The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1908-08-28

ments. Then. Is SOON as he realized
tat he had attracted V~aughton's at
,~ention, the man disappeared, only to
.aow himself again with q sheet OF
aper covered with writing. This he
held up against the portfolio, motion
ing Vaughton to approach and read It.
1t ran as follows,
HELP!!!
When the ship sank I went down with
II. locked up In this watertight compart-
ment. Have had hardly anything to eat
and the air is giving out. l cannot last
an hour more. II you pen the door.
however. l shall be destroyed by the wa
ter which will rush In.
FOR PHYS SAKE. HELP ME- SOME
WAY! ! 1 Am STARVING FOR
FOOD AND AIR!
The words we're written in . fairly
legible hand, and Vaughton had no
trouble in making them out. But the
question was, what to do. How should
he ave this man? There seemed to
be no ear Of doing it, unless the
entire ship were raised, and this, -
he had cen by his inspection, was i'm
possible. Then, suddenly, another
plan flashed through his Brain
plan that was, really, the first thing
that should have occurred to him.
Why couldn't the man trust to his
chances of reaching the surface before
his breath gave out? He, himself,
could take down a rope and tie II
around his body while the men above
hauled him up by it as quickly ~
they could.
Vaughton motioned to the MAI, who
had been gazing anxiously at him.
and, nodding to assure him Of his as
~sistance, gave the signal to be hauled
up. As soon as he wal above the
surface and had been stripped Of his
helmet. he told the men, as briefly and
az quickly as he could, the strange
sight that he had een A long rope
was secured and Vaughton wrote out
his plan on a piece of cardboard, SO
that the mar might understand exact
ly what was to be done.
Then he dived down q second time,
taking with him the extra rope. He
found the man occupying the position
he had left him In, only staring up
wards, watching for the help that he
knew was to come from above. Waugh
ton held the sheet Of cardboard close
up to the portfolio, and, as the man
within read. his face lighted up in
comprehension. Then, upon . sig
nal from Vaughton, the prisoner threw
open the door of the compartment,
and. quick az thought, was bound
around the waist with the rope. The
sign was given to the waiting men
above, and he was hauled up as fast
"a human sinews could do 1t.
The stranger reached the surface in
an unconscious state, but was soon re-
rived. and, after having eaten all the
sandwiches that we're to be procured,
he showed great willingness to tell his
remarkable story.
II was sleeping. he said, "at the
time the ship foundered, and 1t was
by n miracle that the door Of the
water-tight compartment was closed,
else / would not be here to tell the
tale. You may wonder at the fact
that / slept SO soundly that the hurry
and confusion On the decks did not
awaken me. l will answer that sim
ply by telling you that l regu-
larly roll OF my bed at night
and wake up. When l did
wake up, however. imagine my aston
ishment upon glancing out Of my port
hole. to find that was entirely sur
rounded by water-water to left Of
me, in front of me, above me, and to
right Of me. At first. as you may
surmise. I could not realize what had
happened. Then, gradually, it dawned
on me that | was at the bottom Of
the sea. This idea was Immediately
strengthened by the sight of q couple
Of lazy fish. swimming up and down
in front Of my portfolio. believe
that no one has. hitherto, equaled my
adventure. No human being that I
have ever heard of has lived for two
days, clad in his ordinary costume. at
the bottom Of the ocean, except, Of
course, in q submarine boat. Well, to
continue: About the second day 1
realized that my supply of air was
giving out-the compartment was not
10 very large-and L became op-
pressed In breathing. It wa lucky
that l was the only one down there to
use up the air. Finally, it occurred to
me that divers might be sent down
to the ship, and ! prepared the sign
that / showed at the portfolio. II II
had not been for your timely assist
ance, l should have been a dead man
by this time"