Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-05-08
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CHAPTER XIV.
Picked Upon the Ocean.
Bv CLARENCE BoUTELLE.


Pond Lily somewhat in advance OF
the steamer on which Miss Lurllne
Bannottie took passage from New
York for Liverpool, as you may re-
member.) hurrying toward the east.
Another steamer of another line, q
half-dozen miles or so to the north'
doing her best to win in the race the
two rivals were running.
Or-since it may be true that ocean
steamers do not race-l'n restate the
matter: The Pond Lily and another
steamer were going east at very
rapid rate, some four or six miles
apart. and the passengers on each
were gathered on the decks, anXiously
watching the progress, each OF the
other Some seemed a little nervous
and fearful, a large number seemed
exhiIarated. and a few were talking
seriously of betting on the result OF
the-I almost wrote race, but suppose
we say trip!
It made a great deal Of difference
TO the actors in this history or the
man outside-his friends and his foes
that Lurline Bannottie did not hnd
il convenient to return to Europe on
the Pond Lily; that she sailed from
New York. at the time she did, IN
stead of from Boston at about the
the time the Pond Lily took her
departure from New York; and that
i'm the-the Gf ! can't say race
and if trial of speed" is improper let
me write something which will pleas
antly and not too Suggestively cover
the case) the comparison of rates OF
travel. the Pond Lily was at the south
and the other steamer at the north ot
the strip of water which lay between
them. For il might have been un-
pleasant for Captain Dennis to pick
mn the fruits of hiS-Shall we say in
discretion, or shall we use harSher
term?-Out at sea.
The nOrthernmOst vessel of the two
suddenly stopped. The officers of the
Pond Lily looked through their
glasses. l doubt not. in laudable ef-
fort to determine why the other
steamer
and more especially if she ran up any
signals of danger or distress. If l am
correct in this SuppOstiOn. they fall
ed to find out anything. No appeal
for help fioated out upon the air.
There was no voiceless call for aid.
Assistance has not asked. The Pond
Lily's captain could scarcely have
seen. from the position he occu-
pied. and perhaps would not have
understood if he had seen It,
the boat which was lowered from the
other vessel, and which was pulled
away toward the north as fast as
strong arms could prOpel it. He GER
tainly could not have seen the tiny
speck below his horizon. for it was on
the very rim of the other vessel, on
which a dot of white waved and beck
oned-mute signal of q desperate need
And sO-the wheels of the ponderouS
machinery Of the Pond Lily did not
stop: their speed did not lessen; her
course did not change: she went her
way; she went below the eastern nor
iZon. and out of sight Since she and
her captain went out of our story,
some time since. 1 am glad she is
gone. l hope 1 shall not soon feel that
] owe the reader an apology for letting
her even sail in sight of us.
They pulled the boat from the other
steamer with sturdy will. And
though the distance was a great one
the time was not long before they
were by the side of the object OF
which they had gone in search-a pi-
tiful object surely. 1t was the side
of a heavy. rough box, never a part OF
vessel, and of such character that
one could not guess what use it had
ever been put to on shipboard. FaS-
tened to it. by a ramrod from a rifle'
was a piece Of white cloth-ragged
and tattered-which had been torn
from a mans shirt. And on this TIM
tests of RATS. so small and frail that
the waves beat over ii constantly, SO
small that it afforded only the support
which life demanded, and none Of the
protection which its occupant needed,
so small that two men must nave
drowned had they attempted to trust
their lives to it. was a man.
They thought him dead, at first. so
pale and still was he, and imagined
that the belt which fastened him to
the raft so rudely eXtempOriZed had
only served to keep him atloat-a
corpse. waiting until the sea should
give up it's dead before he could tell
his story but kept from the rest
which even the bodies of the dead
seem to mutely crave, with neither
sods upon his breast nor the rolling
waves above him.
They were mistaken. The man was
not dead. Hunger and thirst had done
more against his hopes than they had
in the case of Gilbert Sem. notwith-
standing the fact that his rescue pre-
ceded that of Sem by twelve hours.
and that Sem was cast away u1On
the ocean halliday longer than he.
The oalS of the reSCuing boat touched
the frail raft. and the man looked up
at them and smiled.
You were in bad fix. friend. said
the officer in charge of the boat.
Yes. In fact. I'm in bad fix yet
guess l can't do much to help my
self: you'll have to lift me of OF TINS
thing. and haul me into the boat,
"Am right: We'll do that. I'll ven
ture to say YOU will have new eX-
perience to relate when we get you
warm and refreshed"
Il guess not: I've been cast away
before"
Indeed"
"Oh. yes. I've followed the sea
nearly all my life, and I've had sever
al-several narrower escapes than this
bids fair to be-"
BY this time they had him in the
boat. well covered up. and his head
resting in the lap of the officer who
bad rescued him.
.I1,,n Sai6 officer