Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-02-01

| incomplete, a lightning Hash of home
with the little children and their
| mother weeping there, a sickening
shame at death so futile and SO mis-
cradle as this, an instant of vertigo
a weakening of the knees, as though
1 hung over an immense and sheer
abyss.
Then swiftly, at the very breaking
point of all control, profounder shame
| swept that whole agony aside and left
the mind unburdened of all memory
So that with humor I could listen to
the mates wild. strong young voice
sing Smile a While" to the swashin 9
rhythm of his bailing, and 1 could
note the little Quaver in II, and, un-
to think that even he got just a little
touched by fear.
y = y
WE stood in the cabin almost to our
w waists in water and bailed in
turns. The place was devastated
With the rolling of the boat the water
swashed about and swept our treas
ures from the shelves. Shoes, socks,
linen, paper, bread. cocoa, curry pow
der, nuts and cigarettes covered the
tide and swirled about the vortex OF
the pail. My bunk was flooded SO
that the blankets hoated out.
1 took the log book of the Kath-
leen. sat down on the edge of the
bunk, and on the clean first page
wrote this. "our epitaph." 1 thought.
I First day out. three hours from
sailing. Boat half full OF water,
hove-to. Bailing in turns. ~Dfngey
equipped to cross to Porvenir. Strong
west wind blowing. Mate singing
great fellow. No chance to save any
thing. Dingey is too small"
Then, tying up a few treasures in q
waterproof package, 1 was ready.
That the Kathleen would sink was
inevitable. For an hour we had
fought against the water. We had
done our best and were incapable OF
greater effort, and we had never for a
moment checked the waters rise
The end was not a matter of guess
but OF exact calculation. I knew that
| in 10 minutes more the ship would
sink. Intelligence excluded hope.
My mate was gifted with many no.
Bile and endearing qualities He was
courageous, goodnatured and dog
gedly perseverant. But of intelli-
gence-the power to reason. to deduce
effect from cause-he had absolutely
| none. He was too dull to know that
we were doomed!
So we bailed and sang. Five min
tutes went, and ten. We passed the
I limit of the time that reason had al
lowed the boat to live, yet still she
f1oated, rolling sluggishly. And as
the seas piled over her there seemed
each time no chance that she'd emerge
again. Time brought new energy
We fought the water stubbornly.
Not daring to hope, we bailed-for
1t was all that there was left in life
to do.
SLOWLY 1t dawned upon us as we
~ worked that we had stopped the
waters rise. When at last we knew
beyond all doubt that we could hold
our own 1t was strangely without
emotion that we received our lives
again.
In was by now perhaps 2 o'clock in
| the afternoon. The water in the cabin
was still up to our knees, and 1t re-
quired continuous bailing to hold 1t
Ruined supplies of every kind foated
about, and our fair ship, four hours
ago so trim and beautiful, was now
the picture Of desolation.
The wind and sea abated as the
| day wore on. We took so little water
| now that by our bailing every minute
| showed it lower, and presently, with
| not a foot's depth left, we hoisted q
reefed mainsail, came about, and
started on long tack for the wind
| ward shore, some miles away.
The afternoon increased in beauty
and in peacefulness, and as the GER
| tainty of our security became estab-
| lished profound contentment arose like
the morning sun within us. Life is
so infinitely sweet and rich that moth
| ing matters-only that we live.
Evening comes on, the shadows OF
| the land creep out across the sea and
cover u.s.. It's cold. On the last
breath of the dying wind we reach
our anchorage.
How still 1t Is. Darkness has al
| most hidden the abandoned whaling
village on the shore.
| We go below. There's a damp fire
burning and it's family warm. We
| are dead tired. Wrapping ourselves
in soaking blankets, we lie down IN
| wet beds to sleep.
| That first, long. miserable night
| the hours seemed years. An east
wind raised a swell that bore in from
| the open strait and rocked our little
vessel at her anchorage. Shiverine
and tossing in our soaking beds
sleeping a little while from sheer ex-
haustion to wake as cold as ice
churning our legs for warmth, beat
| ing our arms. dawn came at last, and
| in it's smile all memory of our misery
vanished. We drew the anchor. The
gentle west wind filled the sail. She
| heeled. The water rippled past heI
side. Southwark again we bore away
The wilderness is kindled into life
| by mans beholding Of it. He Is its
consciousness, his coming Is it's dawn
So, like a sun, we climbed the hilltop
of the sea and with the thrill of won
der saw new lands unfold themselves
The long shore of Dawson Island was
before us, a treeless waste of sand
cliffs. Off Cape Valentine Is a long
| reef with outlying shoals and fields
| Of kelp. We gave these dangers a