The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-24
D 4sss HAMBLEN SEARS


 and in the bow, so that Hazeltine and came together
 You cur, youf' cried the man. T have you at lastl" and he made q thrust at me with such force that. parry 1t as l aid, the defense alone was like to have knocked me overheard on the other side. I returned the thrust, and we fought there without science or attempt at skill. but as boys would fight with broom sticks, crazy with anger. So close were we together that there was no room to move and thrust. and on the instant as he parried a blow of mine I felt my point enter something soft and, hearing a groan near by, I pulled the rapier back and saw the next man fall Haseltine had saved himself and killed the man next him by parrying the stroke.
 At that he began to curse me for a clumsy lout, using all the foul language of which he must have been q good mas ter. and in between his cries l could hear Acton talking to his opponents:
 "Sol another gone belowr' cried that indomitable spirit, as he turned to the next. "Ahl one of oursl" as a fierce scream and the jarring of our boat told me one of our men was gone.
 Curtis said not a word, but his man having fallen by my chance stroke, he turned quickly to the next. None of this could 1 see, but I knew as If divina- tlon without the use of eyes, for my game was near mp more than once. The man fought with far more energy than he would for his cause. He hated me, and .-ammered at me in frenzy crying out that l was a coward. and Q traitor, and a spy and what not, yelling There! therer' each time he struck at me-
 So the cries and the noise of the fight ragged on close by the shore till some one failing in our boat tipped 1t sideways, and the two barges slipped a foot or more apart And that foul fiend seeing us likely to move off, gave a savage growl that I should not escape him, and, leaping on the gunwale of his boat made a desperate thrust at me.
 l saw it coming, and knew t would reach it's mark. Aye, 1t did so, and scraped along the ribs of my right side as if some one had gripped me with the clamps of red ho, iron. I lost my prip on the sword and 1t fell into the water just as the other boat, weighted by Haz- eltine's body on the gunwale, turned over and tipped the whole crew, the dead, the dying. and the living into the shallow water.
 The pain l felt the despair that was in me long before I came to this encounter. set me doubly against this man who had been the cause of 1t, and leaped down into the water and grappled with him there as he stood up No words were necessary now. We knew that. what ever the others might do, this was the end, and neither wouIN let go his hold until one of us was dead.
 He was a powerful man, and though l had him by the throat he caught me by the waist, and, putting his foot behind me, tripped me Up and we fell under the water between the upright and empty boats-he on top. l underneath. And there in this two-foot depth of water we struggled and kicked and grappled with one another for all eternity.
 l Lying on my back in the water, there came a humping in my ears and my veins began to swell I had no thought nor fear of death, nothing went into my mind but sense that I must not open my mouth, and then, with wrench and a struggle that knew must be the last. 1 caught him under one arm and over lis neck. TT is an old wrestlers hold, and with the strength of all my body and all the good years of health and training. I bent his head down and his shoulders up till he weakened his hold on me to save his neck.
 Then in an instant over he rolled under the water, struggling, kicking gurglng, and IT opened my lips and took in prodigious gust of air, and then closed my fingers on his throat and put one | | into the mud between his legs. | cannot think of it even now, long years after, without the sweat running down my spine. TT was frightful then. T Is so now. For soon bubbles crept up to the surface and burst beneath my nose, and horrible gurgling sound came up as If from the depths of hell out of the water And still I held him there, working my frenzied fingers into his throat, till his grip began to weaken and the bubbles came not so fast. And still l thrust my fingers into his flesh and held my knees hard upon his chest. And his hold relaxed the more.
 Then, of a sudden, a horror seized me of the thing lying there beneath the water, which I could not see but could feel warm and soft under mel can feel it now, and have for thirty years, and shall as long as I can feel anything in this body of mine-a horror I could no more control than I could the tides and l jumped to my feet and lifted the