Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-16

yet ever trembling and shaking clear to the
tops of her tall masts.
Almost as it is revealed the great wind
shifts the scene. A wave arises in the
down. like great towers falling, go the four
nrasts headlong, with the seven black OBJ
jects on them that just before were men
and now are nothing
Almost before the crash has died away
the Lyle gun speaks again, and the projectile
carries Its line toward the jib-boom. where
three men are still clinging. But 1t Is too
late. The stout spar Is breaking in its turn.
From the beach the three, lying flat on 1t,
are seen crawling face down toward the
forecatsle, ragged at by the sea every inch
of the way, and oftener under water than
above Ii.
Just before they reach It. wave washes
over them, and when it has passed they are
only two These two jump for their lives
ing against the wreck. breaks away.
and caught by some merciful current, rides
swiftly toward the beach.
A dozen. surfmen run down to meet 1t.
with he.ving sticks ready. But two hum
dred yards away 1t stops and washes to
and fro. Swiftly the Lyle gun is brought
to bear and a roar of joy rises on the
beach. The line has fallen across the
The Life Line at Last.
It lies between the two men who are
thirty feet apart, each of them holding to
an upright fragment, and both completely
buried under the surf at intervals. 1t 10
plain that neither of them can reach the
line. The sulrfu1en haul 1t In and fire 1t
again. This time It falls behind one Of the
men, who slips down the post, stil grip
ping it desperately, till he can reach out
behind him with his foot and draw it to-
ward him. Then, regaining his place. he
makes it fast.
The surfmen pull 1t taut at once. He
throws his arm over it and starts to work
toward the beach. He loses his hold. He
snatches the line again. He works along
for twenty feet more. A sea rises green
Down he goes.
Hes gone!' comes from the threats OF
the men on the beach.
Straight into the wild sea, straight into
the whlrling wreckage that now. comes
faster than ever, with heayfng line tied
around his body. goes surfnlan. Plunging
like 9. spaniel. ducking past deadly drift
stuff like an otter, tossed htther and thith-
er like a feather, ever heading grimly into
havoc, dives deep, comes up with the sailor,
and half swins, half tumbIes back to shore,
till other surfmen, who stand shoulder deep
in a chain of men, can seize the two and
snatch them from the white mouth of
death.
Meanwhile the second man has seized the
line and begins to work toward shore as the
first man has done. All at once he stops.
drops his arms, and sinks like a corpse.
Another form plunges through the surf.
Again the sea is cheated, for the surfman
catches the sailor and passes him to wait
ing hands. 1t was only just in time. The
sailor is TO all appearance a dead man. His
flesh is blue-a terrible livid blue-aH over.
How the Report Read.
A few days afterward the keeper of the
Quogue life-saving station sat at the table,
with pen In his brown fist, painfully com
posing his report to the government ''as
in such cases made and provided
about Has pm. January 20 1t ran.
'Surfman Crasher of this station and Surf
man Bishop OF Potunk station sighted the
four-naster schooner Augustus Hunt ashore
off this point. Crews from both stations
were at spot by 2 am, but boats could not
be launched and life lines were fired with
out avail. The wreck began to break up at
about am, and eight men of the crew
were washed away and lost. Surfman Will
liam HaIsey, IT., succeeded In rescuing Sec
ond Mate George Eberts and Surfman
Warner rescued a seaman, Carl Somers.