Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-10-25
CHAPTER XIV.
A RESPITE.

1t was tragic episode, but had seen so
much tragedy crowded into my life for the
past few days that this quick and probably
painless passing of human soul made in my
state but little impression. looked for the
doctor, but saw the doors Of the forecastle
fast closed, and afterward found that the
force of the water had slammed them on
him, knocking him from the ladder to the
deck below. A pity it was that there ane
then it had not been he instead of my
plucky enemy who had first planted foot to
come aft. Better for my subsequent happi-
ness would it have been if, instead of the
sailor, that red-faced drunkard had choked
in the element he 30 despised.
The heaving into the wind and the drown
ing of the seaman were the only events
which reused my blood to heat which make
the details stand out in memory. might
tell Of the sufferings of Ames and Gertrude
King, and of their utter Indifference and
total abandonment to what appeared GER
tain destruction, but it would be useless.
The greatest agony of either sprang from
seasickness and it's attendingmiseries. There
was not one of us who thought of food,
which was probably fortunate, as our stock
brought on board was brine-soalzed and ru.
ined. Even my toughened self and the
tougher sailors lost heart and stomach in
the deadening nausea that gradually seized
us and kept it's hold. The doctor, impris
oned forward by the seas, and too cowardly
to show his head after his one attempt to
come aft, might have been in another world
for all we heard or saw of him. The last
drop of stimulant had gone, and with it had
gone the last of even fictitious spirits. An
unshakable apathy clutched our company,
and, save that one lurch of the vessel was
of greater violence than another, nothing
marked the events of hours. Fear had
passed; anxiety was dead; day and night
were meaningless terms. Wewere only wait
ing the final stroke, wrench, an open seam,
and then the blessed end.
Mechanically I placed rain-soaked cloths
on the wounded ribs of my friend and on
the gashed head of his sister, and offered to
them rain water squeezed from a square
cloth of canvas. It was not because my in
terest in either ran high; friendship for one
and love for the other had fallen with my
nerve force into latent state, and I bare
ly responded to their needs-to my own
responded not at all. Mechanically went
to the deck, only to meet the same lead
overhead and the same towering majesty
VI "oSCA1 AS1SASA VI "AlCA Iup1SoacO liz
(for was far past being impressed) mors
than I have since been by fat calm. The
pitiless rain in my face and eyes would
rouse in me dull sense of discomfort, just
as sleeping child unconsciously resents dis
turbance, but that was all. would go be-
low, meeting the lackluster eyes of the sail
ors, who had also sought shelter in the
cabin, and the deathlike forms of the two
on the floor, and feel that we were all sink
ing into the languor of starvation and pro-
longed strain.
By the end of the third day the Ph.u-
tom was practically floating wreck, though
for all J. could see not a line had parted, nor
spar, other than the topmast, been dis
placed. But there was no longer buoyant
lift to her bows, and the seas ran danger
ousy near the level of the deck-a fact that
plainly spoke of water in the hold, it hav-
ing drained from above or leaked between
her strained planks. There had been no at
tempt at pumping, for no man gould have
stood at the brakes in the deluge that came
aboard, and now we were settling, helped
nightly by the nature of our cargo. But
the knowledge fit gave me no trouble, nor
was there comment made on the fact,
though to three of us at least the condi-
tons were clearly apparent.
ITO BE CONTINUED