Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-08-23
CHAPTER Xxx.

I have been endeavoring> to recall
IN sequence the occurrences Of the
three days and nights following our
turning northward, but it is all chaos,
vague. confused-an expanse Of Sleep
less hours, raging seas, snow, sleet,
and ice, in the midst of which we bat
tied for life in as desperately terrific
light as men ever waged against ma
ture. Lean see and feel it all clearly
enough, yet the incidents are so COM
mingled that the separate days and
nights appear one continuous event,
without beginning or end. hear the
ceaseless howl of the wind, the growl
OF grinding ice, the shifting of tons Of
water. the threshing OF loosened can
vas, the rattle of blocks aloft, the
thousand noises emitted by the strug-
Cling fabric under foot see the swirl
Of snow; the crested seas, boiling in
madness; the CLEAN Of pursuing ice
fields; the towering pinnacles of giant
bergs overhanging our mast-heads;
the flying clouds, and the settling
down about us of the ghostly frost fog.
] feel the wild plunge down into the
hollow; the sickening, staggering eff
fort to climb up; the dizzy balancing
upon the crest, and that awful drop
again into the hell below!
No man on board will ever know
how we made it; how we ever found
passage through those wind-lashed
channels; how We ever kept upright
under the pounding of that sea; how
the Sea Queen ever shook her trem-
bling decks free from the tons of ice
and water. and rose staggering to the
crest. Once our engines broke, and
for two hours we rolled helplessly,
while Mcknight and the Chilean tin
kered at the damaged machinery, and
the great waves buried us, and
smashed the charthouse into frag-
ments. Once the rudder-chains be-
came fouled with ice, and we swung
into the trough of the sea hurled over
until our lower yards trailed in the
water and half the yacht shivered be-
meath the smother, we hanging on for
our lives, drenched and buffeted by
the waves. The jib-boom snapped like
pipestem, and huge, ugly hole was
ripped out of the forward bulwarks.
Up to the neck in icy water we
chopped away the rattle, and flung it
overheard. Gustafson, shrieking Wild
~ for help, went with the litter, while
his mates bore Symes below grooming
from broken leg. a.
Mersiful heavens, how that ice came
down, pursuing us like the very Fiend!
Once It pressed so closely against our
quarter that the sea, rebounding from
on its front, boarded US, sweeping aft
in vast wall. 1t caught Dade open
ing the companion door, hurled him
smothering backward and flooded the
cabin foot deep in icy water. Yet
we held to it, our eyes aching, our
limbs frozen, our oilskins stiff with
ice, the exposed flesh of our faces one
fostering frostbite, bruised by the
shocks, half dead from fatigue, dizzy
from the battle. But it was no sea-
manship which saved us; it was a
merciful Providence, for at times the
smother was SO thick we ran into it
blindly. not daring to breach to with
all that ice after us, driven by the
wind, and not knowing what was ten
yards ahead, or ten yards behind.
During all that time / scarcely left
the deck, although De Nova served his
watch on the bridge in the flying spray.
Dade fed me as best he could, and
what brief snatches of sleep l caught
were on the divan in the cabin, my icy
clothes drying on my body. saw
nothing Of the women; there was no
time, no opportunity. I doubt if eth
er could have kept upright amid the
awful pitching of the yacht, for was
obliged myself to creep from one
hand-grasp to another. So saw moth
ing Of the ladies, but Dade succeeded
In taking them food-cold proyender,
for the galley was wave-lashed, the
cook driven below-although how the
lad ever managed it is mystery, and
he reported that Celeste chung to her
bunk, sick and frightened, but that
Lady Darlington was about and
dressed whenever he went in.
Some time during the third day the
wind had blown itself out, or else we
had been driven beyond the sweep of
It. Anyhow, 1t died down into faint
puts, but the sea remained heavy, the
fog thickening as the gale ceased
This curtain, coupled with the sparse
light there was, left the decks 81
dark that we attempted little clearing
up. merely pointing the yachts nose
more directly northward at ha1f-speed
trusting the Almighty to furnish u:
&. with clear water. Indeed, there wai
nothing else to do with that ice-pacl
back OF US, and the fierce seas pound
Ing our poop. Besides, had come t.
the end Of my endurance, and wher
De Nova came limping forward, hang
ing to the lifeline, to take his watch
j crept below more dead than alive
and clawed my way across the cabin
Lady Darlington stood braced in hel
doorway, yet for the, life of me
could not speak, although / tried-Jny
head nodded on my shoulders, and
fell forward across my bunk, ASLEEP
before ! even struck the psattress
Dade said she made him pull off my
boots and loosen my mufiier, stand
ing over him until it was done.
1t was not slept was more like
death, for never stirred or knew
anything. lay exactly as fell, utter
~ insensible to either noise or motion
It was Dade's vigorous shaking thai
finally aroused me, nor did he desis
until he had me sitting up in the bunk
my eyes wide open.
What time is it, Dade?s
TVrysa r.,o n@v