Evening star., 1925-02-15

~SCdpSu lHey SlTuCh q
reef and were left pounding and
grinding appallingiy in the seas.
Eventually they worked free.
BY ROCKWELL KENT.
DOR days we lay wind-raked at ou,
i anchorage. The ocean tide anc
river current swirled about US. Ever
in that laudlocked place the swell beai
in and rocked us heavily. We couldn',
sail. And the discomfort of our cabir
was only preferable TO the raw, tenn
pestuous out-of- doors.
Mate" I said one dreary night as
We turned in, tomorrow we sail nc
matter what happens" And we did
The morning was overcast and there
was light uncertain breeze from the
west. The barometer was normal. al
2a.07. But these placid indications
counted for nothing, in my Judgment
against the prevailing changefulness
OF the weather.
Wed better reef" / ventured
Not a bit of it," cried my mao
mate. Reef when we have to-"
And SO, unreefed. we sailed, for
from the beginning it had been oul
rule that the more incautious should
prevail.
We were an hour beating out ot
breeze died out and 1t grew ominously
dark. Then the breeze freshened
blackcning the water as 1t came. II
takes no time to make a sea; white
caps were flying and the spray broke
over us. The barometer had dropped
to $3.50.
The northern coast of Admiralty
Sound is an immense sheer mountain
wall OF rock. Between its lowered
nA b,,4f ha ~,
hang suspended, and the water of their
melting SHOWS pours in cascades and
rivulets down a thousand feet to the
sea. You are nothing in little boat
beneath those terrifying heights.
AS the wind increased we worked
for the shelter of Three Hummock
Island that lay some miles further te
windward. When we had come abou,
on our last tack / relinquished the
tiller and went below to prepare sup
per.
Then something happened. AS il
the whole accumulated forces of the
wind had struck us, Gathering anG
howling, we were beaten down. AS
fell into a corner the whole place
hurled itself upon me-table and
stools and tins of food, the clock and
the steaming supper.
Somehow out of the hurtliAy con-
fusion l laid hands upon the a>satest
mess of all, the sour dough. ana held
it upright-praise God, safe,
x x x x
EOR what seemed ages long, the
= Kathleen lay that way, far over
on her side. Then she slowly, slowly
righted.
We lowered the mainsail in the howl
ing squall and doube-reefed it: then
ard bo RI
been washed clear of every unlashed
thing.
''She's a good boat" said the mate
''or she'd never have come up
"What do you do" I asked with af-
fected ingeniousness little later when
we had made the shelter Of the island
when you're steering and a squall
strikes you?''
You keep her Off" answered the
mate.
And as now, living man, sit here
in the dry-land security of Vermont
hillside and record that answer Of the
mate, know that there's a Providence
for fools.
During the three days that we re-
mained at Three Hummock Island the
wind either blew from the west or it
was calm. Owing to the many delays
that we had suffered, progress had now
become obsession to us, and if the
Horn was to be reached, a necessity. So
on the third day we fixed upon the next
to sail-wind or no wind, fair wind or
foul. And sail we did.
We turned out at four fifteen to find
the day aready risen. The wind, OF
course, was west 1t had, moreover,
blown most of the night and raised a
choppy sea against us. We beat for
hours, returning after every southwark
tack close to the shore of Three Hum
mock, where to our encouragement we
marked our slow advance. A dying wind
bore us at length into Stanley Cove.
where more than two weeks before we
had anchored for one night.
Meanwhile, unobserved by US, clouds
had mounted in the west. till suddenly
the sun was obscured; and with that
shadow the glad mood Of the day was
gone The mantle of clouds spread it
self over the sky and it grew dark. The
wind freshened. GloriouSly we drove
through the black water with crested
waves racing at our side. Bahia Blanca
opened up its length before us. Beyond
its head was a lofty snow white region
of mountains from which a broad gla-
cier poured down to meet the bay.
Look" cried one of us, what is that
smoke down on the water by the
glacier"
Clouds of smoke appeared driving
across the water not only at the foot
OF the glacier, but along the mountain
Gus western shore. We were to learn
and that within a quarter Of an hour
what fury of the wind that smoking
sea betokened.
The wind had now become a gale, sc
that even with our mainsail reefed, as
IL was, we carried too much sail. The
skif at our stern was yawning and
plunging frightfully, threatening at
every moment to capsize. The taut tow