The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-03-04


nave been carried by that through the
Suinea current. and thence into one or
the Two great currents to the souSn, tHe
main equatorial Or one of the branches
OF the southern connecting stream IN
that case years of research might not
accomplish her discovery.
These exigencies of the case had been
thoroughly discussed between the two
men. the captain and the capitalist.
They had decided with their hydraulic
apparatus 10 force their way into the
Saragossa sea at the point where they
bel eyed the derelict bark mast have en-
tered 1t, if at all. and If they could not
ind her after doing the best that could
be done to do 50. TO abandon the search
forever. Now they were held back by
the mutiny Of the crew.
Darlington had the men plped ART.
and sternly addressed them for the last
time
Men" he said. and his voice was
Ike the ships belL ringing clear and
true. there are reasons why | do not
blame You for directing TO enter upon
this unknown sea. That you have su-
perstitions concerning il 1 know; pes
seased them myself until 1 was con-
WINGED that this vessel possesses a
power which can defy its dangers With
scarcely an exception, you have been In
the employ of Mr.. Gregory since this
vessel was launched. Has she ever been
a Jonah? Has she ever made an un-
lucky voyage, or fallen in with an ON
| nous event, and will You, who are
! sailors, all abandon a vessel which has
/ been your mascot always? More than
that, Will you forsake a man who has
been your friend as well as your en-
ployer, because you see ahead CT You a
| suggestion OF danger? Are you sailors
tried and true. or are YOU towards
One more word, and / have finished l
am captain here. and viii be obeyed.
The man who refuses TO obey VIII be
prosecuted for mutfny, if / do not XIII
him. before a port is reached
| With deliberate calmneSS, but with
flashing eyes and with stern demednor,
he drew two revolvers from his pockets
and poised them in his hands. Gregory,
standing beside him. did likewise; ana
| then the voice of Darlington, clearer
and louder than before, rang out in
stern command:
TO your stations, every one Of youl
He Who diSobeYS me now, or refuses
| instant and perfect compliance with or
ders, dies! Officer Of the deck, head on,
full speed!' and he pointed one Of the
revolvers full at the face of the
frightened man.
The men were cowed into obedience.
Almost before they realized what had
been done the yacht leaped forward at
full speed, and ten minutes later plung-
ed headlong into the mass of tangled
weeds and roots and drifting things
| which closed behind it like tentacled
octopus as she advanced. and which,
before she had accomplished half a
league. clogged the propellers and the
stearing gear, and so silenced the throb-
bing of her engines
nd
among the men when they realized
what they had done, but when the
sharp commands of their captain rang
out over the deck they sprang TO obey
with a CELEBRITY which at least evidenced
their belief that through him only
could they hope to escape from the di-
lemma. The engineers and their ma
chinists were directed to unship the
propellers from their shafts, for she
was twin screw steamer of the latest
modern type. These were sent inboard,
and were housed in the hold, the rud-
der chains were hauled taut and lashed
immovably, and the rudder itself was
piniOned in its place with iron clamps.
Then the iron tubes through which the
hydraulic force was to be eXerted was
shipped and adjusted. The connections
were made with the mighty pumps so
that all of the exertive power of boilers
and engines might be applied to them
and through them.
RehabiIitated in this way for her ex-
cursion among the weeds, steam was
once more admitted to the cylinders,
the mighty pumps began their work
and the gallant vessel forged ahead
again defiant&5 There was no longer
anything left exposed. which the float
ing mass could clog or hinder, nor had
1t sufficient soiidity to impede her
course, which. although slow, was sure.
Great masses of the floating debris
gathered like hillOcks in front of her
and on either quarter, only to waste
away and settle again into their for
meT soddenness when she had passed
and the pressure was removed. Astern
the channel that she cut closed to-
gether again almost instantly, as moist
sand fills in a human footprint. 1t
seemed indeed almost as if the Yacht
were forcing her way through yielding
masses Of earth and brushwOOd. in
stead Of floating on the sea itself.
The sailors, at first terrified, became
confident when they realized that the
mass of weeds could not imprison them.
They watched with unceasing interest,
J.. and some with superstitious awe, the
towering hillocks of reeking Shiny
weeds which sometimes grew to Ornin-
appear again TO an undulating mass of
sodden evenness astern.
1t was two bells in the afternoon
watch which the yacht entered the
Saragossa sea-. An hour had been con-
sumed ii making the alterations in her
machinery so that when the sun went
down, as it did about O'Clock, CAPTAIN
Darlington estimated that they had left
twenty miles Of weeds behind them.
Then the engines were stilIed and
everything was made ready for the
mgnt, and what a night it was,
The mass of weeds which surrounded
them on every side seemed to be on
nre- Strange phosphorescent lights
CLEANED over them like darting flames.
unlike anything they had ever wit
messed before. Swishing, gliding.
rustling noises filled the air. as if SER
penis were at play upon that PREACHER
Gus surface. Louder and still stranger
noises came to them from distances
and 1T was as though they had glided
into another world, heretofore unvis-
itaa by man.
TSere were sleepless eyes aboard the
yacht that night. Uncanny sights and
sounds dispelled all thought of slum-
Der, and the watch upon the deck COM
pr1sed the whole ships crew.
But with the dawn of another day
the illusions of the night were dis
PEELED. Gregory offered a reward TO
the first man who should sight a de-
relict; and they had not made three
more knots through the weedy mass
before dozen were discovered. An
other knot and the yacht seemed TO
be in The vortex of the Saragossa sea,
around which the mass of weeds and
floating things revOlve, drawing all
Things TO its center. There were solid
masses of weed-grown wrecks, brown
with age and mold, and green and red
and yellow with moss and vegetable
fungi Some Were comparatively new.
and here and there a deck house
I showed ifCafP ornOnO 10 CT