Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-01-05

was steered for MacaSSar, 40 miles away,
the sailors growing audibly at the dead
weight of the launch and its load
astern.
Joe and I had not exchanged a word.
Mr.. Murch sat looking Grossly at us
both. He felt sore, for he had lost every
thing excepting what he had on. But,
for that matter, so had the rest of US.
SLOW did it happen?' he asked,
| glancing back at the bark, now envel
oped in flames from the royal trucks
down.
''It was Joe's fault said, sourly,
| speaking at, though not to him.
THAT'S not true, Mr.. Murch-it was
| his!" holly retorted Joe, as matter of
course.
And, quite naturally, this pleasant
little episode did not help matters in
the least.
| Between US both, however, Mr.. Murch
managed to get at the truth. And /
think each felt little aggrieved when
Mr.. Murch said it was the carpenters
fault for sending kerosene lantern
between decks.
just after dark it began to Tighten,
yet not mutter of thunder was heard.
|
over the blackness of the sky it played
continuously in great sheets Of rose.
pink, purple and bluish-green.
The effect was exactly like that of the
Ecolored lights in a spectacular drama,
only this was on natures most stupen-
dous scale.
We'll catch it before morning." NUT
| tered Mr.. Murch, shaking his head omi-
nously.
| And we did.
Our launch was ordered alongside the
| long-boat, and the bread and water
transferred to the former.
Mr.. Murch scrambled aboard to re-
ceive any further orders from the cap
tain, leaving Joe and me scow1ing at
each other in the launch.
All at once it seemed as if the black
vault overhead was rent in twain by an
awful thunder crash, which came stimuli
taneously with such a glittering,
screening, binding glare of electricity
as I have never seen before or since
even in the tropics!
And in another second the floodgates
of the sky were opened! Down came
the rain in great sheets, and in less time
than it takes me to write it our little
boat was almost half full of water. We
began to bail energetically-I with a tin
bailer, Joe with one of his sea boots.
AS though eXtinguished by the tor
rents of rain, the lightning suddenly
ceased, leaving us in the midst of
the blackness of utter darkness.
The pouring rain stopped almost as
lquickly as it had begun, and I looked
suddenly up.
Good gracious, we're adrift-Joe!"
was going to add, but bit off the SEN
tence just in time to make it merely
involuntary exclamation.
Joe dropped his boot, and as, raising
his head, he saw the painter floating
alongside. his lips parted, but he choked
back what he was going to say. And
then, before we had quite recovered
from this shock, the wind sprang up
from the southwest, and in ten minutes
had raised such a tremendous cross-sea
as nearly to swamp the little boat be-
fore we got her round "head on"
I took all the credit of Joe's next
maneuver, though I think likely Joe
would have thought of it if I hadn't.
Lashing the two oars and boat hook
together, I bent the end of the painter
round them midway, and threw the
whole overheard, thus making a sort of
drag, which kept the boat fairly well
TO the sea and wind, though every now
and then wave crest broke over US.
And there we two young fools sat
glowering speechlessly at each other
through the darkness-I in the stern
and Joe idships-drenched to the
skin, shivering, and, like Paul, wish
ing for the day. I kept hoping Joe
would say something, if it were only to
growl. And he now declares he was
waiting for me to speak.
| AS is often the case after tropic
thunder squall, the wind died out en-
tirely toward morning. And when the
red eye of the sun squinted knowingly
at us over the edge of the eastern hori-
ION, the sea was running in long, CLASSY
swells, unbroken by the slightest
breath of air.
But land lay due east, not over 40
miles away, and though we had no COM
pass. there was the sun. Between us
both felt we could pull the boat that
distance before we were entirely ex-
hausted by hunger and thirst.
Mind you, I only thought this: I
wouldn't speak it. And as Joe sat mo-
tionless, with his head resting on his
hands, grasped the painter to pull in
the drag.
To my dismay, the painter came in
limp and slack. The hitch had slipped
some time during the night or toward
morning, and our oars had gone adrift
1 dropped on the nearest thwart, and
groaned aloud. had hoped Joe would
ask what the trouble was. But no-he
looked up. saw at a glance. and buried
his head in his hands again. But he
groaned-under his breath
The sun rose higher and hotter, and