The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-12-07


contrary gales, and then have locked
him up with nothing to eat until he
should have been coaxed by famine into
correcting his Immature and into giving
us the breeZes we wanted.
zone black night we were ratchins
along under reefed topsails and the
forecourse. was at the wheel. The
bark. having her nose to it put spite
into the wind, and a nasty sea wa:
washing past. There was nothing tt
see but the white water that would
flash out in the darkness alongside a.
though the beams of an electric ligh
were travelling round and round, touch
ing the ocean in places as they travelled
All on sudden the mate, who wa.
standing at the weather rail just abreas
of the skylight, gives a sort of a shriel
and then fell a-yelling; but there wa.
no time for me to catch what he said
for whilst his cries were still ringing.
just caught sight of huge lump o:
blackness oozing out over the weather
bow like a blacker night still coming
down through the darkness upon us
with one spark of light showing; but i,
'" sinH S1CCH AOI ICNl, WldU ~ Wus
can't say. The next instant we were
in collision with some vessel; she caught
us on the bluff of the bow and Slowed
us clean round with such noise OF
splintering wood of washing waters,
and of human cries that I've only got to
recall it to feel deaf.
''She went clear, and vanished, leav.
ing us sinking. She had torn ont our
bows and wrecked our spars forward,
but she never showed a flare, never
shifted her helm, never so much as
hailed us after she had slipped past.
She left us to our fate, and by that
token / allow that she was foreigner.
We had to feel for the boats, so black
was it, and God knows how we man.
aged. The boats were slung in the old.
fashioned style, dangling overheard at
the ends of davits, and steadied by
gripes. Had they been slowed as the
fashion now is, every soul OF us must
have persisted. The vessel was up in
the wind without way, rolling briskly,
and the curl of the foam off her side
to the smite of. the sea showed us men
who were standing on the starboard
side the outline of the boat as we
lowered her. We entered her in scram
bling fashion by the tackles-five of us,
leaving six others of our company
wrestling at the port falls; amongst
them was the master and the two mates.
and us five were men-hands as the
term is The moment the boat was lib
Grated she blew away; we never again
saw the others, nor did we ever hear
of them.
"When the day broke we were alone,
nothing in sight, the hot sun rising,
nothing to drink but four bottles of red
wine, which fellow amongst us who
had acted as steward had brought along
with him, and nothing to eat but as
many broken bits of ships bread as 'ud
make about seven whole biscuits.
"Thc outlook was not very encourag-
very hopeful disposition and there
fore determined to make a brave fight
for life. There was one thing that
encouraged me and that was the thor.
oughly staunch and seaworthy con-
dition of the boat in which l now found
myself together with four fellow crea.
lures adrift, with an ugly sea running
| say adrift, for there was no mast anG
only one pair of oars in the boat, anG
we hadn't strength to use them with
any effect. l needn't tell you that this
wasn't the first time that l had made .
fight for life against terrible odds, fol
you know all about it. Well, the con
sequence was that it occurred to mt
that l was the proper person TO TAX.
command of the little party of cast
Always, and see that fair play was the
rule of the day in dealing out the sean
supply of broken biscuits and red win.
which the steward had brought alon1
with him.
$50 ! put the question to the mel
whether they were willing that
should act rs captain, and CHEEKY
SAY, ay, SIR was the answer l go
from all of them excepting Hal Yves
colt, huge mulatto of tremendou
strength and not extra good temper
Hal was a splendid-looking fellow phys
ically, and put me in mind of one of tn
bronze statoots that I've seen 'em di
out of the sand in the eastern coun
tries. The muscles of his arms an
chest were something fearful to look at
especially when he was out of hume
at some trick played upon him. The
these muscles would knot and twis
and his great round chest would heav
like an ocean swell. Hal and had a
ways got along pretty well together,
fact which l attribute to my pair q
keen black eyes which, as you used I
say, were bright enough to be seen i
the dark like a cats eyes. Then, again
Hal knew that l wasn't afraid of hir
as the other men were, and so he neve
attempted to browbcat or bully me; i
fact, he was ever ready to do me n goo
turn. always made it n point to kee
eyes fixed hard and full upon Halls fac
: when talking to him, and the conss
quence was that / finally succeeded i
J getting the same sort of control owe
the huge animal, for such he was i
; plain words, that the trainer gets owe
lion or a tiger. Instinctively he fe
that l was different from the usual ru
of men, which am, rs you know.
. | 1-,~ 49, L.