Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-01-03

body-flth everywhere. Some of the
crazy men howled like dogs. But we
were not as much afraid of these as
we were of the others who kept still.
but slipped around in the dark with
Jumps of coal in their hands. We
got so we would not go near each
other for fear we were running into
crazy man. Those of us who were
sane collected as near the f1ddley as
we could, and we would not let the
others get near us, but showed them
back or SHE'D Jumps Of coal at them.
And every once in while some one
Of us would begin to act queer. May
be he would let out howl suddenly.
without any warning. Or he would
just quit talking and begin to sneak
around. Or he would squat down and
begin to humble We could not tell
just when a man had begun to lose
his mind. He would seem just like
the rest of us, because none of us was
much better than beast.
We could not take turns sleeping
and standing watch against the crazy
men, because when we talked about
it, we agreed that none of us could
tell whether or not the sentries would
go crazy while on watch and have the
rest of us at their mercy. 1t was aw-
full to talk about going crazy in this
way, and to figure that you yourself
might be the next, and that it was al
most sure to happen if you did not
get some sleep soon. But it was worse
to find man near you going, and have
to boot him out with the other insane
men.
The days passed like that, with
nothing to do but suffer, and starve
and freeze. 1t got colder and colder,
and all we could wrap ourselves in
was the coal. We began to speculate
on where we were. 1t was not till
later than an old skipper in our bunch
told us that we had rounded the north
ern coast of Iceland.
Finally, one day, a lad yelled down
'Land - and we all dove for the fid-
dley like wild men, and those who
could get near enough looked out, and
sure enough! there was the coast of
Norway, very rugged and rocky and
covered with snow. We thought it
was all over then, and that we would
be landed at Bergen sure. Then there
was the usual running around and
yelling on deck, and we were not so
sure. we would be. landed, and very
suddenly it got colder than ever.
was in the fiddley, aching to get
out, and ready for anything that
might happen, when the door opened
suddenly and Badewitz grabbed me,
and asked me in English if / was a
quartermaster. said yes, and he
pulled me by the arm to a cabin.
did not know what was going to hap
pen, but he took an oilskin from the
wall and told rue to put it on.
There were two sailors there also,
and they put life belts on, and then
/ was more puzzled than ever, and
scared too, because ! thought maybe
they were going to throw me over
board, though what that had to do,
with being a Quartermaster could
not see.
But they drilled me up onto the
bridge and told me to take the wheel.
What their idea was do not know.
Possibly they wanted a noncombatant
at the wheel in case they were over
hauled by neutral vessel. We were
going full speed at the tine, but as
soon as took the wheel she cut down
to half speed, and stayed that way for
half an hour. Then up to full speed
again.
Pretty soon there was tramp
steamer on the starboard bow, and al
most before saw it, there were two