Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-27

DAILY SHORT STORY
THE ICE PRISONERS.


copyright. 1904. by T. c. McClure.1
One day, when $50 miles to the south
OF Cape Horn I'm the American brig
wanderer. we sighted derelict and
lowered a boat to give her an over
hauling. In making our way back we
were caught In a squall and carried
out of sight to leeward in ten minutes.
There wasn't over an hour Of daylight
left us when the squall came down,
and when night fell the gusts had set
tied down into a steady gale.
AT about q o'clock each man snugged
down TO make himself as comfortable
as possible. and il was an hour later
when the roar of breakers came to our
ears. Every one instantly OWNED that
we We're drifting down upon an iceberg
and that we were also perfectly help
less in the matter. We had dashed the
oars together and flung them overheard
for a drag to keep the boats head to
the sea To have pulled in the drag
would have been fatal. Before the
oars could have been detached we
should have been In the trough of the
sea. Presently We drew nearer and
through the darkness. We missed the
northwest corner of it by not more
than a hundred feet. and the spray Of
a recoiling wave half filled our craft.
We drifted along the great island of
ice for twenty minutes before reaching
its southern face. and then Il current
drew us into the lee of il. and we
knew that we We're temporarily saved.
We got in our drag and put out the
oars. and after rowing nearly half a
mile we found an inlet or bay making
into the berg and ran into ii. This bay
extended back into the berg a quarter
Of a mile and was about a hundred
feet in width. 1t was like a great
river flowing down to the sea between
high cliffs. We We're perfectly shelter
ed here. and by the light of the boats
lantern we made hearty meal off our
provisions. and all turned I'm for n sleep.
The weather was freezingly cold, but
all were comfortably clad. and we had
the sail of the boat to cover us in. We
could hear the wind bowling above us
and feel the berg tremble as the great
waves flung themselves against the
face. but every man had a good sleep
and woke up stout hearted I'm the morn
ing. 1 have called the mass of ice an
iceberg. Perhaps ice island would be
q better term for it, as when we came
to inspect 1t by daylight we found it
to he about two miles long on each
face
The gale was still piping away and
a tremendous sea running when we
awoke. and Of course we had no
thought of leaving the shelter we had.
The first move was to get to the top
OF the berg and have look for the
ship Mr.. Davis. the mate. took this
upon himself. but he made no discov
cry TO reward his efforts. He. how
ever. got good idea of the lay of
things and selected a place for land
ing. When he returned we left the
bay and pulled to the east and landed
upon sort of shelf We had blocks
OF ice ut hand TO build a hut. and be
fore noon we had a cabin big enough
to comfortably hold five of us and the
stores from the boat. In the afternoon
in searching about we found three or
four dwarf pines. planks from ships
bottom. a cooks galley and chairs and
a table. all but the pines from the
wreck OF some merchant ship. So in
tense was the cold that night that no
man could have lived for five minutes
outdoors. At midnight gale came on.
The gale was the tail end of winter.
On the fourth day the weather became
40 mild that the ice began to melt, and
the mate told us that our island was In
a current and was being carried south
at the rate of two miles an hour. We
were I'm peril now from the breaking
up of the mass. On the fifth day it