The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-13

| ] Skinned up the mast and attempted
| to furl the sail But l might as well
| have tried to take in the side of a
| barn, for the wind blew me fiat against
the canvas till | looked a spread eagle
! on coat of arms. 1t was too late,
anyhow, for the next moment the mast
split in two, the lower part went over
i beard and the sail itself was blown
straight up into the sky, carrying me
! with it.
! Luckily. the wire ropes held and the
/ sail fioated above the dismantled hulk
of the Penny Whistle like a gigantic
kite. The likeness to a kite was COM
rleted by the upper end of the mast,
which hung down by bit of the rig
ging and formed an excellent tail.
| / could see that the ceptain was
! taken by surprise, for he sent one of
the Manx men down after his spy-glass
| and gazed al me for some time. Now
and then he consulted with the mate,
but they came to no conclusion about
| what to do.
| Matters remained thus for an hour or
| two. and ] was not uncomfortable so
| long as the wind held. But l did not
| like to think what would happen when
| the storm should blow itself out.
| Meanwhile 1 slid down to the lower
edge OF the sail. and sat there on the
yard. for the sail was now upside down
with the loose edge in the air.
| heard the bells rung for supper,
and, being hungry, 1 set my wits to
work to see whether L couldn't get
some Searching my pockets / found
a ball of cord, my clasp-knife and a
few other knickknacks, such as a pock-
et-atlas, burning glass, sinker, and
a gim!et.
Fastening the sinker to the cord,
| L.. L.. - ! ,aA
held NE to the ship, and lowered the
loon down to the deck. To the loop
had tied a fly-leaf from the atlas, and
had written on it: Send me up some
supper"
When it reached the deck I saw the
captain read it. and then make signs
to me to hold on while. Then he
sent one of the Malays down below
and the other to the cook S galley. They
came back soon. and the captain tied
some things to the cord and waved
to me TO haul away.
] drew up the cord and on the end Of
it l found a telephone attached to
bit of wire and a note from the cap
tain. 1t read:
Remain aioft till further orders.
send you some supper and telephone.
| Eat the supper and attach the tele-
phone to the sail. We have telephone
| on the other end of the wire. The Their
mometer is still falling. and there is
| no danger that the breeze will fail.
| If it blows harder you might as we'll
be up there as anywhere else. Yours
| respectfully,
"Adolphus Fitzstephen,
Captain, Penny Whistle"
] I followed directions. Opening the
can of food with my clasp-knife
] found it contained excellent mock-tur
| tie soup, and l made a good supper
! upon it. Then 1 fastened the telephone
! to the side of the sail and called down:
Hello, captain"
Hello" the captain answered.
do you get me all right?"
"Al right" said the captain. Take
a look around, and let us know whats
| in sight.
I looked around the horizon. and was
about to report, "All's WELL" when
happened to glance down at the water
right in front of the vessel. 1 almost
dropped from the sail.
| Captain" | shouted, there's
whale dead ahead! Thar she blows"
! The captain dropped the telephone
and made rush for the bow: but be-
! fore he had gone a fathom the Penny
Whistle struck with a dull blubbery
| thud, and stove in her bow.
| Fortunately, when the rope broke
|
came entangled with our best bower
anchor, and, though the wreck sank,
| the rope was still held taut, and the
sail still fioated in the air.
| We were flying at a terrific rate of
| speed, and the crew became dissatis-
| fled. The captain and mate were just
above them on the rope, and the crew
below were jabbering together in tones
| that BODIED munity. All that went on
| 10 tal
This no kind of ship" said one of
the coolies. ship all gone. We all
captain now. Cook, give us more
soup!"
"Avast your patter!" sings out the
captain. "or I'll cut you all adrift. I'm
captain of this rope, and l won't have
any mutiny!"
The men still muttered, but evidently
were afraid of the captain.
The captain hauled up his telephone
and hailed me:
Hello, there. Midshipman Averill
think the winds dropping a little; do
you see any land in sight?"
/ looked around the side of the sail
and reported a hazy. blue line to the
southwest. l examined by pocket-at-
las, and reported also that thought 1t
must be the island Formosa.
"All right" sings out the captain
And up he came along the rope as
nimbly as a spider. Soon he was sit
ting beside me on the sail
We were going at such a rate of
| speed that the land was soon plainly
| Visible-an island separated in the mid
| die by a chain of mountains into two
plains. The eastward side, when we
were just over it, was seen to be wild
and uncultivated. and the captain de-
cided that we wouldn't land there.
But the wind fell so rapidly that we
| began to think we should not clear the
! tops of the mountains.
We've got to tighten ship some
how" says the captain. Let me see
what your atlas says about Formosa. q"
He studied the book a while, and
| then said: IT'S a barbarous sort of a
place on the east side. But l shall
| have to drop some of the crew there
| The cooks complexion will protect him
and the Malays are only alf-civilized
anyway. l think Ill have to let them
60"
Hello! Lieut.. Van Spitzenberg!"
Hello" came back
Take a file and sever the rope just
below the two coolies. I'm going to
drop the cook and the Malays to light
en- ship"
AYE. aye, sir" said the lieutenant.
and while the cook and the Malays
were busy over the canned goods the
lieutenant cut them loose, The anchor
, lad stopped al the edge Of the island
| and only the weight of the crew now
balanced the sail