Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1914-01-30

over they feared she would turn tur'
tie. They got up on the side, and
rove a lifeline between the fore and
main chain plates to hold on by. In
this position they were exposed to the
scourge of the wind and spray, and
now and then a heavier sea, making
a clean breach of hulk, would stamp
right yer them. But they held on.
and you may imagine that after day
light they searched the bowling seas
with eager eyes for sign Of a sail.
AS the morning wore on the buffet.
lngs OF the seas, the numbing cold,
began to tell on their strength, and
along about noon a towering comber
bursting over them swept one poor
fellow, Crowell Nickerson by name,
from the lifelines, and he was drown
ed before the eyes Of his mates, pow
erless to help him. His body became
entangled in some cordage, and hung
to leeward.
Naturally this tragedy affected the
spirits of the survivors. They watch,
ed the towering surges rushing down
upon them with a new fear in their
hearts. each man thinking that per,
laps the next big sea would sweep
him to his death. But soon they
learned the calmness and the courage
OF despair. Will kenney. as a re
QUEEN to the dead man to leeward, be.
gan to sing:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let MI to Thy bosom fly"
All the men joined in the good old
song.
And then. just as they finished the
last verse, Will Kenney cried: Look!
Look! A sail"
The schooner sank into a trough.
The men waited, their hearts in their
mouths, And when she rose again
all saw the sails Of a schooner swing
ing out of the mist hardly half a mile
to leeward.
Knew Nothing Of Rescue.
1t was the Matchless, and the men
on her had already sighted the wreck.
Tack by tack h beat up to windward
and then her big seine-boat was
manned. 1t dropped under the lee OF
the wreck, and the men were picked
off by being hauled through the sea
with a line about their waists.
The Matchless picked up her boat
without mishap. and then, because
it was blowing q gale of wind with a
heavy driving mist making it impossi-
BILE to see any distance, she was hove
to for the night.
Next morning, the weather having
moderated, she made sail and at three
o'clock in the afternoon stood into
| C1orL,c II,rhD~ 1;tI tLa Cto-o 80
Stripes flying at her masthead as a
sign to those On shore that she had
accomplished her mission.
Meantime Atwood and l, inside the
hulk, knew nothing of this rescue, and
nobody suspected that we were alive.
AS Thursday dragged along we be-
gan to feel the pangs Of hunger and
thirst, and u flesh began to feel be-
numbed, the result of our frequent
cold baths. But we dared not move
from our perches. In spite of 1t all l
would fall asleep and dream of the
disaster, or of home and loved ones
and then awaken with a start to a
keener fear n horror of our plight.
The time dragged along and, as the
thirst took a f1ercer grip on US, we
ceased to feel the pangs of hunger.
Our tongues swelled and burned; grip
ing pains took us by the throat; our
muscles ached as If pricked with hot
pins. Having swallowed SO much salt
water, l suffered more than Atwood,
and that afternoon l grew SO wild I
cut the ends Of my fingers and sucked
the blood. But that did me no good.
When Saturday morning. came we
were half stupefied with suffering.
Several times we talked If dropping
into the water and drowning ourselves.
And always the temptation to drink
the salt water was strong upon us.
But we kept our heads; we hoped
against hope. that we would be res
cued, and determined to hold out as
long as we could.
Tha afternoon the long swell began
to subside. The schooner grew quiet
er, and ceased to duck us, and the
fever Of our bodies dried our clothes.
The fact that the swell was going
down brought us face to face with a
new cause of fear-the fear thai soon
there would not be sufficient trough
to the sea to cause the main hatch
to blow, and give us fresh air.
But we did not worry greatly over
the prospect of being stif1ed for lack
of oxygen; we had about exhausted
orr capacity for fear; we were too
sick and miserable generally to be
much troubled by the appearance Of
a new peril.
After Saturday noo 1t was just suf-
fering and endurance. We seldom
talked; our parched. Threats and
swollen tongues made speech painful
and our voices sounded weird and I'M
natural. Nor did we think much. Most
of the time we lay as in a stupor. Now
and then we dreamed of beautiful ships
all around us, all coming to our res
cue, n would awake with a start to
wonder if we were going mad. We
lived as in a nightmare, lost count Of
time, felt as il we nae suffered
through eternity. We were growing
light-headed.
The Spook OF the DereIict.
On Sunday afternoon the schooner
Ohio Of Gloucester, Capt. Edward
O'Dor, was standing up for the Cape
Shore when she sighted something
black floating upon the waves. Some
Of her crew took it for a dead whale;
others said it was a wreck: and a
heated argument ensued.. To settle
1t, the captain hauled up to investi-
fairs We must still borrow money.