The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-03-01
By Weatherby Chesney and Alick Munro.



as we hurried them and turned them
to kissing steam that bit back at the
sender.
Painting and scorched, we gathered,
a smoke grimed group. on the counter
anu realized that we were beaten. A
shout arose that the powder room was
on fire. and a half charred boat was
dropped into the water. Springing in,
we pushed off.
Scarcely had we pulled q cables
length away when the Scourge blew
up. Masts. spars and deck shot up to-
ward heaven and then fell in blazing
shower around the column of smoke
which marked the place where the
shattered hull had sunk.
The rest of the night dragged itself
YEARLY through and the sun rose upon
an unlocked sky. The boat was with
out stores or provisions of any kind.
She had neither compass nor sail, and
with one pair of oars we could make
little Roadway through the calm, even
had we known where to steer for.
Which of us did not envy the old
man in his beautiful island hermitage
/ them
We looked around at the unbroken
circle of the horizon, with the water
1T encinctured untarnished by a single
! zephyr and cleaning like a CHANGING
| mirror of light, then at the cruel sun
| that was arching course of scorching
| splendor through the cloudless vault
above. and as we looked we took but
little comfort from the cheering words
! which Alec spoke to u.s. What help
| could reach us from such barren
fiery wilderness? What oasis could we
! hope to find in such broiling, track
! less desert?
But in spite of the enervating heat
we tugged doggedly at the oars. The
work, purposeless as it seemed, was
some relief. To active men there is no
! torture like Incidence in case like
this. for Incidence is the advance picket
| of despair.
But each couple. though eager for
their turn of toll, We're glad enough to
| quit it at the appointed time. Water
driven from the body in perspiration
makes its want more keenly felt with
IN. The burning thirst was aggravated
by exercise. Alec. being sparely built,
perhaps suffered least l, a thirsty
soul. ever given to quaffing what was
| offered. endured ten mems agony. In
deed. as evening drew near. | began to
fear that before another watch had run
out madness or death must be the end
of me.
1 MY time. however, was not yet come.
AS the sun went down in the west it's
dying glory lit upon sail that peeped
| above the southern water line. With
frenzied effort we made for it and
feared that the darkness would come
! down before we could reach it.
AS we drew nearer we made out that
she was a carrack. The breeze which
brought her up had Jagged behind, and
she had run into belt of calm. Re
taxing our efforts not one whit, we
! pushed fiercely on, urging the boat
with Titan strokes; for we were no
gaunt famine worn specters. no starve-
lings of the ocean who had been eking
out a days pittance to make it last
over ten. In bodily health we We're all
hale and hearty and as good men as
we were the day before, save for the
! mad thirst which consumed us. But
that is madness beside which all 9TH
, er emotions sink to nothing; passion
and prudence alike die when the thirst
rage touches them. Urged by it we
would have charged an army or have
fled from one man, and so double bank
ing our oars we tore toward the car
rack.
That she was Spanish frem truck to
tiller mattered nothing. Her people
clustered on the decks in armed sus-
picion could not stop us. Water!
Agua! we cried at them hoarsely. We
cared for nothing else
We climbed on board, and the Span
lards staid their hands, some because
they feared to provoke desperate men,
some through pity and others perhaps
because they knew that when our
burning Threats We're cooled we must
| yield at discretion. Regardless of the
hostile crowd we rushed to the scut-
/ tie butt. Parched, faint, painting, we
! deemed the tepid water nectar fit for
/ the gods and the green slime, whose
tendrils clung to the dipper, the sweet
| est essence mans palate could be
tickled with. We drank and we drank
and forgot in the satisfaction of the
moment that the world held other evil
thiros besf7eS tbirSt
But. there was one at hand who
would remind us. tall, handsome
q .gl e y y . I
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