Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-07-06
a bout, we should have noticed it.


Not necessarily. 1t may be some
subsurface stream, running only a few
inches an hour With our rough obser-
vations we should never notice such q
small disturbance as that. And yet,
given time, it might have shifted the
slowly sinking galleon on a good long
distance before she finally settled into
her bed upon the ooze No, | shall not
abandon our search while we have u
single cylinder of oxygen left and even
then shall not go away because l con-
slider it hopeless.
And so it was decided that the search
should go on. The Eureka made descent
after descent and each day surveyed az
much of the ooze bed below as her hand
driven screw would take her over
Besides the two extraordinary perils
which have been mentioned there were
other and more frequently repeated
times Of danger. These were the mo-
ments when she was returning to or
dropping from the surface Then. if
there happened to be anything of n
heavy sea or swell running, the doctor
found himself in no small difficulty. OF
course the time of descent was in his
own hands, for. if the weather was bad
when the hour came for the dive, he
could simply wait and let the ketch
ride to her floating anchor till the sea
moderated. But if blow sprang up
while she was in the black depths below
she was pinned She was bound to
come to the surface sooner or later, or
her crew would suffocate. But several
times, when they had begun to pump
water out of the ballast tanks and risen
almost the whole distance, they found
| that there was dangerous sea running
overhead and were compelled to stay
their hands and let the Eureka balance
in middepth till the weather had inn
proved.
On all occasions but one this maneu
yer had succeeded. though at the cost of
grievCus waste of the store of com
pressed oxygen. But on that one day,
after using up three whole cylindAs of
the precious gas and enduring the close
air of the hold till its surcharged heavi-
ness nearly choked them, they took to
the pumps again in kind of despera-
ton and crept slowly up to the bolster
Gus surface above.
Heavily waterlogged as she was, the
Eureka would not rise to the seas but
rolled sluggishly in the trough and al.
lowed the heavy waves to make clean
breach over her. The imprisoned treas.
ure hunters could hear the cataracts Of
green falling overhead like avalanches
of stone, Every nail and every rivet Of
Nothing but her colossal strength
brought her through that fierce ordeal,
and when the iron matches were taken
off and the crew got on to the deck the
rigging and launching of the sea anchor
proved a task almost too great for
them But at last it was done. and the
ketch was slowed round to ride bows on
to the waves.
Then there was leisure to look around,
and the sight which met the eyes was
cruel enough, for the pounding seas
had made sad havoc while the Eureka
had been rolling helpless in their trough.
Nine days after the adventure with
| the giant eel Dolly made a mistake
which was the cause of giving great
disappointment to the whole crew. This
is how it happened;
The Eureka had sunk quietly dowr
to within a fathom or 30 of the ooze
and the doctor, who always directed
the upward and downward movements
of the vessel himself, left the connint
tower and went down to help the Others
on the crank Dolly remained in thu
coming tower alone. The wheel worked
easily. She had the pinnacle in front o
her and was we'll able to steer compass
course, and as the pace which the hant
driven screw gave along the sea foo
was slow, and Dollys brown eyes wer
very keen, she was easily able to keep
smart lookout at the same time.
The other seven members of the crew
had been grinding stolidly on at tn
hateful screw shaft for some hour and
half, saying little to one another, AM
(some of them at least) thinking of lit
tie. for the monotony of the never end
ing work had knocked the spirit out o
them. But of sudden they were cleo
trifed into sentient beings again by
cry from above of: "Oh. there she is
There! Is last"
No order was given, but the cram
stopped dead at the turn. and save TO
Cain Laversha, who sat in his plac
unmoved, one and all rushed up tn
ladder and squeezed into the connin
) tower The Eureka was motionless, an
her searchlight was turned full on tn
object which had caused Dolly's cry.
1t was wreck, lying over on its star
board bilge, with decks facing ava
from the Eureka Fore and main mast
, were standing Topmasts had disar
peared; mizzenmasts had gone by tn
! board and lay trailing on the port quar-
tiers by the rigging Her sides wer
, capped with gun ports. Her bottom wa
still green with rumpled copper sheath
ing.
The doctors hand stole on to Dolly
shoulder,
; Little girl, said he, "brace yoursel
up for disappointment.
3 ooh. doctor, cried Dolly, "isn'
that the Santa Catarina ?"
dolly, my dear, I'm very sorry fo
} you, Your smart lookout has done 20
3 credit. but this is little accident tina