The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-21


peded her way. The wheel and the posts
| 10 which the two men were dashed were
| torn from the deck. and with their hui
man impedimenta hurled forward among
| the timbers and Wreckage in the midst
| of chaotic tumble of planking, broken
| bulkheads, demolished small boats and
general destruction. But the hull of the
vessel held tenaci0usly together, and SHE
was mo tionless. The wind howled on un-
ceasinEly overhead; around about was the
roar OF the mad waters tenfold mightier
as they dashed against unseen rocks, only
to be hurled relentlessly back again. But
the mighty waves did not sweep over che
schooner's deck. Only the spray and
chunks of water thrown by the wind
reached as far as mat, for the Inflated
vessel had been driven bodily from her
native element high and dry upon hog
| back reef that was moi much greater than
her own hulk.
Craddock and the Norwegian were jam
med beneath mass of wreckage, COM
paratively unhurt, but unable for the time
being to eXtricate themselves; and so, in
| momentary expectation of death, they re-
NAMED until the wind and the sea sub
sided, and the sun came up out of the
East as smilingly as though no havoc
had been wrought since he last babe them
both goodnight.
There is no calmness like unto that
which succeeds a storm; and in the South
sea it is difficult at such a time 20 realize
that the tempest has come and gone. Only
the wide eXDanse of sea to the south and
and west, with its huge, unrutf1ed, rolling
swells, and the corpse of the schooner ly-
ing full two fathoms ont of reach of the
summit of the highest heave of the rest
less water. manged, broken, dripping, gave
evidence of the terrific war of the ele-
ments that had waged through the night.
| The herculean strength of the Norwegian
x4-aa in evidence W the at last
over the world. Piece by piece he re
moved the debris which confined him and
his friend, and al last, somewhat shaken,
badly bruised, but in no wise appalled,,
they stood side by side upon the dis.
mantled and broken deck.
Before them was the endless stretch of
water; beneath them, the stranded hull
of the Mascot, behind them, when, won
deringly they turned their heads to dis
cover the meaning of the shadow that
was cast upon the sea, doomed a huge,
cone-shaped mountain of obsidian forma-
ton, which glistened even on the shady
side where the rays of the risen sun could
not touch it's surface. 1t was a mountain
which lowered about 1000 feet into the
air, shaped like a pineapple cheese with
the top cut off smoothly and evenly two
thirds of the distance to where the sum
init might have been had the formation
continued on to its natural apex. Nowhere
sight, and this could hardly be designated
by so dignihed a name.
There is no need to comment upon their
conjectures and their plans The towering
mountain rose literally out of the sea.
and with the exception of the rock upon
which the wreck of the schooner rested,
| there was nothing else than water in
sight; water and sky and sun and clouds.
All yes; .there was one more thing-a
| land bird, which huttered down sfrom the
nights above, rested for a moment upon
| the wreck, and then scared away again
until it disappeared in the direction of
the mountains top.
| 1t was long after noon when that occurr-
ed after Craddock had found the imple-
ments of navigation among the wreckage
| IN the cabin, and by taking an obserYatio
| had decided that they were in latitude %. 10
| south and longitude l7S15 west He found
| also the water-soaked chart, but it af-
| forded them no information. ThereF was
! no record of such mountain at that spot
| All that he could determine upon was
| that they were some hundreds of miles
sou westerly from the Tonga islands and
| that the nearest point of land was the
island of Kaafa, 200 miles or more to the
| nor west.
But that land-brd was an inspiration TO
! the Norwegian
Mountain or no mountain, scalable o.
not, Grad" he said, after watching the
bird until it DISAPPEARED from view on its
| return flight, there are trees and earth
and fresh water on the summit or perhaps
on the other side of that mountain. That
bird would not be here without them"
! Investigation demonstrated that one of
| the boats might be repaired, and they be-
! gan work upon ii at once. Water and
/ food they possessed in abundance, for the
schooner's stores were almost intact. al
though tumbed about in the most AFFECT
| confusion.
1t is not necessary to enter into the de-
| tails of their three-days search around
| that mountain Of crystal, which did not
| exceed two and one-half miles in crcum-
| ference with never fissure or a crevice
| in its smooth and even sides save a dark
| and oblong hole as large as church door,
| fully a hundred feet above the surface of
| the sea and directly over the place where
| the schooner was stranded. 1t was not
| until they had exhausted every hope of
| finding another that they turned their at
| tention TO that, and they would not ser-
ously have considered IL even then had ID
not been for the land bird which had cali d.
| ed upon them the day after the storm.
That fact alone had convinced Thorgen-
sen that the island contained a place Of
refuge. The wreck was precarious rest
| ing place, for at any moment another
storm might arise and destroy 1t; and II
was his inventive genius which solved the
problem that confronted them.
The signal gun was stored in the hold
amidshps, and by rigging tackle, they
| hoisted it to the deck. There, after re-
| peated trials, they succeeded in throwing
a six pound shot, with a line attached,
| through the aperture. At first it would
tot bear the weight of a child but at
| last the proiectile somehow became wedg-
| ed, and Craddock being the lighter OF the
| two, essayed the task of climbing. Once
within the embrasure of that dark and
| forbidding place, he disappeared. and
when he returned the two men set to
work with will, so that they soon pro-
vided a sure and safe means OF ascent
and descent. and with the early morning
Of another day. they began their tour Of
exploration.
The opening through which they passed
into the mountain was indeed crevice
which extended from that point upward
to the summit, although 1t pierced no fur
Their down, and was so narrow above that
II could not be discerned from the sea-