Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-09-29

breath Of wind. Tho long Pacific
swolls came rolling in from the west
ward, 80 that when we wcrc in trough
VIC could not SEQ where thoy broke in
thunder OF tho beach, and all the time
Jhat naphtha launch hung doggcdly in
our wake
The hands were making steam for ev.
cTything they were worth, and all | had
to do was to run about my machinery
With hot oil kettle and keep every.
thing fabricated 1t said much for my
keeping Of those engines tho way they
buckcd up TO work then. They couldn t
have run smoother if ten men with
chiefs tickets had been tending them
every day since they left the shops.
wish the boastly board Of trade cxamn-
crs could have seen mo then
The excitement was too big for mo to
keep myself below all the time. Just
had to pop my head out Of the engine
room door every now ord again to look
astern. But if for a moment the naphtha
launch was ont Of sight, she'd roll up
again high against the horizon over tho
next swell, and if we dropped her at all
it was only for u few fathons to the
hour. Still it wasn't her duty to board.
Sho was only acting as jackal TO the
bigger craft, and presently the masts and
smoke Of that showed up against the
sea line Landsmen might have chuck.
cd mp the sponge then, but we hung
on. Everything was possible in n stern
chase at sea. Besides darkness would be
down in another hour, aud We might slip
away under its cover. We felt crampod
about the threat, l can tell you, then. 1t
didn't talio much Imagination to see the
gallows ready rugged.
Night camo down when the cruiser
was tivo miles astorn, but it did not
help us. The sky was lit like Il thcater !;
the swels were full Of spccklcs of phos.
phorcscerco, and where they broke upon
the beach you might have thought there
was line of bontircs. The cruiser fol-
lowed US and came up as though she
had limo to cur stern and was heaving
it in on her winches.
At mile and half she began to
shoot, and III not say her practice was
good. / stood outside my engine room
door when I could spare moment to
watch and saw tho shots plow cutters
in the swclls and send fountains Of
fame far toward the sky.
Then ali OF sudden tho motion
changed, the roll gave way to a steady
pitch, and / knew what had happened.
Captain Blake had starboardcd his helm
and was going to put the stolen steamer
on the beach. Well, there was u poor
enough chance for us there in all that
surf. a minute later thcrc was a whis-
tie down the voice tube, and he told me
in words what l had guessed already.
He said also wo'd be on the ground in
side dozen minutes, and wo were all
- come on deck, so as to get the best
chance of reaching shore.
said, AYE, aye" and told tho
hands, and they Went willingly enough.
But, for myself, l staid I'd got my
engines to look after. It was pretty
tough work waiting, though. marked
OF IL minutes on tho engine room clock
and lit my pipe. But l had TO fill it
twice before time was up. Tho tobacco
seemed to burn quicker than usual
somehow.
At last sho did it. She took the
ground somewhere forrard and Jared
fit to knock ones teeth out Then she
lifted OH swell and lit the whole of
her length On tho ground, till you q
have thought tho footplate would have
risen up through your cap. Then she
lifted twice more and began to make 4
noise like meat tin does when boys
kick it along paved street.
BY that time she had preached to.
and sho was on her beam ends with the
engines racing badly l shut Off the
throttles before the poor things rived
themselves clear of their bcdplatcs
Then l opened the escape valve 20 the
full and climbed out on deck. The seas
were making clean breach over her by
that time, but did notice that the
port lifeboat was gone, and tho falls
showed she'd been lowered. There was
not living man left in sight, but
whether they bad been washed over.
board or had gone away in the boat
could not tell. l never saw any of them
again.
The door 1 was holding to went with
tho next sea, ard there was | in the
surf, 200 yards Off tho dry beach. l can
swim like rat or Krooboy, and / had
TO do it then. That Pacific surf is some
thing awful when one Of those big
ground swells is on.
But got spcwcd up by the sea at
last, bruised as though l had been
beaten with sticks, and there l lay on
the sand and watched the surf smash
my beautiful engines till they weren
fit to put on the scrap heap The cruiser
had done her work and was steaming
back for Callao. The naphtha launch
was out of sight; the lifeboat, if she
had survived, had slipped far away
from view, and tho sea lay empty.
Day sprang up over the water, and
got up stiffly and walked north along
the coast. A dozen miles brought mo &c
an Indian village, where l must say
that, niggers though they We're, they
treated me like king. staid there sly
months, and might havo staid life
time, but l was fool and got restless
The sea always drags me. And went
along to II little port and found ship
The sea always does drag me like that,
1t is my luck. l suppose, to be that kind
of fool
OF course Captain Blake treated ms
badly, and I worked long time and
very hard without a sixpenoe Of wage
but somehow | don't wish that mar
evil. I've never come across any on'
with q nicer knowledge of drugs or