The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-10-09

stor:.i IooK Charge VI ner, anu CoIllsron
there. in such weather. could not but be
fatal Landsman though he was,
Guthrie knew enough to have no doubts
about this. and. fiattered it may be, by
the responsibility which had been put
upon him. he stared bravely into the
black. wet night ahead. and tried not
to heed the cruel spray which dashed
and cut his face with the strokes of
hundred icy whips.
Beyond the dim outlines described
before there was nothing to be seen.
but the ketch was scudding before the
gale at rate of nearly 10 knots an
hour and in such night warning
lights would not be visible far ahead.
The night, indeed was getting darker,
wilder and fiercer The cringle headed
main trysail was small SAIL but it's
few square yards of canvas strained SO
hard during the squalls that to
Guthries inexperienced eyes it looked
as though the mast would be blown
clean out of her, and once dismasted in
that turmoil of waters it seemed to
him that nothing could prevent the yes
sci from laundering out of hand.
The thought came to him Of the
awful struggle for life when the waters
should engulf them and almost turned
him sick with fear, and then he remem
hered the girl down below in the cabin,
shut off by the battened matches from
any chance of making fight for life
And at the thought of her he turned
his eyes forward again and peered even
more intently than before into the
darkness ahead. Almost fiercely he said
to himself that if death were to come
to her that night it should not be be-
cause he was found wanting in his duty
But at length Captain Colepepper de-
cided that running before the gale was
no longer safe, and the helm was put
down to round to- Tom Jelly. with the
| jungle of hair on his face streaming out
like mass of futtering black rags,
came forward to help with his solitary
hand on the jib sheet, while the doctor
with Hans and Henrietta was ready for
similar duty aft. Waiting for partial
lull, the captain Stacked up his tiller
rope and showed the helm a-lee Instant
| ly the lsetch heeled over, almost to Der
beam ends, the Dreaming surges raced
ward part, where Tom and Guthrie
were plunged bodily under the boil Of
| green The young man chung convul-
! sively to cleat. for he thought that
the end had come
! But the Eureka rose again, shot herr
4 self clear Of the watery burden and ran
up into the wind, with canvas wildly
Stating and halyards hammering her
mainmast like so many iron rods.
Guthrie glanced at Tom Jelly, to see
how he was taking it, The man was
/ grinning as usual-that goes without
saying. for he always grinned But
there was something nervous about this
grin He evidently did not admire the
situation, and. curiously enough, that
encouraged the undergraduate. A mo-
ment before he had been trembling with
prospect was ugly enough to scare an
old hand his courage came back to
him and he did his best to help in the
work which was to be done
Together he and Tom fattened in the
weather sheet Of the storm jib. and
then handed themselves aft along the
heaving. slippery decks, in obedience to
the shippers orders Captain Colepep-
per shouted to them to bend and set a
storm mizzen, and then to get the main
trysail off her, for he thought she could
ride easier with the tiny triangular rag
of after canvas and the spitfire jib
nlone.
To inexperienced eyes the work did
not seem much, but such was the fury
Of the wind and SO heavy were the
pitches and rolls of the vessel that the
energies of the whole crew were taxed
for the better part of an hour in doing
it. And by the time it was completed,
there was not one of them who had not
his bruise or cut to show as testi-
monial to the danger of the work
But another danger of the sea was
coming rapidly down upon them; great
i er and more ruthless in its pitiless
strength than even the waves them
selves. A shrill cry from Mrs. Jelly rose
above the booming and shrieking Of the
gale and fell keenly on every ear The
cry was inarticulate but there was no
installing its import-the tone told
that Instinctiyely each one looked up
from his work, glanced at the woman,
and then, following her pointing finger,
stared with horror over the taffrail.
Advancing through the storm was a
lurching triangle Of lights, green and
blood red at the base and glazing white
at the apex. They were the lights Of a
steamer and as the whole trio were
visible, she was advancing directly upon
the Eureka sternl In another moment
her shadowy outline doomed through
the wet night, gray, huge, terrible. She
was vessel of 5000 tons, but the
: heavy seas treated her like plaything,
and the terrified watchers could see that
she waved about wildly as the bic
waves struck her stem She sheered first
to starboard, then to port, but her
course-it was only too apparent--lay
dead on to the smaller vessel, which in
evitably, it seemed. must be run down
and sunk
"Swing light there, Tom, for God q