Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-01-18
CHAPTER |.

,.soarceIy know where to begin,
,..,gb T sometimes facetiously place
~ cause Of it all to Charley Furu-
sotb.e credit. He kept summer cot
,ooe in Mill Valley, under the shadow
- Mount Tamalpais, and never occu-
- # exceDt when he loafed through
70 -rfn+ar months and read Nietzsche
- c,hODenhauer to rest his brain.
Tod # not been my custom to run up
- see him every Saturday afternoon
nd IN stop over till Monday morning,
,sts rarticular January Monday morn
iry would not have found me aaoat
m san Francisco bay.
Not but that l was af1oat in safe
crsf- for the Martinez was a new ferry
.taarar. making her fourth or fifth
,-in m the run between Sausalito and
c,r francisco. The danger lay in the
beqvy fog which blanketed the bay,
and If which, as landsman. had
little ag1rehension. took up my posi-
zion O.. the forward upper deck, direct
~ beneath the pilot house, and al
loved tie mystery of the fog to lay
bo1a of nv imagination. A fresh breeze
uas blowing. and for a time / was
alone in the moist obscurity-yet not
alone for / was dimly conscious OF
the presence of the pilot, and of what
took 10 be the captain, in the glass
house above my head.
E,o+ chn11Id hn
cfa'fsts. I unused. The peculiar knowl-
o5qa of the pilot and captain sufficed
for many thousands of people who
knew no more of the sea and naviga-
tiOn than I knew. On the other hand,
instead Of having to devote my en-
ergv to the learning of a multitude of
things. / concentrated It. upon a few
particular things, such as, for instance,
the analysis Of Poe's place in Ameri-
can Hterature-an essay Of mine, by
the way. in the current Atlantic.
From out the fog came the mourn
ful toiiing of a bell. and l could sea
the pilot turning the wheel with great
rapidity. The bell. which had seemed
straight ahead, was now sounding
from the side Our own whistle was
blowing hoarsely, and from time to
time the sound of other whistles came
to US from out of the fog. An unseen
ferrvboat was blowing blast after
blast. and a mouth-blown horn was
footing in terror-stricken fashion.
A shrill whistle, piping as if gone
mad, came from directly ahead and
from very near at hand. Gongs sound
ed on the Martinez Our paddlewheels
stopped, their pulsing beat died away
and then they started again. The
shrill whistle, like the chirping of a
cricket amid the cries of great beasts,
shot through the fog from more to
the side and swiftly grew faint and
fainter.
glanced up The captain had
thrust his head and shoulders out of
the pilot house, and was staring in
tently into the fog as though by sheer
force of will he could penetrate it. His
face was anxious.
Then everything happened, and with
inconceivable rapidity. The fog
seemed to break away as though split
by a wedge. and the bow of a steam
boat emerged, trailing fog-wreaths on
either side like seaweed on the snout
of Leyiathan. 1 could see the pilot
house and a white-bearded man lean
ing partly out of it, on his elbows. He
was clad in a blue uniform, and l re-
member noting how trim and quiet he
was. His quietness, under the circum-
stances, was terrible. He accepted
destiny, marched hand in hand with it,
and cOOlly measured the stroke. AS
he leaned there, he ran a calm and
speculative eye over us, as though to
determine the precise point of the col
lision, and took no notice whatever
when our pilot, white with rage, shout
ed, Now you've done it,"
We must have been struck squarely
amidships, for / saw nothing, the
strange steamboat having passed be-
yond my line of vision. The Martinez
heeIed over, sharply, and there was a
crashing and rending of timber. l was
thrown fiat on the wet deck, and be-
fore l could scramble to my feet
heard the screams of women. This
it was l am certain-the most indie
sCribable of blOod-curdling sounds
that threw me into a panic. | remem-
h2red the life preservers stored in the
cabin but was met at the door and
swept back by wild rush of men and
women What happened in the next
few minutes do not recollect. though
I have n clear remembrance of pull
ing down life preservers from the over
head racks, while a red-faced man
fastened them about the bodies of
historical group of women.
Il was the screaming of the women
that most tried my nerves. 1t must
have tried. too, the nerves of the red
faced man. for | have a picture which
VIII never fade from my mind. stout
gentleman is stuffing a magazine into
his overcoat pocket and looking on GU
TogS.y a tangled mass of women
with drawn. white faces and open
mouths. is shrieking like chorus OF
dos, souls, and the red-faced man. his
face row purplish with wrath, and
with his arms extended overhead as
IN the act Of hurting thunderbolts' is
shouting. Shut upi oh, shut up!'
These women. capable of the moss
sublime emotions. of the tenderesl
syupathies. were open-mouthed and