Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-10-04
Two Fingers for
His Life.
BY JOHN K. COTTON.

One clustering night last February
sat pressed in against the wall at
Capt. Sol McDaniels little shop.
Early In the evening, among the
crowd Of regular callers, big, red
faced fellow, unquestionably a New
foundlander, came In and greeted the
old captain warmly. He extended his
hand. "1'll have to offer you my
! left. cap'n," he said. Its the best
I've got. The other one was damag-
Cd little when we lost the Peter.
heart"
"Hendry." said the old skipper, aft.
or he returned the newcomers greet.
Ing, Il believe that's the only happen.
Ing out of Gloucester here that I
don't know all the particulars of. Sit
down here, son. and tell us about it..
We'd all like to hear"
Hendry needed little urging, for
! no was man not much given to talk
Ing. But when the other visitors
warmly seconded the captains re-
quest, he consented to tell the story.
We all settled back on the hard
benches. and Hendry began:
3 We left the harbor here this time
last year for Flemish Cap Bank. We
were after trip of Goldfish and gray
halibut.
our skipper. Sarge Bohlin, was
wnat We winter bankers call a driver.
IN that trip ne lived up to his repu-
tation, ana drove the vessel straight
oHsnore rom cape Ann lights for
f1emisn Cap In the face OF everything
We met
we got some nifty thousand weight
< OF nsh-'snatched them. as we say
IN winter. And when the glass show
90 an able norther rising. we headed
tor nome. II was night when we got
unaer way Tne wind had already
shaken up good hubby sea.
Our crew was good one Every
nignt we used 70 get together aft In
.ne caoin. headed by the cooks I'D
dle, ana sing I'LL we grew sleep. The
SKIPPER was one OF the kind that al
ways stood watch on the runs In
ana OUT. Inat night ne had the lay
from nine to eleven o'clock.
twas SO black and thick you
couldn't see the sheer-poles from the
= wneel. sitting down on deck to get
IN tne zee OF the house, out OF the
4 coid WIND the skipper would poke HIS
mead INTO the companionway every
now ana then, and roar out, Plumb!
r !e fumD! PUMP! at every rest
IN our songs. HIS Dig voice would
START iaugn among us below every
time:
we mao sot round 70 The Island
behe down-nome song every one
81 US knew. we had finished the
nrst part when IN roared the skipper,
fumD! PUMP! Pum- Only three
times ne shouted, then he stopped
snort.
All hands seemed to be waiting for
the fourth one before we started off
on the second part OF the song Then
suddenly the skipper cried In Differ
ent voice aitogether:
Jump. men! Jump quick!
] was never SO surprised in all m,
IRE. our SKIPPER was not the man
70 mix up a joke and serious mat
ter. ! saw the companionway full of
men struggling to get up ON deck. A
crash came on our starboard quar-
Ter. In pushed planks and timbers
almost on top OF me. l was the last
man up.
steamer thought ]. But when
! raised my head up above deck and
caught slgnt OF the Dig square sails
OF bark towering above us in the
darkness, was more surprised than
! ever. Every man that sat in that
cabin knew that our vessels side was
stove In for space great enough to
sink her in very few minutes. The
thoughts Of cold, Icy water and a
rough sea Mashed on my mind.