The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-22
The Strength of Men
By NORMAN DUNCAN.
Copyright, Mcclure, Phillips & Coz

| borne in the tumult, flee the hearts of
men; there remains but the brute
greed of life--for his life. Each man
Tor his own life--for his, life. Each
watched the other as though that 9TH
| er sought to wrest some advantage
from him. Such was the temper of the
| men then that when the skipper roar
| ed for all hands there was a rush for
\ the ladder and q scuffle for place at
| the foot of it,
Men," the skipper bawled, when
/ the crew had huddled amidships,
| covering from the wind, "the ship'll
| strike the Blueblack inside o. thirty
| minutes. lis every man for his life. y
The old man was up on the port
rail with the snow curling about him.
He had a grip of the mainmast
| shrouds to stay himself against the
wind and the lunging of the ship. The
| thud and swish of waves falling back
and the din of grinding ice broke
tom the de"thS OF the snow over /! e
bow-from some place near and hid
demand the gale was roaring past.
The men crowded closer to hear him.
"'Tis time t take t the ice!" he
cried
'Iss, skipper!''
Sure, sir"
Young John Nash was in the shelter
of Saul's great body; he was touching
the skirt of the mans great-coat--
like child in a crowd
us you all here?" the skipper went
on. He ran his eye over them to
count them. No man looked around
for his friends. 'Thirty-three. All
right! Men, you'll follow Saul Nash
When you gets a hundred yards off
the ship you'll drift clear o. the shoal.
Now, over the side, all hands," In
a lull of the wind the shoal seemed
suddenly very near. Lively, men!
Lively!"
The schooner was low with her
weight of seal-fat. 1t was but short
| leap to the pack in which she was
| caught-at most, but a swinging drop
from the rail. That was all; even so,
| the crew went over the side the
shadow of the great terror fell-fell as
| from a cloud approaching. There was
a rush to be clear of this doomed
| thing of wood-to be first in the way
| of escape, though the end of the UNI
| travelled path was a shadow; so there
was a Growing at the rail, an cutlery
| q snarl, and the sound of a blow.
Save upon the scattered pans, which
| had resisted the grinding of the pack,
| but were even then lifting themselves
/ out of the press and falling back in
! pieces; save upon these few pans
| there was no place where a man could
rest his foot, for where he set it down
| there it sank. He must leap-leap--
! from one sinking fragment to another
| choosing in a flash where next to
| alight, CHANGING his weight where it
might be sustained for the moment of
gathering to leap again-he must leap
| without pause; he must leap or the
| pack would let him through and close
| over his head. Moreover, the wind
| swept over the pack with full force
| and singing touch, and it was filled
with the dust of snow; a wind which
froze and choked and blinded where
! it could. But in the lead of Saul Nash,
| who was like a swaying shadow in
the snow ahead, thirty men made the
hundred yards and dispersed to the
pans to wait-thirty of thirty-three,
not counting the skipper, who had
fingered far back to see the last of
the work of his hands. A.
Leave us-Wait-here," said Saul,
between convulsive pants, when, with
John and OF Bill Anderson, he had
come to rest on small pan. He turn
| ed his back to the wind to catch his
breath. ''Us'H clear-the shoal-
here" he added.
or Bill fell, exhausted. He shield
| ed his mouth with his arm. IT'S so
good as any place" he gasped.
IT'S big enough for seven men,
said John.
Bill was an old hand-an old hand;
and he had been in the thick of the
| pitiless slaughter of seals for five days.
| 'Us'll let noa moarc aboard, by" he
cried. He started to his elbow and
I looked around; but he saw no one
making for the pan, so he said to
Saul, "'Tis too small FOE three. Leave
! the young teller look out for hisself
some other
BILL" said Saul, "the lad hides
here"
Bill was an old hand. He laughed
! in scorn. Maybe" said he, IF the
sea gets at this pan-to-morroW, or
mex day, Saul-if the sea gets at un,
an wears un down, tbs yourself ii be
the first t. push the lad of an
Does you hear me, Bill! L says the
| lad
. John pIucked Saul's sleeve. "'Tis
goain' abroad" he said, sweeping his
hand over the pack.
| Then hush fell upon the lce--a
hush that deepened and spread, and
| soon left only the swish of the gale
and the muffied roar of the shoal. 1t
| came creeping from the west like a
sigh of relief The driving force OF
the wind had somewhere been mys-
/
teriously counteracted. The pressure
was withdrawn. The pack was tree.
1t would dispense into its separate
parts. A yeerng Of the wInd--the
impact of some vagrant field-a cur
rent or tide--a far-off rock; VINO
knows what influence? The direction
of the pack was changed. Il would
swerve outward from the Blueblack
shoal.
Back, men, She'll goa clear o the
shoa1!'
That was the skipper. They could
see him standing with his back to the
gale and his hands to his mouth. Be
yond, in the mist of snow, the schoon-
cr lay tossing; her ropes and spars
were web and her hull was Il
| shadow.
Back Back"
There was a zigzag, plunginG race
| for the schooner-for more life for
| the hearth-fires Of ragged Harbour
and the lips of wives and the clinglng
| fingers of babies which swan, as in 4
golden cloud, in the snow the wind
was driving over the deck. The ice
/ went abroad. The pack thinned ana
| fell away into it's fragments, which
then fioated free in widening gaps OF
10 l. ir1,i f1r