The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-07-22

ting her squeezed.
The plain of the iceberg was covered
with hummocks, and they established
their camp in a sheltered spot between
two of them. The situation seemed lit
tie better than before, and the exhaust
ed men lay disheartened in the boat.
The ever active Potter, however, ex-
plored such parts of the berg as he
dared. He found some little wreckage,
thrown upon the ice at the time of the
Valiant's wreck, but he had almost
to drive his men to help secure 1t.
When they saw the cheerful flames
dancing among he broken bits of spar
they gained courage, however. But
hunger besieged them sore. All day and
the night which followed, their suffer-
ings increased.
AS soon as the smothering haze
changed in hue from brown to gray on
this second morning, Potter left the
boat and made another circuit of the
to lie down with folded hands and meet
death; but Potter still had faith in that
thousandth chance.
He climbed to every pinnacle to
which man could possibly ascend, and
scrutinized every ravine and basin in
the floating island. Not living thing
beside its human inhabitants and a
flock of elusive sea birds appeared upon
the berg; but near the water, caught
by piece of ice fallen from the cliff
above, he found the partially devoured
body Of seal. 1t was frozen solidly
il the ice, but he cut it loose with the
boat ak.
With this prize he went back to his
companions, who lay in a lethargic
doze, having given him up for lost.
Both of old Andrews feet were frozen
and the other men were stiff with the
cold. Urged by the energetic Potter
and by the sight of the frozen seal, the
two younger men managed to break up
the remaining Wreckage and the fire
was revived. Strips of the coarse seal
meat were thawed and then half
cooked over the blaze and they chewed
the tough bits with delight.
Potter cut off and set aside all the
fat and the oiliest of the blubber, and
they ate the leanest flesh first. The food
heartened the castaways wonderfully,
and Potter was able to get them to ex-
ercise more-all but the cook. He, poor
fellow, could scarcely move hand or
foot, and nothing they could do seemed
to get the frost out of his lower ex-
tIemities or the pain out of his joints,
All that day, while the berg continued
to float southwark, the rumble and
cracking of the ice continued. But the
weather grew colder in the night,
changing so rapidly that they were
nearly frozen to death in their sleep.
Potter, waking soon after midnight,
found his clothing stiffening upon him
as he lay, and the fire died down to q
bed of fast graying Goals. He awoke
his companions, finding much difficulty
in arousing the cook at all. The others
he made get up and run about upon the
ice. He stripped off his own outer coat
and wrapped it about the older man.
The other two did the same and they
tried by every means in their power
to force the cooks sluggish blood into
more rapid circulation.
"'Tain't no use, boys; let the old man
alone," he muttered. "It's only gettin'
me first; ye'll all come to it,"
But the man who believed in that
thousandth chance would not give up.
Much as he disliked doing so, he broke
the dory up with the boat ak and re-
plenished the fire,
"Now you've done it, Cap" growled
one of the others. "We couldn't git err
way if we saw the chance"
We'll all pull through alive, or
none," returned Potter, sternly.
He fed the fire carefully, throwing on
bits of seal blubber now and then to in
crease the heat. Old Andrew respond
ed at once to the fire and they got his
boots off and chafed his feet till he
cried with pain. But this satisfied Pot
ter that the cooks eXtremities were not
so badly frozen as he feared.
That awful night came finally to an
end, and with sunrise the weather
cleared. The fog died away before the
bright beams, and the little company
of shipwrecked bankers gained hope,
They had no means of knowing how far
they had drifted since the wreck, but
they were sure it had been in q gener-
ally southern direction. They were not,
of course, anywhere near the fishing
ground yet, but they were probably
near, If not already in, the track of the
steam routes between Europe and
America. While the weather remained
cold the berg would not be likely to
break up, and old Andrew was so much
improved that he could move around
their camp and exercise enough him
self to keep the frost out.
They allowed the fire to go out, but
rebuilt 1t at dark, and that little point
OF light, fed so carefully with the frag-
ments of the dory and the seal blubber,
was the means of their salvation. The
freighter Pallas, of Halifax, pushing
her nose through the now greatly
loosed Ice pack in the early morning
saw the castaways' fire. She blew her
whistle and then slowed down till dav-
light, when her third officer, with vol
unteer boats crew, brought the four
shipwrecked men from the berg.
And this is the story of the wrecl,
of the Valiant and of the man who
believed in 'the thousandth chance"
From Two Sides.
MY son." said the philosopher, "you
know the adage, don't you? Never put
all your eggs in one basket. Then II
an accident happens only a portion of
tham will ha brol,or c. I'll