The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-23

innocent OF the raWeSt klnQ. Inls
landsman had bolted his dinner and
was leaning over the starboard rail,
looking no more stupid and inert than
he generally did. A big coal lighter
was moored alongside the ship, and
the cadet in order to get aboard ship
had to climb from the steam launch
that brought him off onto the lighter.
and then pull himself up on the fixed
gangway ladder to the gangway. There
was space of about Two feet between
the coal lighter and the ship. Into
this space the cadet, missing his hold
when he attempted to clutch the lad
der, fell, feet foremost, with splash.
The crew of the steam launch heard
the splash, but did not know what had
caused it. 1t was about 100 to l
against the cadet'a saving his life by
his own efforts, for when he came up
his head was due to bump against the
bottom Of the lighter, and it is hard
proposition even for good swimmer
to keep his nerve under such circum-
stances. The cadet didn't keep his
nerve, and he would surely have been
a goner had it not been for the loutish
landsman leaning over the starboard
rail. The loutish landsman proved
to be the right man. He did
not even kick off his Government
brogans before he let himself fall into
the space between the lighter and the
ship at the exact point where the
cadet had gone down. The crew Of
the steam launch saw the move and
wondered what it meant. They did
not know the cadet was underneath
the lighter. In about half minute
the moon-faced landsman came from
beneath the lighter, and he had
the cadet along with him. The cadet,
his nerve gone, was very wild, and
clutched the landsman fercely. The
landsman freed his right arm from the
grasp Of the struggling cadet and gave
him jolt on the point Of the jaw
with his big right fist that the cadet
declares he feels yet. The blow put
the cadet out of the game altogether,
but it saved his life. he would have
pulled his rescuer down with him had
he not been knocked silly, and this
was one of the times when an enlisted
man struck an officer without being
punished for it. The landsman and
the cadet were hauled into the steam
launch by the crew, and the ship s
company proceeded to hunt up another
butt for their humor. The moon
faced landsman wasn't made to serve
in that capacity any longor.
Notl long after the Atlanta went into
commission an apprentice boy who
had been dubbed by his companions
the nan-o' war equivalent of natural,
put the whole pack of them into the
shade by sudden exhibition Of nerve.
A guns crew, including several of the
boys, and this slow-witted boy in par
ticular, were engaged in breaking out
one Of the after magazines. Two of
the men were down in the magazine
aud fastened cans of powder to the
hoist hook, and the rest of the gang
were at the head Of the magazine hatch
handling the ammunition as it came
up. The Atlanta wasn't fitted with
electric lights at that time, and the
gunner's mate in charge of the job
swung closed lantern in his hand at
the head of the hatch. He was swing
ing it somewhat cerelessly when the
lantern struck against one of the sides
Of the hatch, and the lamp, already
| loosened, fell from the lantern down
the hatchway. 1t fell squarely on the
I top of can of powder-a twenty-five
pound can. The men down in the
magazine had gone way forward to get
another can of powder, and they
weren't on hand to pick the lamp of
the powder can and extinguished it.
The heavy-heaced apprentice boy was
at the top of the hatch, though. and
he was the only one of the gang who
wasn't paralyzed with fear. While all
of the others stood waiting for the
ship to go into the air, he slid down
the hoist chain like cat descending
from tree. He grabbed the lamp
the wick Of which, still ablaze, was
heating the iron can, and blew it out
Then he clutched the handle of the
powder can with one hand, took firm
hold or the hoist chain with the other
and yelled:
:'Shoot me up out o this, you fel
lows above there, quick =
The lad with the can of powder il
his hand was at the top of the hatcl