Evening star., 1926-10-24
ve Sweeping Up River in New Guinea En&ufs Fragile Craft

the kissing of the current az II slap
ped past our sides. nothing hut the
cries of a couple Of hornbills nest
building In a hollow tree nearby.
II ever there was A scene Of prime
val peace. II was afforded by that
jade-green jungle on which the sun
had condescended To shine for time,
7 heard no sound but the cl'",omary
little. restful jungle noises.
Every one was sitting quietly. at
tentive,y, now. Boys looked from one
TO another anxiously, with sudden
rollings Of their startled eyes.
Was there a tremor in the air? Was
that a new and strange note or just
minor motif in the rivers ever
singing voice? No. Even my ears
now picked up a definite new murmur
that dominated. in it's deep and grow
ing intensity, the rivers sihilancies.
THE bore. He come. come fast"
Wagi voiced my thought.
How soon will ii he here l
asked.
"One hour" the Melanesian an
swered.
Drive those boys below" order
ed, and my crew herded the recruits
below so expeditiously that they
hardly realized what had happened
before the hatch covers were slapped
into pace and battered down. Then
shouts and yells Of fear arose. were
muffied suddenly and hands ham
mered against the sealed vents.
Boys very fright" WaEi exclaim-
ed to me as we put extra grips on
the dinghy. Yes. poor devils. they
know the bore and they had reason
to be frightened, But had that panic
which now ragged beneath our feet
broken loose on the deck. those swift,
seamanlS efforts we were now bend =
Ing to meet the impending crisis
would have been out of the question.
THE roar was very distinct now
The quiet air trembled with II
Swiftly my boys and | put the Sir
Arthur In battle trim. passing more
lashinss about the deck water tanks
unbending jib and stayline. tricing
up the coi,ed running rigging. screw =
ing down the engine room skylight
Life-helts." commanded. and Rae
appeared with an armful OF them
one for each of us.
glanced down the 4-mile stretch
wide bend. "At her 20mile-a hour
clip. 1t will take about IL minutes for
| the bore to cover that stretch.
! calculated Guess I'd better heave
short now rather than wait any
longer"
"Heave short. both anchors"
called.
The boys ran forward and the
rhythmic cliCkety- -clank click of the
capstan told off the fathoms as the
chain came aboard. The river pull
jerked the anchors from the mud. and
the schooner began dragging very
slowly downstream. stern first.
The minutes dragged along. II
seemed to me I'd been hearing that
ever-louder erowl that now drowned
| out all other sounds for days. weeks
| Would ii never come? Oh. the sus
pense of that waiting, the strain of
| inaction. Ashore. as we brought a
nearby village abeam. we saw the
canoe fleet had been hauled high and
dry onto the. lofty stagings in the
trees. The usually busy water front
was deserted.
And then. not deigning to hide
from us longer. the boys swep,
glorfously. terribly around the dis
tant bend. TransfiXed. | stood look
ing at 1t. wanting desperately to utter
the command l knew | should give
and yet held spellbound by the rare
awful ma iesty of that spectacle. The
sensation lasted but an instant. for
heard myself as though II had beer
| some one else shouting. Up anchors
and aft with EN-. Look alive now
1 Feverishly the boys threw theii
weight on the capstan bars and the
glcaming links came clinking musical
| ly onto the decks. The roar Of 2
| vast ocean was in our ears. pulsine
! against us with waves one thought
should he tangible, so heavy were
they.
CHANGING down the sunlit water.
watched the shore ends of the charg
ing water wall as 1t rioted along