The San Francisco call., 1903-12-27

the stamp OF hardship and ad-
venture, was sitting in the
smoking room Of a New York
hotel He happened to glance at a
calendar and saw that the day was De-
cember 81
BY Jove!" he exclaimed. so to-
morrow is New Years day. Unless
something happens before then, it will
be the Quietest New Year I've spent in
twenty-three years.
In all that time I have never been
so near my old home in Scotland as I
am now. Often I've tried to get home.
but somehow or other New Year has
always found me in a tight corner in
some out-of-the-way part of the
world"
This mans experience is typical of
that Of many of the globe -trotters in
this age, when people are so fond of
going to and fro in the earth and
walking uD and down in it," like a GER
tain parsonage in the Book of Job. The
Queerest and most adventurous New
Years nowadays are spent by globe
trotters, who almost always have ex
citing stories TO tell about what hap.
pened TO them when the festive season
caught them in Chinese Tartary or
in the wilds of New Guinea
New Years day, 1897, found one Eng
lishman facing death from hunger and
thirst on board a life raft 300 miles
southeast Of Madagascar.
His ship had foundered seven days
before in a hurricane. The boats were
smashed by the fury of the waves and
some Of the crew washed overheard.
The rest made a raft out of planks and
spars, but during the night high seas
swept over the frail structure and car
ried away most Of the water and food.
"All we had left" said the man. who
went through this terrible experience,
were a few tins Of potted meat a
small barrel Of biscuit and the small
est OF the water casks. That was all
We had 10 keep life in twenty-five hun
cry men.
We made it last as long as we could,
but In four days everything was gone.
Some Of the men fell into despair and
talked about throwing themselves over
board Perhaps they would have done
so, but during the night of the fourth
day half a dozen big sharks swan
around the raft in circles. The sea
was phosphorescent and we could see
them plainly in the waves Of livid fire
which they stirred up as they swan
around. Even the half crazed men who
had talked about drowning themselves
shrank from death in a sharks NAV
and stayed upon the raft.
Next morning I saw by a pocket
diary which I carried that the day was
December 30. To keep up the mems
spirits, I told them I had dreamed we
were going TO be rescued on New Years
day. That appealed to the superstition
inherent more or less in all sailors. so
] kept on telling them a ship would
come along and pick US up on that day
sure, until / began TO believe il my
self We even discussed gravely wheth-
er the sail would heave in sight in the
morning or the afternoon, ard one man
who said he guessed il would be to-
ward evening became quite unpopular
New Years morning broke with a
dead calm on the oily. bistering sea
and a blazing sky that aggravated our
thirst tenfOld. There was not a ship
IN sight all Notwithstanding except
that CLASSY sheet Of water and that
cruel. cloudless sky above US. 1t was
the same in the afternoon, and our
hopes fell as the sun sank slowly to-
ward the western horizon.
Just as we were beginning to de-
Epair one Of the men screamed hysteri-
cally and pointed to a thin trail Of
smoke on the sky line. II was a New
Zealand liner headed straight for our
raft In a couple OF hours her doctor
was giving US a hearty dinner Of slops
and weak brandy and water"
This same man spent another
New Years day off Cape Horn. He
sailed from Valparaiso in a British
'windjammer," expecting to reach his
Scottish home in time to spend his
first Christmas there for many years
But calms delayed her for weeks in
the South Pacific Ocean. and when she
got on Cape Horn she ran into a