Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1906-07-25

lighthouse keepers.
| "Well, I'm he blurted out in his
surprise. ''That American youngster
wondered what the trouble was"
A shapeless bundle hove in sight. 1t
contained two little girls tied inside n
tarpaulin and dashed to the rope. This
evidently was the plan for dealing with
the helpless ones.
Brand instantly divided his forces.
in the quickest and most lavish man
ncr possible. Constance was to give
each new arrival small quantity Of
stimulant (the lighthouse possessed a
dozen bottles of brandy and whisky
and act as escort The women and
children We're to be allotted the two
bedrooms. Any bad cases of injury or
complete exhaustion could be disposed
Of in the visiting officers room, while
all the men fit to take care of them
selves We're to be distributed between
the entrance, the coal room, the work
shop and the stairways. The kitchen,
storeroom and service room We're to
be kept clear, and the storeroom door
locked. Eighty! Brand was already do
ing problems in simple arithmetic.
A similar problem, with different
point to be determined, was occupying
the active mind of the american
youngster" who had solved the knot
test proposition put forward during
that eventful night.
He watched the forwarding of the
shricliing, shuddering or inanimate wo-
men. He timed the operation by his
watch, as the reflected light from the
lamp was quite sufficient for the pur-
pose.
Then he approached the captain.
"Say, skipper" he cried, show long
do YOU give the remains of her to hold
outY
ut is not high water yet" was the
answer. Perhaps half an hour. Forty
minutes at the utmost"
"Then you'll have to boost this thing
along good deal faster" said the
cheerful one. They're going up now
at the rate of one every two minutes.
That's thirty in half an hour. Fifty Of
us will travel heap quicker at the end
Of that time If your calculation holds
good.'
The captain, who appeared to be In a
stupor of grief, reused himself.
y few short and sharp orders chang
ed the aspect of affairs Frightened
and protesting ladies' were securely
tied together and hoistcd, four at n
time, like so many bags of wheat
When it came to the mems turn even
less ceremony and greater expedition
We're used.
Indeed, already there were emphatic
warnings that much valuable time had
been lost in the early stage of the res
cue. Though the wind was now only
blowing a stiff gale, the sea, dashed to
frenzy by the hurricane, was heavier
than ever. The ship was vanishing Wis
IDLY. A funnel fell with hideous
crash and carried away a lifeboat.
The rest of the spar deck and nearly
the whole of the forward cabins were
torn out bodily. BY repeated humping
on the reef the vessel had settled back
almost on to an even keel, and the fore
mast, which had so providentially near
ed the summit of the lighthouse, was
now removed far beyond the possibility
of a rope being thrown.
The survivors on deck worked with
fevcrish energy. The time was draw
ing short. They did not know the sec
ond that some unusually tempestuous
wave would devour them utterly.
Now. Mr.. Pyne, YOU next" cried the
chief officer, addressing the young Phil
adclpllian, who, mirabile dictu, had
found and lighted a cigar.
Guess I'll swing up along with the
captain was the answer
up with him. shouted tile captain
| fiercely, himself helping to loop Pyne
to the fourth officer.
All others had gone The officers
We're leaving the ship in order of SEN
iority, the juniors first Just as the
quartet We're about to swing clear of
the ship the captain grasped Pyne's
hand.
.'rhank you, lad" lie said, and away
they went.
third, second and first officers, the pur-
ser and the captain The others want
ed the captain to come with them He
resisted, held out for his right to be the
last to quit Il ship he had commanded
ror more than twenty years and hoarse.
~ forbade any further argument.
Very unwillingly they left him haul
Ing alone ut the rope. though their pred
ecessors, knowing the need of it, helped
vigorously from the gallery. Indeed.
1t was with difficulty that Pyne was
held back from returning with the de-
scending rope. They told him he was
mad to dream of such piece of folly
and perforce he desisted.
But when the captain deliberately
east off the deck pulley from which the
rope had been manipulated they knew
that the boy had read his soul The
now useless cordagc dangling from the
gallery was caught by tie wind and
sea and sent whipping off to leeward.
Brand, brought from the lantern by
| the hubbub of shouting, came out, fol-
lowed by Constance. He suggested as
a last resource that they should en-
deavor to fire line across the vessel
by means of n rocket.
They agreed to try. for the spectacle
of the captain, standing barcheaded on
all that was left Of the bridge, moved
them to pitch Of frenzy not often
seen in an assemblage of Anglo-Saxons,
and especially Of sailors.
Brand turned to procure the rocket,
but loud cry caused him to delay
The expected wave had come, the YES
sci was smothered in II vortex of foam.
the tall foYemast tottercd and fell. ana
when the water subsidized again all that
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