Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1902-12-11

over as the DTeeIe CduSnI tne SAIL,
still hauled close.
"What do you suppose he thinks
he's trying to do?" laughed a man,
sitting near Timothy.
Slowly the boat Strengthened up as
the man at the helm again put her
before the wind. Still he kept her
close-hauled, and shifting his helm
again, he jibed her over. As be-
fore, the sheet was held fast; but
this time puff of wind caught the
sail and the boat turned over. The
four persons who had been aboard
made a good deal of splashing as
they found places by which to hold
on to the overturned craft. The
crowd looking on laughed, and eX-
changed good-naturedly contemptu
Gus remarks concerning the skill of
the boatmen as they waited for the
crew to right the craft and take to
the oars to work her out to sea, for
the wind was driving her toward the
breakers.
But the men made no attempt to
right the boat. Clinging to the al
most submerged sides, they seemed
to be waiting to drift ashore.
"If they let her get into that
surf" said the man sitting near Tim
othy, that boat'll go to pieces like
an egg shell in an orc-crusher."
One of the men clinging to the boat
waved his hand to the people on the
shore, and Timothy stood up.
"That's pretty stiff surf" he said,
"but l guess I'd better go out and
tell them to keep off till the tide
turns and the surf goes down."
Timothy was a swimmer, and in
ured to surf work by his month at
the shore. Although he had never
battled with waves so heavy as those
before him, he felt little doubt of his
ability to make his way through
them.
He walked slowly seaward, follow
ing a receding wave and meeting an
other coming, and dived into green
ish-brown water seeming as steep
and as high as the wall of house
lie had taken a good breath and
needed il all before he had another
opportunity to breathe; but he
caught the undertow and felt him
self scraped against the sandy bot
tom as he was swept seaward. He
came to the surface a few seconds
later 80 yards from shore, and in the
middle of the trough between two
waves; thus he had time to empty
his lungs and to fill them again be-
fore the next roller was upon him.
He dived again, and again the un-
dertow swept him from the shore,
and again he rose in the trough of
the sea, well in advance of the oa-
coming wave. He shook the water
from his eyes, and then Strengthened
out to take as deep breath as he
could force into his lungs. The wave
before him was a "double-header,"
and even a stronger swimmer than
Timothy might admit that he was
afraid without exposing his courage
to suspicion.
A double-header is only half as high
as the wave series of which it is an
irregular member, but it's menace to
two ordinary waves is a trough of
fiat water, allowing the swimmer Il
chance to breathe; between the
halves of a double-header there is
also a trough. but it is filled with
lather and foam much too thick for
breathing, yet too thin to support
the swimmer. He must either take
a deep breath and hold tiff he can
lying still till the wave passes over
him. or he must take a breath equal
ly deep, dive and swim-if he can
under water till the increasing light
tells him he has passed under the
stretch of sea which is boiling and
frothing like horrible great caldron.
Timothy preferred to dive.
As he went down he had some fear
that he might never come up again,
together with feeling of thankful
ness for the two seconds of grace
that had allowed him to go down
with his lungs well-flled with air.
The distance under a double-hedder
is four times that under other waves
running at the same time, and the
UndcrtOw offers no aid to the swim
mer, for instead of Il current run
ming strongly seaward, it is a mere
tangle of swirling water running no
where. Timothy divcd deep, striking
out strongly but carefully, and open
ing his eyes.
Under an ordinary wave the light
is blue-grecn; under a double-header
there is no light, for water lashed
into foam is Opaque as "A plank cell
ing. Salt water hurt Timothy's eyes,
and he kept them open only long
enough to make sure that he was in
the dark.
The pressure on his lungs became
intolcrablc, and he let out some of
the air in them, Immediately wishing
he had tried to save il few seconds
longer lie opened his yes, saw no
sign of light in the black mass above
him, and struck out again, fear
clutching at his heart as he felt how
ineffective had been his stroke, and
realized that repetition of even such
weak effort was beyond his power