Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-03-31

not hopeless. remembered Wolf
Larsen's caution. He had expected
all hell to break loose, and here 1t
was And where was he? / caught
sight of him toiling at the main sheet.
heaving it in and fiat with his tremen-
dous muscles, the stern of the schoon-
er lifted high in the air and his body
outlined against a white surge of sea
sweeping past. All this, and mora
whole world Of chaos and wreck-in
possibly fifteen seconds had seen and
heard and grasped.
did not stop to see what had be-
come of the small boat. but sprang to
the jib-sheet. The jib itself was be-
ginning to slap, partially filing and
emptying with sharp reports; but
with a turn of the sheet and the ap-
plication of my whole strength each
time 1t slapped, slowly backed 1t.
This l know: did my best. ! pulled
till l burst open the ends OF all my
fingers: and while pulled. the flying
jib and staysail split their cloths apart
and Numbered into nothingness.
Still l pulled, holding what gained
each time with a double turn until the
next slap gave me more. Then the
sheet gave with greater ease, and
Wolf Larsen was beside me, heaving
in alone while was busted taking up
the slack
Make fast!" he shouted. And come
on"
AS l followed him I noted that in
spite of rack and ruin a rough order
obtained. The Ghost was hove to. She
was still in working order. and she
was still working. Though the rest Of
her sails were gone, the lib. backed
to windward, and the mainsail hauled
down fiat, were themselves holding,
and holding her bow to the furious SEQ
as well.
looked for the boat, and. while
Wolf Larsen cleared the boat tackles,
saw it lift to leeward on a big sea
and not a score of feet away. And.
so nicely had he made his calculation.
we drifted fairly down upon it. so that
nothing remained to do but hook the
tackles to either end and hoist 1t
aboard. l noticed blood spouting from
Kerfoot's left hand. In some way the
third finger had been crushed to a
pulp. But he gave no sign Of pain.
and with his single right hand helped
us lash the boat in its place.
Then we raced, and wildly. across
the wild sea, the while hung like q
| fly in the crosstrees and searched for
the other boats. In half an hour
sighted the second one. swamped and
bottom up, to which we're desperately
clinging Jock Horner, fat Louis and
Johnson. This time remained aloft.
and Wolf Larsen succeeded IN heav-
ing to without being swept. AS before,
we drifted down upon It, Tackles
were made fast and lines flung to the
men, who scrambled aboard like mon
keys.
AS before, the Ghost swung out of
the trough. lifting her deck again out
| of the sea-. and dashed before the
bowling blast. 1t was now half-past
five, and half an hour later, when the
last of the day lost itself in dim and
furious twilight, sighted third boat.
1t was bottom up. and there was no
sign of it's crew. Wolf Larsen re-
peated his maneuver, holding on and
then rounding up to windward and
drifting down upon it. But this time
he missed by forty feet. the boat pass
ing astern.
Number four boat" -Oofty
cried, his keen eyes reading its num-
Der in the one second when it lifted
clear of the foam and upside down.
It was Henderson's boat. and with
him had been lost Holyoak and VIII
lians. another of the deep-water
crowd. Lost they Individually were;
but the boat remained, and Wolf Lar
sen made one more reckless effort to
recover it.
And when he put the wheel hard
over and the Ghosts bow swung on.
I was once more buried beneath the
pounding seas and clinging for life
to the pinrail at the foot of the fore
mast. When the Ghost finally emerged
Kelly, who had come forward at the
last moment, was missing.
This time, having missed the boat
and not being in the same position as
in the previous instances, Wolf Lar.
sen was compelled to resort to a diff
ferent maneuver. Running on before
the wind with everything to starboard.
he came about and returned close
hauled on the port tack. Though we
were continually half-buried. there
was no trough in which to be swept,
and we drifted squarely down upon
the upturned boat, badly smashing II
as 1t was heaved inboard.
CTO BE CONTINUED)