El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-07-14
PAGES 9 AND 10.

sea OF water fuIl OF floating straws and
barrel slaves and litter Cambel was out
of sight, and the lower hold was af1oat al
most to it's deck beam. But presently the
explorer returned swimming rather than
walking as another flash showed them,
and he leaped to the battens which made
the stairway to overhead with the haste OF
q man who knows that the waste of mo-
ments may well cost human lives The
men clustered about him round eyed as he
GAINED tho deck for a word of what he
had seen, but he brushed through them
roughly and made for aft. 1t seemed to
them that no spoken sentence could have
given a worse report Of what had befallen
than this mute action. The fellows knew
that officers always make the best OF
everything if there is best to be made,
and so the silence was terribly suggestive
At the same moment, as if to confirm
their worst fears, the steamer took heavy
sea clean over her forecastle head, and
above the din of the water as it came cas-
oading down into the lower deck there
arose wild cries of: ''She's sinkingr' Her
bottom s blown out!' ''She's settling by
the head!"
Yelling these tidings, the men scamper-
ed back to the bridge deck, where, saving
for the few driven off to set the mizzen
topsail, all the rest of the steamers COM
plement were collected.
''Shes settling by the headl It's max
ing a clean breach over her this minutei
She'll be down with us if we don't look
quickp'
Then another voice cried LET the foul
old tramp go to hell by herself She
sham drown me, for one, while she's got
q boat that'll swim Come along, boys"
whereupon a mixed half dozen of deck
hands and firemen made a rush for the
foot of the upper bridge ladder.
At the head of that ladder stood Cap
tain Kettle, grinning like a tortured fiend.
The crew were acting precisely as 1t had
been planned that they should act. They
were doing what laboriously formed plot
had compelled them to do. But at that
moment the captains weakness for battle
nearly got the better of him and was with
in an ace of making him attempt to upset
the entire apple cart. The idea of his men,
the despiSed all nation rabble whom he
had browbeaten into subsection all across
the broad Atlantic, taking the initiative
into their own hands now, was too much
for him to swallow in a single dose. Soon
or than submit he would have ruined every
thing ten times over Consequently he
drew on the first man who advanced up
the ladder, and his eyes lit up with the
steady passionless glare of slaughter
The fellow was brave enough, desperate,
too as a man could be, but upon certain
death he hesitated to advance. Indeed
when Kettle, coming down the ladder him
self, thrust him furiously back he retreat
ed to the bridge deck. rs did those who
were with him.
But the other men of that worthy crew
had no mind to be tyrannized over any
longer when the steamer was moInen tarily
settling down under their feet and drown
ing was an immediate question. By the
funnel stays and by one another's backs
they swarmed on to the top of the fiddle,
and thence gaining the boat platforms set
about cutting adrift the grimy awnings
with their knives and cleaning away the
tackles and falls They shipped rudders
and fitted the plugs. and one or two with
more forethougbt than their frightened
fellows shouldered the boats water break
ers and took them aft to where the con-
denser tap gave upon the lower deck.
Kettle did not interfere. He had held
the bridge deck ladders against all corners
and in some cranky way felt that his hon
or was unsmirched. But he gave no help,
no hint, no further order, and surveyed
the scene with folded arms and a sour
thin smile. Patrick Cambel, being moved
by different set of feelings, acted more
humanely.
''Take time, men, he sung out coolly,
''if you will be towards and leave the ship.
I don't think she'll sink-at any rate not
yet
The men had knocked away the chocks,
hoisted the boats and swung the davits
cupboard.
Keep your heads, you trembling idiots.
Pass a painter forward before you begin
to lower and don't lower till you We vic
tualed the boats. You've at least $50
mile run before you can make Charlotte