The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-02-27
THE ONLY
ONE LEFT
By N. QUAD
By N. QUAD
1918. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

Ill FaEaH ..N' - 800 ~ .L-. L iii
was only fourteen years old when
] made the voyage from London to
Rio on board the Duchess. having a
crew Of fourteen. all told. At Rio we
loaded green coffee for Australia. We
got away with a fair wind and every
body in perfect health. and our run to
the east, until we had sighted Inac-
cessible island and left it a hundred
miles astern, was something to boast
Of. Then came a dead fat calm. which
lasted for eleven days. On the fifth
day Of the calm two men were sud
denly stricken with a strange ailment.
1hey were reported sick ut 8 o'clock
in he morning; by 2 p m. both yer
dead; at 6 o'clock a third man was
taken down and lived only two hours.
Green coffee will sometimes breed
fever on a long, hot voyage, but the
symptoms Of these men were SO
strange that some other explanation
had to be looked for. No one was at
tackled on the sixth day. but on the
seventh the captain, second mate and
. common sailor all came down at
once. The first complaint was dryness
Of the tongue. That was followed in
half an hour by loss Of sight and other
senses and before noo all were dead.
On the night Of the seventh day q
sailor who had lain down-On the deck
In perfect health and Soundly slum-
bered for three hours awoke with q
parched tongue. He did not wait to
Aie as others had done. but CROPPED his
way to the ships side and dropped
from the rail. into the sea. He was
the sixth who had died. and the living
were panic stricken.
We had now lost nearly half q
crew. and the ship lay heavfng on the
CLASSY sea without sign that the calm
was ever to be broken. On the morn
ting Of the eighth day there was a bet
ter feeling. however. At noon every
man ate a hearty dinner. An hour
later four men were taken down at
almost the same moment. and the
symptoms were. more violent than in
any Of the preceding cases. There
was no burial of the bodies; they were
simply thrown overheard as soon as
life had departed. When this had been
accomplished. the mate called the liv-
ing around him and said there was
no longer any hope that any man
would be spared. The captains gig
could be got at handily. and in case
we wanted to take it and pull away
from the ship he would help to get her
in the water. The two sailors were
eager to get of. but my mind was
quickly made up to remain with Mr..
Merwin. -
When the mate and l were left
alone he wrote up his log book and
also prepared two statements. which
he sealed up and cast overheard. That
night when l went to sleep the bark
was heaving about on the ground swell
in the same monotonous way. and Mi.
Merwin sat at the table in the cabin
reading a book. slept the night
through without q break. and it was
sunrise when l turned out. looked
into the mates stateroom. but saw
that he had not been to bed. ON
deck. but he was nowhere to be seen.
l called him and began u search. and
1t was q full hour before gave up
and realized that he was not In the
ship. What had happened during the
night l could only surmise. He had
not Weakened me nor left a message.
When fully realized that ! was
alone aboard of the ship was SO ter
rined that l hid away In the cabin for
several hours.
Things were not at. all clear to me
until the morning of the eleventh day
Of the calm. Then-l awake to ind my
self feeling as well as ver in my life
and ran on deck to find signs Of change
in the weather. knew how to make
a signal OF distress Of the English dag.
and. although there was no wind. ran
the bunting aloft.
It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon be-
fore the first catspaws began playing
over the glossy surface Of the sea. but
in the course Of half an hour 4 steady
breeze set in from the north. q the
bark went drifting away before 1t.
During the next Eve days and nights
the breeze blew from every point OF
the compass except the east. but did
not rise to a gale nor create y heavy
sea. had little to do except to cook
my meals and 10 aIoft to look for sails.
but I made as much work for myself
as I could and did not permit my mind
to dwell on the present or future. On
the seventh or eighth day Of my lone
illness at l O'clock In the afternoon and
while the bark was drifting to the east
under q light breeze ! went alOft and
made out a sail to the north. q second
to the south and q third to the west.
The first two were too far away to
hope for assistance. The third was
coming up and must pass me close