Evening star., 1924-04-27
BY GRANT OyERTON.

N
~ Horn are westerly, the east
n ward passage, which we were
about to make, is considered
much the easier; but it was Just ou1
luck to run into head winds off the
bleak farthermost south of South
America We were forced, owing tc
a squarerigger's clumSineSs in sail.
Ing on the wind. to go much fur.
ther south than we needed to go te
clear the land.
We never had glimpse of the
famous and dreaded Cape itself. that
mass of black, bare rocks of evi
omen for sailors. But one day when
] was up on the poop to strike the
time Capt. Roberts said to me:
"overton. in your lookouts at night
keep sharp watch for ice
/ asked him what ice would look
like al night-an iceberg, that is. for
icebergs were what he meant He re-
piled that probably nearness to a
berg would reveal itself by the sud
den coldness of the air; if seen. the
berg was likely to have a blue green
sheen
Are we so far south?" I ventured
Looks as if we were headed for
the south pole" was his reply, in
rather a bitter tone.
All that night and for many nights
after that l strained my eyes through
the darkness into which we were
dashing. The fo'c's'le head, off Cape
Horn, was a dangerous place. Such
waves as come on deck off Cape Horn
are easily capable of picking up a
man like a cork and dashing him
against an iron bftt of the wall of a
deckhouse. breaking his spine. !
thought the six hours duty night
every night-would kill me- After
two weeks my watch protested aft
They did not like me. but some
feelings of humane consideration
prompted them to rebel against my
being forced to stand there on the
bow three times as long as the older,
more experienced men. My night
watch was shortened to four hours
after that. 1t was still double the
able seaman's duty. But / stood it
better
Old Brown was exceedingly bitter
because / was standing the lookout
so much and thus getting out Of hav-
ing to go aloft in the bad weather
off the cape. He denounced me al
most daily. The cold weather af-
fected all our appetites. We could
not get enough sugar. and the rancid
fat OF our salt horse, unbearable to
the palate in the warm Iatitudes, was
eaten with relish now. l felt starved
all the time. One day Brown found
finger marks in his somewhat damp
supply of sugar, where some one had
helped himself to a handful of this
sweet stuff which produces SO much
body warmth He was sure L was
the trespasser.
Bloody THEIR he called me, and
other things that I perfectly recall
but certainly cannot write down. He
renewed his threats against me. Wet
to the skin, as 1 had been. day and
night, for weeks; cold; ravenously
hungry, and worn and discouraged,
attempted to ignore his anger
: A T last we were able to head north
- but the sea was running very
that night had constantly to watch
myself to avoid being swept over
board. So intent was 1 on this that
I did not see any one approaching.
AS for hearing him, nothing could be
heard easily above the incessant
racket of the ocean.
without warning received a heavy
blow on the back of my head. 1t
was delivered with something of the
force Of a pile driver, but probably
not with the full force that was put
into it, for the wave-washed deck of
the fo'c's1e head was extremely slip
perry. Nevertheless my head jerket
forward and felt as if it had beer
dislocated from my neck. at the
same instant hands closed about my
throat
I had hold of the bit of iron railing
that fenced the fo'cs'1e head; on snch
a night ono scarcely dared let go such
a protective hold. But when L found
myself being choked to death both
my hands few up and clutched the
DIX udITy IlfSuuS l1l<il ~tTo
me. In our struggle we slipped and
plunged to the deck AS I fell ]
managed to hook one foot on the
fence. We lay there struggling and
thrashing about The deck heayed
with rapid lurches- Why we did not
both go instantly overheard is almost
unexplainable A roll of the ship in
the right direction would have done
1t in a twinkling.
1 couldn't loosen his hands. He was
cutting or my wind quite successfully
and knew should not have strength
TO fight him of very long. Ny OWL
hands were practically. useless ]
might beat with them as hard as /
pleased, it would make little differ
epce to Brown In my ears, in which
an sounds were rapidly becoming
dim and far-away, poured a stream oi
shouted curses, the perfect expression
OF that mans savage hatred
suppose I thought but really
Aaast know whether ( thought 81
=. acted by animal instinct At any rata
my only chance was a desperate