The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1915-03-15


assembled. sailors as well, and
while coffee was being cooked
over the small stove we drank
whisky and crunched bareback.
Never In my life had food been
so welcome. And never had hot
coffee tasted so good. SO violent
ly did the Ghost pitch and toss
and tumble that Il was impossible
for even the sailors to move about
without holding on. and several
times. after q cry OF Now she
takes IT." We were heaped upon
the wall of the port cabins an
though II had been the deck.
ITO hell with a lookout" I
heard Wolf Larsen say when we
had eaten and drunk our fiji.
There's nothing can be done on
deck. IL anything's going to run
us down we couldn't get out OF
its way. Turn In, all hands. and
get some Sleep"
The sailors slipped forward,
setting the side-lights MS they
went. while the two hunters re-
NAMED to steep In the cabin. II
not being deemed advisable to
open the slide to the steerage
companionway. Wolf Larsen and
/, between us, cut off Kerfoot's
crushed finger and sewed up the
stump. Mugridge. who, during
all the time he had been COM
PEELED to cook and serve coffee
and keep the fire going. had COM
planned OF internal pains, now
swore that he had broken rib
or two. On examination we found
that he had three. But his case
was deferred to next day, princi-
pally for the reason that / did not
know anything about broken ribs
and would first have to read 1t
up.
II don't think II was worth Il"
! said to Wolf Larsen, IA broken
boat for Kelly's life."
But Kelly didn't amount to
much" was the reply. Good
night"
After all that had passed, suf-
fering intolerable anguish in my
finger tips, and with three boats
missing, to say nothing OF the
wild capers the Ghost was cut
ting. ] should have thought 1t i'm
possible to sleep. But my eyes
must have closed the instant my
head touched the pillow, and in
utter exhaustion slept through
out the night, the while the
Ghost, lonely and undirected,
fought her way through the
storm.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The next day, while the storm
was. blowing itself out, Wolf Lar
sen and l crammed anatomy and
surgery ad set Mugridge's ribs.
Then, when the storm broke,
Wolf Larsen cruised back and
forth over that portion OF the
ocean where we had encountered
1t, and somewhat more to the
westward, while the boats were
being repaired and new sails
made and bent. Sealing schooner
after sealing schooner we sighted
and boarded, most of which were
In search of lost boats
and most of which were
carrying boats and crews they
had picked up and which did not
belong to them. For the thick OF |
the fleet had been to the west
ward of us, and the boats, scat
tered far and wide, had headed In |
mad flight for the nearest refuge. |
Two of our boats, with men all |
safe, we took off the Cisco, and,
to Wolf Larsen's huge delight and
my own grief, he culled Smoke,
with Nilsson and Leach, from the
San Diego. SO that, at the end of |
five days, we found ourselves
short but four men, Henderson,
Holyoak, Williams, and Kelly
and were once more hunting on
the flanks Of the herd.
AS We followed 1t north we be-
gan to encounter the dreaded sea-
fogs. Day after day the boats /
lowered and were swallowed up
ere they touched the wa
ter, while we on board pumped |
the horn at regular intervals and
every fifteen minutes fired the
bomb gun. Boats were continu-
ally being lost and found, 1t being
the custom for boat to hunt, on
lay, with whatever schooner pick
ed 1t up, until such time It was
recovered by its own schooner.
But Wolf Larsen, as was to be ex-
pected, being a boat short, took
possession of the first stray one
and compelled it's men to hunt
with the host, not permitting
them to return to their own
schooner when We sighted 1t. II
remember how he forced the
hunter and his two men below, a
rifle at their breasts, when their
captain passed by at biscuit-toss
and hailed us for information.
(N.-tt....~l