The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-08-23

door when could spare a moment to
watch and saw the shots pillow 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 l knew what had happened.
Captain Blake had starboarded his helm
and was going to put the stolen steamer
on the beach. Well, there was a poor
enough chance for us there in all that
surf. A minute later there was a whis-
tie down the voice tube, and he told me
in words That had guessed already.
He said also we'd be on the ground in
side dozen minutes, and we were all
to come on deck. so as to get the best
chance of reaching shore.
said, "Aye, aye" and told the
hands, and they went willingly enough
But, for myself, staid. I'd got my
engines to look after. It was pretty
tough work waiting, though. marked
, off IL minutes on the engine room clock
and lit my pipe But had to fill it
twice before time was up The tobacco
seemed to burn quicker than usual
somehow.
At last she did it. She took the
ground somewhere forrard and Jared
fit to knock ones teeth out. Then she
lifted on 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
noise like meat tin does when boys
kick 1t along paved street.
By that time she had preached to,
and she was on her beam ends with the
engines racing badly. I shut off the
throtties before the poor things rived
themselves clear of their bedplates.
Then opened the escape valve to the
full and climbed out on deck. The seas
were making clean breach over her by
that time, but I did notice that the
port lifeboat was gone and the falls
showed she'd been lowered. There was
not living man left in sight, but
whether they had been washed over
board or had gone away in the boat
could not tell. never saw any Of them
again.
The door was holding to went with
the next sea, and there was in the
surf, 200 yards off the dry beach can
swim like rat or a Krooboy, and 'sd
to do it then. That Pacific surf is soi4la-
thing awful when one Of those lig
ground swells is on.
But got spewed up by the sea at
last, bruised as though I had been
beaten with sticks, and there 1 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 steaming
back for Callao The naphtha launch
was out of sight; the lifeboat, ii size
had survived, had slipped far away
from view, and the sea lay empty.
Day sprang up over the water, and
got up stiffly and walked north along
the coast. A dozen miles brought mo to
an Indian village, where l must say
that, niggers though they were, they
treated me Ikea king. staid there six
months, and might have staid life
time, but was fool and got restless.
The sea always drags me. And | went
along to a little port and found ship
The sea always does drag me like that.
1t is my luck. suppose, to be that kind
of fool.
OF course Captain Blake treated ME
badly, and worked long time and
very hard without a sixpence of wage,
but somehow don't wish that man
evil. I've never come across any one
with nicer knowledge Of drugs or a
freer hand in giving them out to his en-
gineer officers Why, I must have taken
eight boxes Of those Cody's pills at the
very least
uAcY,