Crossville chronicle. [volume] (Crossville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-12-05
CHAPTER Vill-Continued.

'Th>> lady was sent into the cabin,
sir, and given stateroom where she
could fix herself up Bit" he answered
soberly. 1.-THE other Teller had heap
of lot to say, an seemed to have
some sorter grudge against you. ]
hadn't any time to listen to his yarn,
$50 I naturally turned him over to the
Fbosum. ter have tibet eye dressed. He
must have got peach O. swipe, SIR"
II had to hit him-yes: but we can
talk of that later. Where is he now?''
"1n the galley, sir, where they're
heating some water. After they get
him fixed up, is he to go aft, or for
rardr
aft, If you have room to spare; he
is no Saikorman, but millionaire from
New York; he has money to burn"
The fellow looked at me with his
mouth wide open, his glistening eyes
almost Iaughable.
"The devil you say, sir he don't look
the part to my notion. You was all
part of yacht party?"
"Yes, the Esmeralda, a steam yacht,
owned by Gerald Darlington of New
York. We were run down about a
hundred miles east of Montauk by a
big liner, which must have been out Of
her course. She cut us square in two,
but, excepting us three, all living on
board got away in the boats. BY acct
dent we were left, and escaped later In
the dinghy"
"What became of the liner?"
"She picked up the boats, and, think
ing they had all the survivors, went
on. She was mail boat, likely. The
yacht went down five minutes after
we left her; we've been afioat ever
since. Now, Mr.. Masters, that's our
story in brief. What's the trouble
here"
"I'll tell yer enough to make it clear,
SIR" he said slowly, although there is
others on board who can explain more
in detail. You're a seaman-Or was
Once-so you'll see easily the sorter
AZ we're in. I'm the only officer left
on the hooker, an l couldn't navigate
q ship if you'd give it to me. I'm only
the chief engineer, an my assistant Is
In the fo'castle with broken leg. You
see tibet rifle for-rard sir? Well, 1t
wus lightning did that. Two bolts, so
the crew says, fer Il wus down below,
an never knew whit happened till the
electrics all went out. Then shut off
steam, and clumb out on deck. Lord,
but 1t wus a black night, raining cats
and dogs, but no wind to speak of. 1t
wus the rain what saved us, for fire
started yOnder-yer can see where 1t
burned-but 1t died out of itself. When
morning come we saw what we was up
against; it looked lot sight worse
then than it does; NOW. Them bolts of
lightning he'd knocked the. foremost
into smithereens, killed the wheels
man, and put the steering gear plumb
out o. commission. Then the top
mast an spars just naturally wrecked
the bridge, and charthouse, an the
whole mass caught fire. The second
officer was in the wheelhouse, sir, an
never knew what hit him, an both the
captain an the first officer wus a
standin' tergether on the bridge. The
top mast crushed the life out Of 'em.
There wus six sailormen hurt the same
way, an four of 'em died. 1t wus the
darndest mess I ever saw at sea, sir"
bad enough, surely; when did this
happenY
might afore last; we've cleaned up
q bit since, but the crew won't work
much under me- an we're short
handed. l rugged up this wheel aft, SO
as to keep an engine going, and hung
on, waiting for something to turn up.
There wasn't nothing else l could do"
mo, l presume not" and my eyes
rested thoughtfully on the scene for
ward. "How is the hull-sOund? You
seem sunk deeply"
That's cargo, sir; full to the