El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-23
PAGES 9 TO Z.

to be useless, or were OnlCteQ, L IOr-
get which.
The wind still amounted to a gale,
though less violent, and it famed the
growing flames, so that the fated brig
burned fast. The lightning still fash
ed, but at the horizon, and the thun-
der was heard to grumble above the
hiss Of the SEQ: yet we needed uncm
| aot, though they added to the terror
and the grandeur of the scene; and.
most p~rovidentially for us, the fury of
the storm was past.
Tattooed Tom was the last man h
left the brig, and the moment he was
in the boat he exclaimed, with a loud
voice, thai rang above the roaring OF
the flames, which now gushed through
every ~hatchway and aperture, above
the bowling of the wind and the break
ing of the frothy sea-
"Shove off!-out oars, there, to star
board-puil round. her stern-pul1 with
a will to windward-keep the boats
bow to the break of the seal"
We pulled silently and vigorously,
and 70 got clear of the brig, through
the four stern windows of which four
lines of light glared redly on the ocean.
All our strength was required to
achieve +"is. for tho brig. being the
larger body, attracted the boat toward
her. However we got safely to wind
ward, which was absolutely necessary,
for to leeward there fell Kissing into
h sea a torrent of sparks n burn
ing brands from the rigging, which was
all in flames now.
Resting POI u oars, or only using
them to keep the boats head to the
break of the sea, n to prevent her
being swamped-an operation during
which they were as often hourished In
the air as in the ocean, when we rose
On the crest of one vast, heaving wave,
or sank into the dark vale of water
between two-resting thus, we gazed
in silence and with aching hearts at
the destruction of our home upon the
sea.
We could feel the heat of the con-
1agration even to w1ndward. In a quar-
ter of an hour she was e%nveloped from
stem to stern in a sheet of fire that
rose skyward in the form of a pyra-
mid. By this time every vestige of
her spars, sails and rigging had dis
appeared.
The entire deck had been consumed;
the bulwarks and nodded plank-sheer
rapidly followed, and through the
flames that roared fercely from the
hollow of her hull we could see the
black ti~mberheads standing upward
like a row of fangs.
Rents appeared next in her sides as
the flames burst through the inner and
outer sheathing, and with a kissing
sound as they met the raves of tie
briny sea. Then a salt steam rose,
and its strange odor, with that of
the burning wood, was waited at times
toward us.
At last she gave a sudden heel to
starboard, and with a sound unlike
anything I ever heard before-a deluge
of water extinguishing a mighty fire
the waves rushed unanimously in on
all sides. She vanished from our sight
in mist and obscurity, and a heavy
darkness suddenly replaced the glare
that for a time had lit up the heaving
sea, dazzling our eyes and sickening
our hearts.
"AlPs over now" said Tom Lam
bourne, as be grasped the tiller with
a firm hand, after carefully wrapping a
blanket round poor Hislop, who droop-
ed beside him in the stern-sheets.
(Which way shall we pull?" asked
the bowman, as we paused with our
oars in the rowlocks.
"It matters little. mates,'' cried Tom,
in a loud voice, with his left han at
the side of his mouth, to send wat
he said forward above the oar of the
wind and sea. 1--WE must be many
hundred miles from Brazil, the nearest
land, and we can do nothing now u
keep our boa alive by baling and
steering till daybreak. Now. Master
- - - -
"how do o feel, sir?"
81 feel that I am quite in your a
my lads-a useless hand aboard. to
your food and water" re-
piled Hislop, family.
why, SIR" said Probart, the stroke
oarsman, you don't think we could
left you to burn in that poor old
brig?"
mo, nc exactly; still I am of no
use to you, and 1 feel"
What, sir, what?' asked Tom, anx-
iously.
Heart sick and despairing," moan
ed Hislop, letting his chin drop on
reast.
Don't talk so, sir" said Lambourne,
despair never found a place
in the heart of a British sailor"
You are right, Tom; and perhaps
I'll gather Roadway and get to wind
ward yet"
"Of course you WILL" replied Tom,
u here's a sea coming
together, lads, pull t~ogether!"
Despair might well have found a
place in all our breasts at that awful
crisis; but Toms bluff and cheerful
way prevented our hearts from sink
ing, though the hours of that awful
night seemed dark and long.
Well, without compass. chart. or