The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-27
THE MORNING NEWS SUNDAY. JANUARY 27, 1901.

hospital boat. ii was so different from
| that Of which they were in pursuit
While they were looking wistfully af
ter the liner Swa nley in particular wa
| making some inyidious comparisons. they
| heard off to the right, & peculiar spine
racking sound which brought them up
standing with excitement. 1t began with
one of the lower notes in the musical
scale-the wonderful low d of "Gotter-
damerung" which is terror-compelling In
tself-and ran up. octave on octave, I'M
I'll 1t thlnned out into sustai.e ed shrek.
Then it dropped swiftly. steadily, until it
sank to a weakened moan. 1t was the
siren call of the police boat-the signal
which had been agreed upon. There was
rush of the liners passengers TO the
starboard SIDE of the vessel and the
searehlight, which had been playing along
Coney Island beach came around andIshCt
out to the right The Wanderer slowed
down Immediately and the liner drew
away, leaving an unobs ucted view of
the bay. There. aNout a quarter OF a
mile away, illumined by the quivering
shaft of light, was what appeared to be
geyser sprung suddenly from the bed OF
the bay-a rising column Of steam that
dispersed in the upper darkness. Deep
In the middle of the rising steam was a
dark object, without form or shape. Near
by, a patent dumping scow tossed about
helplessly in the surges that sped away
from the liners screws.
why, what can It be? asked Bax-
ter. who with pair Of night glasses was
scanning the queer cloud Of vapor
Must be the tow that fellow spoke
Of up above" said the captain of the
Wanderer- "His erglneer'n lose his GER
tificate. He's let h wafer go down I'M
I'll his fuse-plug has given way and food
ed his fires. tn rise off-in a minute
Wonder if he got burnt?"
The liner did not sacken its speed and
shortly drew so far away that the electric
light no longer picked out the rolling
folds Of steam wildly. Yet the passen-
gers did not lose interest in the specta-
Gle. They crowded to the quarter and
peered astern. The lengthening shaft of
light quivered as if some one was adjust
ing the protector. Then strangely enough
the gigantic shadow of a mans hand
was outlined momentarily on the white
steam. Some one on the liner had moved
in front of the lens Finally the shaft of
light turned rapidly away to the forth
fications on Sandy Hook. AS it swept
| around it lighted up the dumping scow
| for an instant.
"Good Heavens! Did you see that?''
| calculated Swainley.
What, the shadow of the hand?" o,
| that's a common phenomenon" said Bax-
ter.
mo! No! The scow! Listen"
From the direction of the bumper came
a strange, weird, discordant noise. It's
volume kept pace with the varying
strength of the land breeze. Sometimes it
was faint; sometimes ii came over the
water in heavy roars. Out of its vortex
| came words:
Star Spangled
Banner Long May =. Way-ayve
Land The Freeze
Home The Brave.
Far in the distance, the siren call of
the Patrol caught up the last note of
the refrain and hurled it high into a
fearful shrek, which seemed to tap the
very pinnacles of the heavens with re-
pl oach and which, when it could go no
higher, fell again to the lowest depths
why, It's the quartette!' cried Baxter
with the glasses to his eyes, "and ali
the rest of them too. But how did they
get on the bumper? Patrick did not say
anything of that?"
"There was a scow tied up at the lower
wharf at the island" said the superin-
tendent in a suppressed tone. "Peterman
must have taken that, too"
YES" continued Baxter, there they
are There's the Mathematical Genius
and 'Dockey-it is 'Dockey,' sure enough
and Central Park and East River
and the Tandem. There's the Tandem
| lockstep and all. just as though they
were in the pavilion on the island. There's
| that big hydrocephalic nodding in the
stern. And there's Eddie Apple leaning
over the bow. What is he doing. l won
der? Here, Swainley, take look!'
Swainley took the glasses and looked
In the bow of the bumper stood an enor-
nous boy He was not over five feet tall
but his girth was so great that he had
been dubbed Eddie Apple" He must
have weighed 800 pounds. He was not
pathologically an idiot; he belonged In the
feeble-minded class. He was looking to-
ward the Refuge from which the steam
had cleared A smoke-begrimed man
stood in the stern of the steamer gesticu-
lating wildly with one hand Eddie gaz?d
stupidity at him across the rift of waters
on which the rope-connected vessels roll
ed helplessly.
Curious" muttered Swanley, there's
Petey I'm the stern of the tug. His lift
arms seems to be injured. He evidently
wants Eddie to do something. He's prom
Using to take Eddie to the circus Therei
Hear that That is Eddies great hold
the circus" Suddenly he yelled, Good
God! have it! In with her, captain!
Work her in, for Gods sake. He's try
ing to make Eddie dump the scow. That's
a patent bumper Eddies got his hand
on the lever, and If he pulls it the bot
tom'r go out OF her and the whole crowd
will be dropped into the sea. For Gods
sake. hurry!'
They worked her back and forth with
the startng-bar in a fierce endeavor to
get close without ramming the scow, while
every one who could spare the time AMI
breath yelled to distract the bewidered
Eddie from the lever The big fire whis-
IL
hand, and they knew without looking thai
she was coming to their aid, while
close on the other side the interminable
siren OF the Patrol worked the general din
up and down the shrieking gamut.
'Eddiel" called Peterman, cajolingly,