The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-12-04

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ing smooth, as If cut from solid glass.
No two waves were ever alike, so one
wave kept its form a second. Dut dis
tances between them seemed not to
vary by a hands breadth as the surges,
miles in length, swept toward the
shore.
A quarter Of a mile from the beach,
we'll outside the breaks and little af-
fected by the swell, was a small boat
with a big sail carrying four people
in bathing dress, evidently men, as
they were bareheaded. Timothy
watched them, wondering idly why
they had hauled the sheet aboard while
sailing dead before the wind. As he
looked che helmsman put the tiller
down and the little craft rounded up
to port and heeled over as the breeze
caught the 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 put her before
the wind Still he kept her close
hauled, and shifting his helm again,
he jibed her over. AS before, the sheet
was held fast; but this time a 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.
A ripple Of laughter can along the
shore At Santa Monica a tip-over
is not considered serious, Cor every
body who goes out in a sailboat rather
expects a wetting. Even the fishermen
change their ordinary clothes for bath.
ing suits before going through the
surf.
At high tide the surf is so high that
no small boat can live in it, and then
a start can be made and a landing
effected only at one of the pleasure
wharves or at the Long Wharf of the
Southern Pacific Company, four miles
! below town, these structures extend
ing seward beyond the surf line.
SO when this boat turned over the
crowd looking on laughed, and ex-
changed good-naturedly contemptuous
remarks concerning the skill of the
| boatsmen 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 CHnging to the almost
submerged Sides they seemed to be
waiting to drift ashore.
IF they let her get into THAI surf, "
said the man sitting near Timothy,
chat boat'll 90 TO pieces like an egg
in an ore crusher."
One Of the men clinging to the boat
waved his hand to the people on the
shore, and Timothy stood up.
That's a pretty stiff surf" he said,
"but I 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 Injured
to surf work by his month at the shore
Although he had never battled with
waves so heavy as those before rim
he felt little doubt of his ability tC
make his way through them
He walked slowly seward, follow
ing a receding wave and meeting an
other coming, and dived into greenish
brown water seeming as steep anC
high as the wall of q house. He haC
taken a good breath and needed it al
before he had another opportunity t.
] breathe; but he caught the undertov
and felt himself scraped against the
sahdy bottom as he was swept sea
waEd He came to the surface a few
seconds later thirty yards from shor,
and lin the middle Of the trough be
tween two waves; thus he had tins
to empty his lungs and to fill then
again, before the next roller was upol
him.
He divnd again, ana again the under
tow swept him from the Shore, ant
again he rose in the trough Of tn
sea, well in advance Of the oncomin
wave. lie shook the water from hi
eyes, and then Strengthened out t
take as deep a breath as he coul
force into his lungs. The wave bcfor
him was a "double-header," and eve
a stronger swimmer than Timoth
might admit that he was afraid will
out exposing his courage to suspicion
A double-header is only half as hig
as the waves series of which it is a
irregular member, but its menace {
the swimmer is much worse. Betwee
two ordinary waves is a trough q
, fat water. allowing the swimmer
q chance to breathe; between the halve
5 of q double-header there is also
4,sor,,rh IuF e. IS 6IIa1 with 1o hnr n N