The Winslow mail., 1914-10-03

Siye to each impact and mountainous
masses of red lit steam and flying
fragments Chamber up toward the ze
NTH Against the glare saw the
countryside for miles standing black
and clear. churches trees, chimneys
And suddenly | understood. The cen,
tral Europeans had burst the dikes
Those flares meant the bursting of the
dikes and in a little while the sea
water would be upon u.s."
He goes on to tell with a certain
prolixity of the steps he took-and, all
things considered, they were very in.
telligent steps-to meet this amazing
crisis. He got his men aboard and
hailed the adjacent barges; he got the
man who acted as barge engineer at
his post and the engines working; he
cast loose from his mOOringS. Then
he bethought himself of food and con
trived to land five men, get in a few
dozen cheeses and ship his men again
before the inundation reached them.
He is reasonably proud of this piece
of coolness. His idea was to take the
wave head-on and with his engines
full speed ahead. And all the while
he was thanking heaven he was not in
the jam of traffic in the main canal
He rather, | think, overestimated the
probable rush of waters; he dreaded
being swept away, be explains, and
smashed against houses and trees.
He does not give any estimate Of
the time it took between the bursting
of the dixie and the arrival of the wa
ters, but it was probably an interval
of about twenty minutes or half an
hour. He was working now in dark
ness-save for the light of his lantern
and in a great wind. He hung out
head and stern lights
Whrling torrents of steam were pour
ing up from the advancing waters,
which had rushed, 1t must be remem-
bered, through nearly incandescent gaps
in the sea defenses. and this vast up
rush of vapor soon yelled the fiaring
centers of explosion altogether.
1.-The waters came at last, an ad-
vancing cascade. 1t was like broad
roller sweeping across the country.
They came with deep roaring sound
| had expected a Niagara, but the total
fall of the front could not have been
much more than twelve feet. Our
barge hesitated for a moment, took
dose over her bows and then lifted. |
signaled for full speed ahead and
on like grim death to keep her there.
'There was wind about as strong
as the food and found we were
pounding against every conceivable
buoyaDt object that had been between
us and the sea. The only light in the
world now came from our lamps, the
steam became impenetrable at score
Of yards from the boat, and the roar
of the wind and water cut us off from
all remoter sounds. The black shining
waters swirled by, coming into the
light of our lamps out of an ebony
blackness and vanishing again into i'm.
penetrable black And OH the waters
came shapes. came things that flashed
upon Us for a moment now half sub
merged boat, now cow, now huge
fragment of a houses timberings, now
a muddle of packing cases and scat
folding. The things clapped into sight
like something shown by the opening
of shutter and then bumped shatter
ingly against us or rushed by us Once
| saw very clearly a mans white face.
All the while a group of aboring, half
submerged trees remained ahead of Us,
drawing very slowly nearer. steered
a course to avoid them. They seemed
to gesticulate frantic despair against
the black steam clouds behind. Once
great branch detached itself and tore
shuddering by me. We did on the
whole make headway. The last saw
of Vreugde bij vrede before the night
swallowed it was almost dead astern
of us
Morning fonnd Barnet still afoat
The bows of his barge had been bad
IL strained, and his men were pumping
or baling in relays. He got about a