The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1901-08-16

~
his teeth, chung to the wheel and hoped
against hope Chat in the maddened rush
of the disabled vessel no rocky reef
might loom up out of the night to check
her in her wild career.
Later-and the time seemed interim
nable to Craddock-he heard the voice
of his friend calling to him out of the
darkness. Consciousness had returned
to him. He was not dead, and present
ly they stood side by side at the wheel
four hands grasping the spokes, for it
was more than two hands could do. to
hold them steady. Conversation was
impossible, for the roaring of the tenn
pest annihilated every other sound.
The battened matches kept the water
out of the schooner's hold; otherwise
she would have filled at the first on
slaught of the wind. By and by Thor
gensen leaned nearer to Craddock and,
placing his lips close against his
friends ear, shouted:
Schooner Jonah, Captain Craddock,
with cargo of fools, cleared from Ba-
tavia bound for hades, ell, Grad? And
we'll"-
The Norwegian never completed that
sentence. There was a grinding crash,
followed by a terrific shock, and the
schooner seemed to leap out of the sea,
up and over some obstacle that had i'm
peded her. way. The wheel and the
posts to which the two men were lash
ed were torn from the deck, and with
their human impedimenta hurled for
ward among the timbers and wreckage
in the midst of a chaotic tumble Of plank
ing, broken bulkhead, demolished small
boats and general destruction. But the
hull of the vessel held tenaciously to-
gether, and she was motionless. The
wind howled on increasingly 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 the schoOn-
er's deck. Only the spray and chunks
of water thrown by the wind reached
as far as that, for the i'll fated vessel
had been driven bodily from her native
element high and dry upon hogback
reef that was not much greater than
her own bulk.
Craddock and the Norwegian were
jammed beneath q mass Of wreckage,
comparatively unhurt, but unable for
the time being TO eXtricate themselves;
and so, in mOmentary expectation of
death, they remained until the wind
and the sea subsidized, and the sun came
up out of the east as smilingly as
though no havoc had been wrought
since he last babe them both good
night.
There is no calmness like unto that
which succeeds storm, and in the
south sea it is difficult at such a time
to realize that the tempest has come
and gone. Only the wide eXpanse of
sea to the south and west with its huge.
unruffied, rolling swells and the corpse
Of the schooner lying full two fathoms
out of reach of the summit of the high
est heave of the restless water, man.
gled, broken. dripping, gave evidence
of the terrific war of the elements that
had waged through the night. The
hereulean strength of the Norwegian
was in evidence when the sun rose at
last over the world. Piece by piece he
removed the debris which confined him
and his friend, and at last, somewhat
shaken, badly bruised, but In nowise
appalled,, they stood side by side upon
the dismantled and broken deck.
Before them was the endless stretch
OF water, beneath them the stranded
hull of the Mascot, behind them, when
wOnderingly they turned their heads to
discover the meaning of the shadow
that was cast upon the sea, doomed a
huge, cone shaped mountain Of obsid-
ian formation. which gllstened even on
the shady side. where the rays of the
risen sun could not touch its surface
1t was mountain which lowered
about 1000 feet into the air. shaped
like pineapple cheese with the top
cut off smoothly and evenly two-thirds
of the distance to where the summit
might have been had the formation
continued on to its natural apex. No
where was there another bit of land in
sight and this could hardly be desig-
mated by so dignified 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
futtered down from the heights above,
rested for 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 oo-
CURED, after Craddock had found the
implements of navigation among the
wreckage in the cabin and by taking
an observation had decided that they
were in latitude 22.10 south and longi-
tude 17S.15 west. He found also the
water soaked chart, but it afforded
them no information. There was no
record Of such a mountain at that spot,
All that he could determine upon was
that they We're some hundreds of miles
southwesterly from the Tonga islands
and that the nearest point Of land was
the island of Kaafa, 200 miles or more
to the northwest.
But that land bird was an inspiration
to the Norwegian
"Mountain or no mountain, scalable
or not, Grad" he said after watching
fhp bird until II dico Dpao,o5 frr,,, x.Io,,