Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-02-03

l
unusual noises. and reused myself
from my lethargy to listen. In a few
minutes heard sound like the Chang
OIL iron on iron; man cutting at the
ianyards of the forerigging with an az
mad hit the iron strap of the deadeye.
There is somebody outside I
said, shaking Sam.
But he showed no interest
It's only something washing about
the hold" he answered.
Let's shout. anyway" / said. and
yelled as hard as could:
Help Helpl Helpi'
over my head there was an answer
ing yell of startled fright. then foot
STEPS pounding aft and voice cry
iSy:
She's haunted. Get into the boat,
/ for - sake,"
And that clap so frightened the
Others that they piled into the boat
and started to pull away. Bus, after
recovering from their fright and as
constituent, they grew ashamed of
themselves and came back.
Meantime / had got hold of stick
and was rapping against the side.
Soon | heard raps on the outside. I
gave three raps and there were three
raps in answer. We kept that mp for
a few minutes. Then we heard man
walking forward on the outside, and
| soon voice called:
In the name of God. are you ghosts,
living men or the devil?"
We shouted that we were living
men, and asked them to get US out,
or we would not be living men very
! long. The voice asked no questions
/ for few minutes as if incredulous,
| and then some of them got 20 work
with axes over our heads, while the
boat went back to the Ohio for more
men and axes.
They worked like Trojans, and cut
| right through a frame bolt to make
! hole to get at us. When they broke
through, the eruption of imprisoned
| air acted like a whirlwind, and the
water leaped through the hole in a
solid stream fifty feet into the air.
| Small sticks which had been floating
| In the forecastle whizzed by our
| heads. One man was knocked over as
| If by an explosion. They told Us af-
terward that the released air gave off
sickening stencil.
| The schooner settled two or three
feet, lurching as If she would turn tur-
tie completely, and the men chopped
away with redoubled energy. They
| soon had hole about nine inches by
/ eleven inches
Rescue at Last.
Atwood, being slim, was pulled
| through without trouble, but when l
| got my head and one shoulder
| through, l stuck. Four men got hold
of me and pulled, and at last when
] thought I would be pulled apart
came through, minus my vest and sew
/ eral strips of skin.
| The schooner which four days be-
| fore had been taut and trim was now
almost bottom-up, lying with her keel
six feet above the water and her
weather rail nearly wash. Her
| mainnlast was broken off and, far be-
low the surface, I could see faint
shadow of canvas. We thought then
| we were the only survivors.
| Was it any wonder ! thanked God
| for my deliverance?
Capt O,Dor said. Come, my boy,
let me help you to the boat" and took
me by the arm. thought | could
| walk, took a step and went tumbling.
| If it hadn't been for the captain /
would have slid into the sea.
Aboard the Ohio they had made
ready for us. The cabin table was
loaded with everything to eat. But
we weren't interested in food; We
wanted water by the bucketful. They
gave us a teaspoonful and that only
put an agonizing edge on our thirst.
We pleaded wildly for more.
But they had realized our condition,
and kept us waiting fer about fifteen
| minutes, and then only gave us an
other spoonful. After what seemed
ages of raging agony they began to
give us spoonful every five minutes.
Needless to say, when was carried
home my parents were beside them
selves with Joy. AS they expressed it,
! was as one risen from the dead. The
news of our rescue spread ZIP and
down the shore, and was generally re-
ceived with unbelief Many people
would not believe we had managed
to live so long in the capsized vessel,
and hundreds came long distances to
see us.
After | reached home I developed a
high fever and my feet began to pain
me- | had no desire for food; in fact
! scarcely touched food for two days.
But l was still raging with thirst.
wanted water all the time-milk or tea
was no good was allowed a glass ri
water every half hour. but it vas four
days from the time we were rescued
before / got over that awful thirst.
But my sufferings were not over
then. My feet panied me terribly, and
couldn't sleep without narcotic, and
then only for a short time. DR. Clark
who attended me said ten drops OF the
narcotic would kill the devil, but
was SO crazy with pain and lack Of
sleep that ] used to cry for big dose
every few hours.
And one afternoon, when mother
was out and the spasms of pain were
wracking me, crawled on my hands
and knees. got up on chair, took the
bottle of narcotic from the shelf and
drank half the contents. Then navi-
gated my way back to the lounge
crawled halfway up on it and went
to sleep That was the deepest. the
best, most blessed sleep / ever had.
The doctor and everybody thought
had gone to sleep for good and ALL but
I came round in twenty-six hours. feel
ing fresh and fine. But 1 continued
to suffer great pain in my feet for two
weeks, and it was a month before
could walk
tCopyright. by Ridgway Col