The San Francisco call., 1910-04-09

lost It's worst ChllI Hdue alO'l'Oi
start
This time l pushed the pole off with
the driftwood teetering on 1t ana
straddled it. My weight brought the
raft down under water until 7as
in up to my waist, but ! managed TO
keep upright. / padded with piece
of driftwood until | met wave larger
than usual and then my raft went to
pieces.
Still straddling the alder, I began
to swim, but finding that it only I'M
peded my progress, / let 1t go alto
gether and swan for dear life for the
boat
without the support of the driftwood
I lay so low in the water that wave
after wave broke over my head, hard
ly giving me time to draw breath
before / was submerged again. The
current was strong. Small pieces of
rotten ice struck my hands and face
icy particles clung to my lashes My
arms and legs lost all feeling. A huge
black shadow seemed above and about
me. / forced my body through the
ever shifting waves, swimming hard
as 1 fell off with the sea and each
surging wave propelled me nearer the
boat. Almost exhausted, fearing that
my muscles might cramp at any mo-
ment, | rallied all my strength as the
boat took more definite shape in the
darkness.
AL ldSC L came dlHiOSl WlJIilH ItdCu-
ing distance of her stern, when
comber struck her bow, swept along
her side and washed me back anu
away. 1t seemed the end had come
But just then my arm came In con-
tact with something. 1t was a rope,
and as | grasped it and drifted with
it, it became taut and I blessed the
carelessness Of some one for leaving
the mainsheet loose. The wind had
blown the end off the deck into the
water.
BY it's aid / drew close to the boat
and graspng the rail managed to pull
myself up over the side when | dropped
limp and unconscious on the deck.
Then there came to me, above the
noise of wind and waves, the sound OF
shouting from the shore.
= I got stif1y to my feet, found the
lantern and flashed it to let Ed know
l was all right. Making my way aft
to the engine room l opened the door
and primed the engine with gasoline,
setting the sparl<er for half speed
Then, going forward, broke the heavy
anchor out of the sand and hauled it
aboard. There was a strong eddy
here which. although the tide was run
ming out, drfted me back up the shore,
and | ran aft to get the engine going.
During our absence, however, the en-
gine had frozen up and it was almost
impossible to crank her at all I
l.
was kick back. The oil was cold and
would not run, and when she did turn
over few times, she stopped the min
ute the priming was used up, refusing
to feed from the tank at ALL
This, of course, took time, and, shiv-
ering as | was, I made a poor Ell
gineer 1t was half an hour before /
got it going but at last it started off
with a soothing succession of continu-
Gus explosions, Cutting it down to half
speed, / rushed on deck to see where
we were.
Close to shore as I knew [ must be,
could see nothing, nor could T get any
answer to my shouts. Deciding that /
must have drifted out of Eds hearing
I ran forward, bit slow, but the first
thing l knew | was right on the beach
and had to reverse quickly to avoid
making an automobile of her
Getting my bearings from the shore
| headed out and went back along the
beach. 1t was half a mile before |
heard Eds hail in answer to my riding
lights, which I was showing for the
purpose. I headed in again and soon
got him and both deer aboard
We did not know what to do about
Carroll, but finally decided to wait un-
til we heard him shoot, so that there
would be no danger Of missing him in
the darkness. Before long we heard a
faint shot which seemed to be at least
two miles down the beach. AS this part
of the coast is uninhabited, even by
hunters at this time of the year. we
knew II must be he.
1t was the darkest night I ever saw
and | was in constant danger OF run
ming upon the rocks 1t was very con-
fusng, as the shore was covered with
great boulders, some Of them 12 feet
high, and there was no place to land
When we finally found Carroll he was
standing on a big rock well out in the
surf. We managed to run within jump
ing distance of him and he came aboard
dripping.
Ed had a good fire going in no time
and fine supper, or rather breakfast
for ii was nearly / a. m. With Yenison