Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1902-04-18
OF starving are" for I was hungry

We went through the cabin first. The
tables and benches were In place. but
everything movable was I'm fine mess.
"She amt been like this very long"
says the mate. ''This cabins been
flooded. though. II came In through
the skylight and run out again."
But smelled rats all the time. so |
says: "There's live rats aboard. They
must have something to eat and a dry
place TO stow themselves"
Sure enough. we found the door go
Ing into the laZaret swellod that tight
We couldn't bulge IT, But there was
a hatch on deck, hattencd down and
calked We got this on. aud of ali the
scampering. squealing and jumping
you ever heard that was the worst
There's a million rats down there 9"
says Monroe. Says |. Rats is good
eating" 'IIave you tried EN- says
he II have. sir."1 SAYS
"Well. well" says Monroe. impatient
like and getting red in the face Tets
see what the rats have 60 eat first"
We found lots OF things in there be
sides rats But they'd run over every.
thing except what was i'm strong casks
There was barrels Of flour piled up
and the top ones was mostly all right,
what the rats hadn't gnawtd holes in
We found some pork but all the ships
bread was no use.
"We'll not likely staVe. not for some
time. anyhow" says he.
How'll we cook IT," says |, without
a matchY
We turned everything upside down,
. but We never found no matches
Happened ! walks along the forward
10 the main chains where we landed
aboard The dcreicL was cursing Joe
for being 80 clumsy. when | sees n
match lodge i'm a dead eye. with the
swell reaching up TO within an inch or
two Of II. snatched il ont Of there
IN a hurry. and the nest roller covered
the spot. ! give il TO the mate He
los il over carefully, and says he,
This little stick Is all that stands be-
tween you and me and raw pork and
rats"
"And a smoke" says l.
He wraps it careful in bis handker.
chief and puts ii in his pocket.
The first puff of wind that came
from them clouds was the worst and
died down as the fog piled up thick.
So after watching the old Alexander
founder around like turtle we goes
below and rigs up the cabin bogie.
The pipe was rusty and falls all TO
pieces except one joint So we set the
stove on the table. fastening ii down
with chain. and stuck the pipe up
through the skylight. We put In n lot
OF shavings we made from a barrel
stave, and Mr.. Monroe takes out the
match and holds 1t out to strike. but
his hand trembled that bad he dasen't
strike IT,
"Dave." saws he. you take it,"
reached for IT, and | got so scared
| liked 10 have dropped ii.
"Give 1t here!' shouts the mate. fierce
as you please, and | see his muscles
set like iron. He strikes ii on the
stove. got sick and queer all over
when see II blaze up. But his hand
never give a ripple. He held It till the
stick caught and passed IT, slow and
steady, 10 the shavings, and she blaZed
up. give a yell and was on hand
with a armful Of wood to pile in on IT,
But Mr. Monroe, he holds me OF with
one arm and takes one stick at a time
and puts il in careful. and the first
thing we knew the stove was red hot.
"Smoke Or says be. and we fills
our pipes and have a comforting Whit.
II tasted good and made us feel better.
Next we hunts up a fat piece of iron
(there wasn't anything else), and we
gets some -four to make pancakes, and,
so help be, we never thought OF no wa
ter! We looked pretty foolish and
stTeaks !; for the deck. We found the
starboard cask half full. The bung-
hole dipper was gone, so we makes one
out OF a baking powder tin tied on
stick The water was some salty. We
mixed the -four with 1t, and the cakes
was just about salty enough without
no extra salt.
We mumicked about In that fog for
three days. and then IL rolled itself up
and of 20 leeward. And the sun came
out bright as a new shilling. Where
was we? That's more than | know
Monroe says the current was taking
us north and west. He near fret hisself
to death with trying to puzzle out some
way to get her to go where he wanted
her 90. Bur, Lord, we was helpless as
two city clerks. for. as | said, there
was nothing to work with. And |
don't believe we could have moved her.
she was that low and soaked.