Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-12-02

what sons I meant" Even in stress he
was able to be facetious. "Pull-God-
dam you-pull" We pulled, the oars
deep to the loom or skimming an i'm
palpable crest. We caught crabs and
capsized backwards. Water cascaded
| inboard.
IN oar, bow! Baler!" The bulk of
/ our own ship gave us some sort of a
| lee while we gained control of the hyS-
terical thing that was our lifeboat. But
there we're many times as we reared to
| the creSts when was staring down
almost vertically at the mates purple
face, when fancied nothing could save
us from turning end for end. We pulled
until aching muscles protested: until
oppressed hearts pumped suffocatingly
One realized that if he gave an in
stant's thought to the furies about. his
nerve would go. There was nothing to
do save look intently into that grim,
Sardonic, moustached face and hold
onto the indomitable courage of our
leader.
When the first spasm of energy was
spent and the oar strokes tagged he got
up. straddling on bowed legs, plying his
oar like whalenan and spewed curses
at us that stung like thrown vitriol
We felt we hated him, but he was a
wise and cunning man, who knew that
only flaming resentment would fetch
| out those extra ounces of strength and
determination that We ourselves did not
know we possessed. Because of the Sar-
donic mockery of his red-rimmed eyes
I stared over his shoulder at our own
ship that still seemed curiously near,
considering the amount of muscle rack
ing pulling we had already done She
looked noble and gallant, that old
much-condemned cargo-warehouse.
Pull, you -" It stung again;
pulled and the others pulled. No. 4,
behind me, was digging into my back
with his oar-loom; wanted to turn and
curse him, but instead pulled on,
though iron bars were Tightening about
my laboring chest.
Pull. you. pulll' We pulled; there
was nothing else to do. Over the mates
shoulder it was possible to see the fore
yards of the ship filling. Her protective
value was gone by now, and our skipper
was making ready to maneuver to lee
ward OF the wreck, in readiness to COL
lect us and what We had salved from
greedy sea.
X \ *%
SAW the ship lift proudly and surge
forward over a wave that suddenly
boiled into dazzling whiteness as her
bow crashed down. Our captain was
taking big chances with his ship. han
ding her craftily, as the mate was han
ding the lifeboat; weatherwise men,
both of them, who had studied through
the years to discover the Witness of
white water.
The roar Of water was stunning; but
we were getting our second wind. Say
ing that we couldn't do 1t, that human
muscle must fail In such tournament,
We did it. BY God, We did it! Deaf
ened by the cascading seas, stung by
the flashing spindrift, spent, hopeless
we heard the thin-throated, ragged
cheering above
Get at it. you paper-backs!" There
was an impression of something loom
ing and wallowing above us; a magni-
fled din of the elements: the mate was
yelling out of a ludicrously opened
mouth, like a fish's; and then Ia
blessed sense Of calm.
Good enough-get her alongside. m1
sons!' Yes, we'd done it. The mate
had worked us around the Milwaukee's
squattering stern under her protective
lee, where 1t was necessary to proceed
cautiously because of the tangled
wreckage. A rope was flung and
caught. There was wild shouting.
Abandoning - can't live another
hour!'
"Ay, ay-come on, then, captain"
More work with that skillful steering
oar; and contemporary breathing
space. when the aching lungs might get
their fill of airl The boat was anywhere
now scared above the pitiful wreck so
that her gaunt. stripped decks we're
very evident, now down under her keel,
or so it seemed, with our bearing-off
hands scraped to the bone by the clus-
tered barnacles. 1t was the widest
scurry I can remember. as the Mil
waukee men came over her side to our
precarious haven. But they came, blue
with cold and weak with exhaustion.
They came with queer sodden apathy.
showing no hint of gratitude-almost
resentfully, indeed, as though grudging