Morris tribune., 1910-04-01
FOLLOWING THE SEA

to make railway or SOmetn1ng. On
| the morning of the quake Sam and !
had gone down to the beach to bathe
| We had shed our shoes and begun to
molt when there was slight tremor
of the earth. as If the elephant that
supports it was pushing upward or
lying down and getting up again.
Next the surges, which were f1atten-
ing themselves upon the sand and
dragging away such small trifies as
| they could lay hold of. began racing
out seaward as if they had received
| dispatch that somebody was not ex
pected to live. This was needless. for
we did not expect to live.
when the sea had receded entirely
out of sight we started after it, for. it
will be remembered. we were there to
bathe, and bathing without some kind
of water is not refreshing in a hot
climate.
''For the first four or FIVE miles the
walking was very difficult, although
the grade was tolerably steep. The
ground was soft, and there were tan
gled forests of seaweed. old rotten
ships, rusty anchors, human skele-
tons and a multitude of things to i'm
pede the pedestrian.
"Presently. away on the western
horizon, | saw the sea coming back.
1t occurred to me then that did not
wish it to come back,
"The same was true of Sam. but he
did not appear to think Of it in that
way He stood quite still a moment
with his eyes fixed on the advancing
line of water then turned to me. say
ing very earnestly:
"'TeIl you what. William, never
wanted ship so bad from the cradle
to the grave"
"By this time the tidal wave was
close upon us. Call that wave! 1t
was one solid green wall of water,
higher than Niagara falls, stretching
as far as we could see to right and left
without break in it's towering front.
1t was by no means clear what we
ought to do. The moving wall showed
no projections by means of which the
most daring climber could hope to
reach the top
Looking despairingly upward, |
made tolerably good beginning, think
ing of all the mean actions | had |
wrought in the flesh, when | saw pro-
jecting beyond the crest of the wave |
a ships boWsprit. with man sitting
on it reading a newspaper. Thank for
tune, we were saved!
"Faling upon our knees with fearful |
gratitude, we got up again and ran
ran as fast as we could. | suspect-fOr |
now the whole fore part of the ship |
budged through the water just above |
our heads and might lose it's balance |
any moment. if we had only brought |
along our umbrellas!
II shouted TO the man on the bow
spirit to drop us a line He merely |
replied that his correspondence was al
ready very OnerOus and he hadn't any |
pen and ink.
Then | told him | wanted to get
aboard. He said | would find one on
the beach. about three leagues to the |
south'ard, where the Nancy Tucker
went ashore.
"At these replies was disheartened
1t was not so much that the man with
held assistance as that he made punS.
Presently. however, be folded his
put it carefully away in
his pocket, went and got a line and let
it down to US just as we were about to
give up the race. Sam made a lunge
at it and got it. | laid hold of his legs.
the end of the rope was passed around
the capStan, and aS the men on board
had had a little gr0g we were hauled
up. | can assure you that it was no
fine experience TO go up in that way,
close to the smooth, vertical front Of
water with the whales tumbing out
all round and above us.
We had no sooner set foot on deck
and got Sam disengaged from the hook
han the purser stepped up with book
and pencil-'Tickets. gentlemen
I'VE told him we hadn't any tickets,
and he ordered us TO be set ashore in
4 boat. 1t was represented to him
hat this was quite impossible under
he circumstances, but he replied that
le had nothing to do with circum-
stances-did not know anything about
circumstances, Nothing would move
lin till the captain, who was really
kind hearted man. came on deck and
Knocked him overheard.
by this time the ship was passing
he town of africa. and we were about
o go astern and fish little when she
grounded OH hilltop. The captain
leaved out all the anchors he had about
lim, and when the water went swirl
ng back to its legal level, taking the
own along for company, there we
we're, in the midst of charming agri-
ultural country. but at some distance
rom any seaport
AT sunrise next morning we were
ii on deck Sam sauntered aft to the
cast his eye carelessly upon
he compass and uttered an ejaculation
f astonishment
Tell you, captain he called out.
his has been direr convuIsion of ma