Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-05-01
CHAPTER NNIII.
EBB-TIDE RUNS.

THE EBB-TIDE RUNS.
The coracle-as I had ample reason
TO know before l was done with her
was a very safe boat for person of
my height and weight, both buoyant
and clever in a seaway; but she was
the most gross grained lop-sided craft
to manage. Do az you pleased, she al
ways made more leeway than anything
else, and turning round and round was
the maneuver she was best at. Even
Ben Gum himself has admitted that
she was queer to handle till you knew
her way"
Certainly I did not know her way.
She turned in every direction but one,
the one was bound to go; the most
part of the time we We're broadside on,
and 1 am very sure 1 never should
have made the ship at all but for the
tide. BY good fortune, paddle as |
pleased. the tide was still sweeping
me down; and there lay the His
PAMELA right in the fair way, hardly
to be missed.
First She doomed before me like q
blot of something yet blacSer than
darkness, then her spars and hull be-
gan to take shape, and the next mo-
ment, as it seemed (for the further
went the brisker grew the current of
the ebb), / was alongside her hawser,
and had laid hold.
The haWSer was as taut as a bow
string-so strong she pulled upon her
anchor. All round the hull, in the
blackness. the ripping current bub-
bled and chartered like a little noun
tain stream. One cut With my sea
gully and the "Hispaniola' would go
humming down the tide.
So far so good; but it next occurred
to my recollection that a taut llawser,
suddenly cut, is q thing as dangerous
as a kicking horse. Ten to one, If l
wsre so fooihardy as to cut the His
PAMELA from her anchor, / and the
coracle would be knocked clean out of
the water.
This brought me to full stop, and
If fortune had not again particularly
favored me, I should have had to
abandon my design. But the light
airs which had begun blowing from
the southeast and south had hauled
round after nightfall into the south
west Just while l was meditating, a
puff came, caught the "Hispaniola' 9
and forced her up into the current;
and, to my great JOY, l felt the hawser
slacken in my grasp. and the hand by
which / held it dip for a second under
water.
With that / made up my mind, took
out my gully, opened it with my teeth,
and cut one strand after another, till
the vessel swung by two. Then lay
quiet, waiting to sever these last when
the strain should be once more light
encd by a breath of wind
All this time / had heard the sound
Of loud voices from the cabin; but, to
say truth, my mind had been so en-
tirey taken up with other thoughts
that 1 had scarcely given ear. Now,
however, when / had nothing else to
do, / began to pay more heed.
One 1 recognized for the cockswain's,
Israel Hands, that had been Flint's
gunner in former days. The other was,
of course, my friend of the red night
cap. Both men We're plainly the worse
for drink, and they We're still drink
ing; for, even while ] was listening.
one of them with drunken cry opentd
the stern window and threw out some
thing, which / OWNED to be an empty
bottle. But they We're not only tipsy;
1t was plain that they We're furously
angry. Oaths flew like hailstones, and
every now and then there came forth
such an explosion as / thought was
sure TO end in blows. But each time
the quarrel passed Off, and the voices
grumbled lower for awhile, until the
next crisis came, an. in turn, passed
away without result
On shore, could see the glow oe the
great campfire burning warmly
through the shore-sde trees. Some one
was singing. a dull old droning sailors
song. with d droop and a allaver at
the end of every verse. and Seemingly
no end to it at all but the patience of
the singer. / had heard 1t on the
voyage more than once, and rcncm-
bered thes. words:
Bat one man of the crew alive.
What put to sea with seventy-tive.'
And / thought it Was a ditty rather
too dolefully appropriate for a COM