The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-12-23


come prepared to convert a universe"
"If the better the day the better the
deed, why may it not as well be that
the greater the emblem the greater
the goOd?'
Whereupon they made sail and dis
appeared adown the western horizon.
And from that day nearly 400 years
ago until but few months ago no eye
of man saw sign or trace of them.
Up the Gulf of Mexico the oil barge
| Crescent came wallowing like pig in
the trough of burly, rough and tumble
seas that ran over her like the slath-
ering tongues of monstrOus brutes
! gone mad. Deep down in her the old
| engines clanked and whecZed, while
| McArdle, the engineer, scratched his
! head obviously as he watched their |
! spasmodic laborings. "And while by |
the grace OF the Lord they may last |
| the trip out, sometimes misdoubt it," |
he muttered. "FOr at any minute are !
they liable to fly to flinders like the
wond'rus old one-horse shay"
And fly to pieces they did. With
| the report of n gun a connecting pin
snapped asunder, and the next instant
its rod had damned, while with the roar
of a cannon a cylinder head went
crashing through bulkhead. In an
instant the engine room was deluged
with live vapor but with one thrust
of his arm the engineer shut off the
steam and half fainting from his scalds
went working his way forward be-
tween seas to the bridge where Cap
tain Travers was cHnging in Il smother
Of spume. "And its gone to glory they
have, sir" he reported, with Il deaths
head grin. Gray of face, Travers point
ed to the bar of Madre de In Laguna
with its spouting foam a few miles
under their lee.
: "Then so have we along with them.
Our anchor will never hold on this
bottom, and Wen all eat Christmas
dinner tomorrow in Davy Jones lock-
err Reverendy McArdle drew a small
cross from his pocket. kissed it and
} replaced it while the captain looked on
| silently.
at win take a bigger cross than
that to save US" he announced
grimly. The engineer straighted his
pain-twisted face.
"That may be, sir. Yet big and
small, that same token has saved
many a man and it's my belief it will
save many another. Leastwise, tits
! our only hope" Down to his own
cabin ho coorcb of
oil and bandages.
All night long the Crescent. plung-
ing backward against her restraining
cable as a wild horse bucks against its
tether, dragged the anchor closer and
closer to the seething bar where she
y must break her back, casting them all
( into seething pot, where neither man
. nor boat could survive a minute. Al
dawn of Christmas morning, with de
struction but an hour away, Captain
Travers summoned his men before
If him. He pointed an ominous finger a
n the roaring bar now but q cables
IF length away
re my friends" said he. "In an hou1
n from now it will all be over. Thi
err will be our last Christmas day W.
d. have but little time in which to sa.
a our last words. Therefore, what shall
d. they be-" From somewhere anon
to the despairing dozen the hoarse voic
m. Of the engineer arose in croaking al
nd tempt at song.
he ITO the cross I cling" One b
ut one they Joined their voices in
am ragged accompaniment of chorus tina
ed was torn from their lips by the hurr
cane to be lost in the veil of the sur
NV upon the bar. And as their last word
nr ceased there came mighty tug upO
the cable as if some giant of til
mo depths inconceivably vast had seize
10 the anchor and was holding the shi
1d fast against the drift. And as the
,,;s saw that it dragged no more the
- looked at each other, first in amaz
No ment, then with the joy of me
oro snatched from the very jaws of deaf
tho by a miracle. ..
,au 1.-THE anchor has found its grip az
Two is holding" they told each other. b
no that such good fortune could long co
~" tinue each had but little faith.
Yet "a hours later when the s.
: n had Gained they still found themselv
,uls riding in safety. Then they gave t
hat steam winch full power and gradual
the anchor came to the surface, st
IN holding in its grip the object viii
it had found and fastened itself to
-. desperately. And as the crew burnt
g with curiosity bent over the rail
~, gaze upon the mysterious thing viii
had preserved them, and which fC
B, by foot was being dragged from
'O"A bed of sand, they saw rising throu
the waters in the anchors grip a gre
anne object blackened and incrusted by t
para waters of the sea, a mOnstrous ir
e OIL cross such as it might take 40 stro
lucI men to carry.
heI Copyright, 1916 Western Newspaper Unto