The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-07-29

was the motion, so imperceptible was
their progress, that nothing but the
daily observations of the captain dem
onstrated that their position was
changed. In, and always in, they were
forced, although huge banks Of the
clinging weed accumulated about their
hull. Shifting about at the pleasure
of the eddying currents, now far into
the interior, now nearer the outer edge,
the doomed ship vas tossed about at
the whim of that strange freak Of the
mighty ocean.
Long weeks passed, with no change
excepting the ever-increasing intensity
of the heat. The ships provisions gave
out n the men were forced to resort
to the cargo to sustain life. The blaz-
ing tropical sun poured its fiery rays
upon the decks n started the seams
Of the vessel. Men were Frustrated and
too weak to perform the perfunctory
tasks set them that a malady even
more terrible might not attack them.
Minds wer giving away under the heat
and strain, so the captain kept them
busy, so that insanity might not add
it's horrors to the accumulated and ac-
cumulating miseries of their condition.
One day when the men wer loung-
ing about the vessel, gaunt and worn
with their terrible sufferings, the look
out suddenly sang out:
"A SAIL"
Instantly every man ABOARD scram-
bled to the superheated deck and ca
gerly asked where the lookout had seer
the long and eagerly looked for sail.
Out over the port bows, seemingly only
a couple of miles away, they spied a
stately ship apparently bearing down
upon them. Her sails tapped lazily
as if little care was bestowed upon her.
But the sailors of the Narka were too
Overjoyed to notice what in ordinary
times would have excited their suspic-
ions. They rugged up additional sig
nails and frantically waved everything
aboard which might do duty as as sign
Of their distress.
The ship sailed sullenly along, drift
like their own under the impulse of the
currents. Not a sign of life could be
seen aboard her as she drew nearer and
nearer. Nobody was at her wheel, no.
body was on her decks, not a living
creature was observed. Then she shift
ed n passed the Narka within easy
distance. At the wheel were the scat
tered bones of a human skeleton. At
the mainmast foo coiled a huge py-
thon, who lazily lifted his horrid head,
twisted his folds and darted a red and
forbidding tongue at the horror strick-
en- sailors. The weather beaten sides of
the vessel had long lost all trace of
paint, no sign of her name, origin or
destination could be seen. She was a
derelict, all that remained of her crew
being the few bones scattered about
the deck.
The crew Of the Narka laughed,
cursed, swore and shed hot tears of
disappointment and rage. Imprisoned
like themselves the big ship drifted
away and was lost to sight. Then the
crew saw hat seemed to be land. Again
hope sprang up in their hearts. But
| o0oSt tho 10 ma vro ,oorn1u q A1o%j-~
island, as unfixed INC untenable as
their own vessel. Verdure, vines and
trees covered the island. Countless
birds of bright plumage, native of
climes remote from their island home,
fluttered in Inc out. Mermets chat
tered and scrambled about in the
boughs, snakes crawled about in the
trees or lay basking on logs which
f1oated in the same listless manner 1t
was all a dream seemingly, for no hui
man could obtain foOthold on that land
n none could survive the attacks of
deadly reptiles If a landing could be eff
fected.
Three months from the day the ship
entered the dense mass the first mate
reported the startling news hat the
hevy weed clinging so closely to the
hull was slowly but certainly dragging
it down to a watery grave. Thus a
new and still more frightful peril was
added to the horrors of that floating
prison. Explosives were aboard and
the captain determined to utilize them
to blast away the tendrils which, like
the tentacles Of the devilfsh, were de-
strOying their only hope Of escape.
Rude shells were rugged up, fuses at
tached, ignited and sealed n the mis-
siles tossed overheard to work their will
on the closely packed weed. Explo-
sion after explosion followed and the
mass separated and idly floated away
from the ship. But it was soon seen
that what was cast off was speedily re-
placed by other masses and the peril
renewed with the ship weakened from
the shocks. But the vessel was eased
of her weight, and thereafter at regu-
lar intervals the captain resorted to
his explosives to relieve them from the
haunting fear of being dragged down
to the bottom.
One day two Of the fourteen men, in
their eagerness to observe h effect of
a large shell that had been used, leaned
too far over the ships side. The shell
exploded with terrific force, driving
the ship backward and topping the
two sailors overheard into the sea. In
stantly, before the Mortified eyes Of
their shipmates, the unfortunate men
were clasped by the tendrils and en-
quilted. Swimmers could make no pro-
gress in the dense mass. No human
strength was sufficient to release them.
Five months passed away. Hundreds
of vessels were seen far and near. All
wer abandoned, tenantless excepting
for the creatures, mans natural enc
mics. Island after island was passed.
Birds in myriads f1uttered about, at
times settling on the ship. Monkeys,
boa constructors. pythons and smaller
snakes abounded, seemingly being add
ed that the picture of inferno might be
complete. Horrid as was their situa>
ton, nature seemed to have outdone