The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1904-10-27
CHAPTER 1.
The Storm.

Inc storm.
"Down che wentl"
Gan aboard were lost"
"She made gallant fight"
"Seel She comes to the surface
againl"
The foregoing ordinations came
from . group of fishermen who stood
upon the shores of Bakers bay and
watched ship battling with the waves
on the Columbia bar.
The rain fell in long, slanting, twist
ing sheets. 1t appeared as If the heav-
ems were a vast waterfall swayed and
tossed by all of the gods of fury. The
wind howled and moaned like power
full monster, making the earth and
everything upon it tremble while it
pursued ite way as steady as tide from
the deep.
Trees Bonded their boughs to the
ground and writhed and quiveIed TO
the end of their tiniest roots. Houses
upon their foundations. The more
timid of the men and the women and
children, though accustomed to storms,
crouched and trembled with awed ex-
preston upon their faces as they lis
tened to the deafening din which was
sweeping the earth.
The waters at the broad mouth of
the Colun bia river arose like wild
steeds as they met the storm-driven
waves OF the Pacific and battled with
them for supremacy. The combating
elements formed like mountain range
along the bar, showing, with the rapid
ity of a kaleidoscope view, peaks,
gulehes and canyons as the waters rose
and clinched and then fell and divided
for another attack.
Nature gave her picture additional
grandeur by the coloring. The ap-
proach of night through such storm,
while there was still enough shaded /
light to cast lurid haze over the scene,
the mingling of the blood-red waters of
the river with the green and white of
ocean streaked the whole with q hue
of contest and death.
The tides from the deep seemed to be
fingered by the battle above their heads
and rose higher and higher, with a
power that made the rock-bound
,hores shake, to crush out the wild con-
lest between river and waves. The
spray dashed up even to the timber
,elt above the beach, creating a fog on ,
he windows of the high-perched light
louse that made the newly lighted
amp appear dim, and the whole noun
ain range along the coast to the north :
uivered to its foundation while stay- :
nR the mighty rush Of the waters from /
he ocean.
A group Of fishermen stood at point
n the shores of the bay. They were
renched to the skin, but they did not o
lind this. They were more intent ii
pom Watching an object battling for it's :
fe on the bar of the river. 1t was .,
lese who had made the ordinations
ven at the introduction OF this chap I.
r. =
1t was the severest storm for many ~
ars. They had been partially drawn, n
actically thrown ashore in their crude
hing boats by the receding waters 10
,m the conflict between ocean and a.
7er. While anxious eyes watched =,
I'll AAOhi tnC NlnoOn5 VI lut u51l0R Ia
llage in the rear, which was wrapped 90
the Iandstorm, they looked more
xious!y out to sea. Having been W.,
ndled 80 mercilessiy by the waters A.
iich had spent their fury and were re- a.,
'ating from the battle at the bar, they ~,
'mbled at the fate of an object which 10,
ey discovered in the center of the rag ~
: conflict. -;
1t tossed and leaped and rose and fell ~,
e wounded and bewildered animal IL,
reed by bullet from some hunters ,
e. Now on peak, which shot up A..
e rocket from the depths below r,
v on the brink of a deep canyon, No;
med in the twinkling OF an eye; now lei,
a narrow ledge pending over a deep 49,
zee, and then in the depths of aan s
oh, whose wateTy walls were crash
down upon it-then it disappeared ri
N viewl ~
Down she wenti" said one fisher 80
All aboard were lost, ;" said another. 81
She made gallant fight" remark H.;
/ third. ~
Seel She comes to the surface ~ ~
I'M" exclaimed the man who had -.
spoken. ''o'
be ship had instantly appeared ~,
in. But 1t writhed in the roaring s.as
like a stricken serpent. 1t bad e.
4 fine rugged sailing vessel, but LEI ,,s,,
1t was mere hull with part of u ~
T and few stumps of masts left. h Ms
ad been the pride OF country and, ~. ya.'
a brave soldier wounded and dis .o
ed, it was fighting the enemyeven 'o' -
Is dying gasps. "a;
lunged this way and that. One or r.
nent it careened on its side; another He
God Cd its beam; then it reared up new,
an animal in desperation, and with from
agility of a cat regained it's position reco,
wild wave and rode it with a gal vess'
~ that charmed the fisherman. 6rst
lost for noment it appeared Or
D Is ii it had been discharged from sk;ll
OF Neptune's greatest guns sta nnt;l
I'd on . moro of the deep. hot
3ravoi" shouted fisherman. ~ ~
The deserves to live, 4" said another. III
'ut look" shrieked . third. .,I
= ,ns''erso vessel mao crossed the old
~ wAs nesoing strsi8nt Tor band demr