The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-02-20

1 u
hulk, without a rudder, like the day
she was launched.
Ar. Monroe sat down on the skylight
with his head In his hands and never
Movrd for coed half hour. But he
Jumps up then, shakes hisself and
says:
4srhis Won't 90. This won't do at all.
Dave" says he. "Come here. and let's
talk it over. This wind" says he.
VIII blow the old Dansforth miles
away. BY morning. eve without this
fogi she will have lost us. If we were
stationary, there would be show,
IAe current takes this cussed thing.
while the wind Is taking the Dansforth.
Here we are, and here we are like to
stay until picked UP starved or drown
ed."
Says 1. Lets see what our chances
Of starving are" for / was hungry
| right then.
We went through the cabin first. The
tables and benches were IN place. but
everything movable was In fine mess.
She din'i been like this very long"
says the mate. "Thls cabins been
flooded, though. 1t came In through
the skylight anu run out again"
But smelled rats ali the time. so
says: "There's live rats aboard. They
| must have something to cat and a dry
! place to stow themselves"
! Sure enough, we found the door 60
| ing into the laZaret swclled that tight
we couldn't bulge it. But there was
| hatch on deck. bnttened down and
calked. we got this off. and Of all the
Ecampering, squealing and jumping
| you ever heard that was the worst.
| "There's million rats down there"
says Monroe. Says I, "Rats ds good
eating" 4sHave you tried 'emT' says
he. 81 have, sir" says.
| "Well, well" says Monroe, impatient
like and getting red III the face, "let's
see what the rats have to eat filst.n
| we found cots Of things in there be-
sides rats. But they'd run over every
thing except what was in strong casks.
There was barrels Of -four piled up.
and the top ones was mostly all right.
what the rats hadn't gnnwed holes in.
| We found some pork. but oil the ships
bread was no use.
| "We'll not likely starve. not for some
time, anyhow" says he.
How'll we cook IT," says l. without
matchY'
We turned everything upside down.
! but we never found no matches.
| Happened walks along the forward
to the main chains where we landed
aboard the derelict. I was cursing Joe
for being so clumsy, when sees
mntcli lodge in q dead eye. with the
| swell reaching up to within nn inch or
two Of 1t. l snatched it out Of there
in hurry, and the next roller covered
the spot. give it to the mate. He
looks it over carefully, and says he,
"This little stick Is all that stands be-
tween you and me and raw pork and
| rats"
! "And smoke" says l.
IIe wraps it careful in his handkcr-
chief and puts 1t in his pocket
| The first puff Of wind that came
| from them clouds was the worst and
died down as the fog piled up thick
| So after watching the old Alexandr.
founder around like turtle we goes
below and rigs up the cabin bogic.
The pipe was rusty and falls all to
pieces except one joint So TIC set The
stove on the table. fastening it down
with chain, and stuck the pipe up
through the skylght. We put in n lot
Of shavings re made from a barrel
stave, and Mr.. Monroe takes out the
match and holds it out to strike, but
his hand trembled that bad he dasen't
| strike 1t.
"Dnyc." says he, "you take it,"
! ! reached for it. and got so scared
liked to have dropped It,
"Give 1t here!" shouts the mate, fierce
as you please. and see his muscles
SET like iron. He strikes It on the
| stove. got sick and queer all over,
when see it blaze ur. But his hand
never give a ripple. He held 1t till the
stick caught and passed it. slow and
steady. to the shavings. and she blazed
up. give yell and was on hand
with armful Of wood to pile in on It.
But Alr. Monroe. he holds me of with
one arm and takes one stick ut n time
and puts 1t In careful. and the first
thing we knew the stove wGs red hot.
Smoke Or says he, and we fllis
| our pipes and have comforting whiff.
1t tasted good and made us feel better.
Next we hunts up fat piece &c :ron
| (there wasn't anything else). and we
| gets some -four to make pancakes, and,
so help he. we never thought Of no wa.
ter! we looked pretty foolish and
streaks It for the deck. We found the
/ 1tarboard cask half full. The bung.
hole dipper was gone, so we makes ono
out Of baking powder tin tied on a
stick. The water was some saliy. We
mixed the 1our with It, and the cakes
was just about salty enough without
no extra salt.
We mumicked about in that fog for
three days. and then 1t rolled itself up
and off to leeward. And the sun came
out bright as new shilling. Where
was we? That's more than know.
Monroe says the current was taking
us north and west. He near fret hisself
to death with trying to puzzle out some
way to get her to go where he wanted
N pt1t nv.6 IL