it did not help us.
The sky was lit like a theater. the swells
were full of speckles of phOsphOresence;
and where they broke upon the beach
you might have thought there was a line
of bOnfires. The cruiser followed us and
came up as though she had 81 Fine to our
stern. and was heaving of it in ON her
winches.-
At a mile and a half she. began to
shoot, and I'll not say her practice was
good. l stood outside my engine room
door when l could spare a moment to
watch, and saw the shots nlow cutters
in the swells, and send fountains of flame
far toward the sky.
Then all of % sudden the motion
changed; the roll gave way to a steady
pitch, and | knew what had happened.
Capt. Blake had starbOardei his helm,
and was going 10 put the stolen steamer
on the beach. Well, there was poor
enough chance for us there. in all that
surf. A minute later there was a whistle
down the voice tube, and ne told me in
words what | had guessed already. He
said also we'd be on the ground inside
a dozen minutes, and we were all to
IL H., ~,
of reaching shore.
said AYE, aye" and told the hands,
and they went willingly enough But
for myself, l stayed. I'd got my engines
to look after. 1t was pretty tough work
waiting, though. l marked off II min
utes on the engine room clock, and lit
my pipe. But | had to fill it twice be-
fore time was up. The tobacco seemed
to burn quicker than usual, somehow.
At last she did it. She took the ground
somewhere forward and Jared fit to
knock ones teeth out. Then she lifted
on a swell and Lit the whole of her
length on the ground till you'd have
thought the. footplate would have risen
up through your cap. Then she lifted
twice more and began to make a noise
Ike meat tin does when boys kick it
along paVed street.
BY that time she had preached m.
and she was on her beam ends with the
engines racing badly. / shut off the
thr0ttleS before the poor things rived
themselves clear of their 6edplates. Then
| opened the escape vaivp TO the null.
and climbed out on deck. The seas were
making Il clean breach over her by chat
time but T did notice that the port life
boat was. gone. and the falls showed
she'd been lowered. There was Lot Il
living m;tn left in sight, but whether-they
had been washed overheard or had} gone
away,in 5he boat | could not tell, aever
saw any of them AGAIN.
The dior | was hohling to werT with
the next sea. and there was | in the
surf. 200 yards off the dry beach. | can
swim like Il rat or Krooboy, and ( had to
do it tEen. That Pacific surf is some
thing awful when one of those big ground
swells Is on.
But got Spewed up by the sea at last,
bruiscd as though Thad been beaten with
sticks. and there + lay on the. sand and
watched the surf smash my beautiful
engines till they weren't fit to. put on the
scrap heap. The. cruiser had done her
WORK and was sUeaming back for Callao,
the naptha launch was out Of sight the
lifeboat. if she mad survived. had Slipped
far away from. view; and the sea lay
empty.
bay sprang APP over the water, ana |
got up stiffly and walked north along
the coast. AZ dozen miles. brought me
80 an Indian village, where l must say
Clfat, niggerS though they were, they
treated me like king. stayed there
six months, and might have stayed life
time, but L was a fool and got restless.
The sea always drags Lac. And | went
along a little port and found a ship.
The sea always does drag me like that.
1t is my luck, suppose, to be that kind
of n fool.
OF course Capt. Blake treated me bad
ly. and + worked a long time and very
hard without sixpence of wage. But
somehow I don't wish that man evil.
I've never come acooss any one with a
nicer knowledge OF drugs, or a freer
hand in giving them out to hrs engineer
officers Why, must have taken eight
boxes 9f those Cody's pills at the very
least.
To- CURE A GOLD IN ONE DAY