The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1903-03-05

again, he iibed her over. AS be-
fore, 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 u good deal of splashing as
they found places by which to hold
on to the overturned craft.
\ ripple of laughter ran along the
shore At Santa Monica n tip-oyer is
not considered serious, for every
body who goes out in small boat
rather expects wetting. Even the
fishermen change their ordinary
clothes for b$hing-suits before go-
ing through the surf. At high tide
the surf is so high that no small boat
can live in it.
So when this boat turned over the
crowd looking on laughed, and ex-
changed good-naturedly contemptu-
Gus remarks concerning the skill OF
the boatmen 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. Clinging to the al
most submerged sides, they seemed
to be waiting to drift ashore.
"If they let her get into that
surf" said the man sitting near Tim
othy, that boatll go to pieces like
an egg shell in an ore-crusher."
| One of the men clnging to the boat
waved his hand to the people on the
shore. and Timothy stood up.
That's pretty stiff surf" he said.
"but | guess I'd better go out and
tell them to keep off till the tide
turns and the surf goes down.
Timothy was swimmer, and in
ured to surf work by his month at
the shore. Although he had never
battlcd with waves so heavy as those
before him, he felt little doubt of his
ability to make his way through
them.
He walked slowly seaward, follow
ing receding wave and meeting an
other coming, and dived into green
sh-brown water seeming as steep
and as high as the wall of a house.
He had taken good breath and
needed IL all before he had another
opportunity to breathe: but he
caught the undertow and felt him
self scraped against the sandy bot
tom as ne was swept seaward. He
came to the surface few seconds
later so yards from shore, and in the
middle of the trough between two
waves; thus he had time to empty
his lungs and to fill them again be-
fore the next roller was upon him.
He dived again. and again the un'
dcrtow swept him from the shore
and again he rose in the trough OF
the sea, well in advance of the on
coming wave. He shook the water
from his eyes. and then Strengthened
out to tai; IS deep a breath as he
could fore" rto his lungs. The wave
before him was n "double-header,
and even Stronger swimmer thar
Timothy - admit that he was
afraid W cat exposing his courage
to suspi, O..
A douD,t Ecaucr is only haII as hisi
as the wave series of which it Is al
f.. rular member. but its menace tC
t.e swimmer is much more. Between
two ordinary waves is trough OF
fiat water, allowing the swimmer {
chance to breathe; between thu
;,
also trough, but it is filled will
lather and foam much too thick fo
breathing. vet too thin to supper
the swimmer. He must either taxi
a deep breath and hold tiff he cal
lying still till the wave passes owe
him, or he must take a breath equal
" deep. dive and swim-if he can
. under water till the increasing ligh
tells him he has passed under tn
, stretch of sea which is boiling an
frothing like n horrible great caldror
, Timothy preferred to dive.
As he went down he had some fea
that he might never come up agar
, together with feeling of thankful
ness for the two seconds of grac
that had allowed him to go dow
with his lungs wcll-flled with air.
The distance under doublc-heade
is four times that under other wave
running at the same time, and tn
undcrtow offers no aid to the swim
=, mcr, for instead of a current rur
/, ming strongly seaward, it is a mer
/ tanglc of swirling water running NJ
=, where. Timothy dived deep, strikin
out strongly but carefully, and oper
ing his eyes.
, Under an ordinary wave the ligh
, is bluc-grccn; under double-heade
, there is No light, for water lashe
= into foam is opaque as plank cei
4 ing. Salt water hurt Timothy's eye
II and he kept them open only lon
:, enough to make sure that he was
a., the dark.
II The pressure on his lungs becam
, intolcrablc. and he let out some {
3. the air in them, Immediately wishin
he had tried to save it few seconC
G longer. He opened his yes, saw Il