Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-01-09

to sight some vessel in short order.
Therefore / favor craft which will
have more of safety than of speed"
"That Is my idea exactly" said Mr..
Morton. II believe we will be picked
up inside of 4S hours at the most.
We must construct raft or house,
boat which can survive any ordinary
storm. Even if the waves do beat over
it occasionally, our plight will be
much better than if our boat were
capsized in the first heavy sea-"
'No ordinary wave will beat over
the raft have planned" said Mr..
Carmody, producing rough sketch
of the plans. 81 propose craft 40
feet long and IA feet wide. 1t will
be square at bot! ends. We will
frame the hull out of solid timber.
1 notice that there are some tall,
straight trees back of the bungalow
which will serve admirably for orr
purpose. l have built many ships
and barges, and we have the tools
! and materials to do a good job. The
best plan will be to frame the hull
on shore, and then take it apart and
put it together again in the water.
Of course we coald build the raft
complete and launch it from the
stone pier, but it will be safer to
build it from the water.
eve will build house or cabin
Sx24 feet. 1t will be high enough to
stand upright in. There will be three
staterooms, each with two sleeping
hunks. Then there will be a COM
bined kitchen, dining-room and store
room. This cabin will be braced in
every direction, and have worked
out plan by which no ordinary sea
can cause serious trouble. A raft
built like this will ride the waves
safely"
Mr.. Carmody's plans also provided
for six oars or sweeps and rudder.
Through the roof of the cabin two
masts were stepped, each carrying
a boom and a three-cornered sail
He had found pile of canvas avn
ings which had not yet been put in
place on the windows of the bunga-
low. These promised to make excel
lent sails. For two hours the house
boat was discussed, and the plan
suggested by Mr.. Carmody was
adopted. 1t was decided to begin
work on the boat early the following
morning.
| While Mr.. Carmody and others
went to select the trees for the
frame work of the houseboat, Sidney
and Mr.. Kent rowed across the bay
and took an observation from the
rock overlooking the inlet. There
was no vessel in sight. though. Sid
1 ney thought he could trace line of
smoke at the edge of the southeast
! ern horizon. They felled tall pine
tree and trimmed it for Flagstaff.
Early the following morning five
of the men raised the pole on the
rock, having first provided a flag
which they nailed to the top.
! Sidney and Mr.. Kent watched the
1 sun as it dropped behind the west
/ ern ridge of hills. The air was re-
markably clear, and the snow
capped mountain peak showed plain
in the purple distance.
"This island is a great mystery
] to me-" said Hammond. He was
looking at the mountain. Its base
faded away as the sun declined, but
the top glowed like pearl where
the light yet reflected from the daz-
| cling snow
1 ''There are few peaks like that on
the American continent" said Sid
ney. 81 have been looking up the
subject of high mountains along the
American coast. We surely are more
/. than Il thousand tiles west of New
| York and we are in tropical waters
The coast of South America swings
away east of New York, so we cam
not be there. l can find but two
places which coincide with the time
Indicated by our watches"
what are they?" asked Mr.. Kent.
'The Caribbean sea along the east
coast of Yucatan and Halize, and the
east coast of Mexico along the Gull
of Mexico" said Sidney. There are
no such peaks as that visible from
the east coast of Yucatan, to say
nothing of from islands yet farthe,
east. Cape Catoche, the east point
of Yucatan, is in just the same longi
tude as Chicago. We are west Of
that. The only waters west are those
of the gulf and the Bay of Cam
| peachy, part of the gulf forming
the northern boundary of Yucata1
and Tobasco, and the eastern shore
of the southern portion of Yer;
Cruz. From these waters you cal
see the gigantic peaks of the vol
canoes Popocatapetl and orizaba."
e. ~