The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 4, 1900, Page 1

o high 2006 I8 n duration John Bauer, ble experience, long fast wi 4 the sufferings n such a state of ation that he is st Nome, John Bauer and I, on f September . foot dors a pros a xtrong & ok, nid intendingz o0 rough. the point as w ting along the and then golng on 4 many times read accounts of pe. to sea, even where peonle tps, hunger ut I had never ap 4 mental angulsh ard every directioa i and alway: tion of the rst, per. Perssna hose things u I do mot the ns on inder » the cape we had ght get back we had out ut. That we found was too many for us It was one salls a ha zen attempts at > ng the boat each time. - ¢ by the spray and pearly ot ff our feet by the wind, and could e ir salls compelled to run be- ch was blowing wi hour sweeping We could Just the cape, growing the rear, and at le se ng at all. Then we for a voyage, but our d even then we the thing. We elow up and we'd please. But the way. It mever its pace, plling hour. The mast but the dory be- e took & reef in the sall b spin along. Well, the storm incfeased to a fury, became panic stricken. He - only littie fellow, anyway, and bed nerves. I saw him all huddled up in « hesp, and I think he was praying. I #:14 nothing, @id nothing, for there was vothing to do. I just held my bands and od. Afier & bit we got thirsty, and there wouid and Bauer was no water. Then we began to count up the distance we were from land, and knew ‘there was some trouble ahead. We got thirstier and thirstler, and that wind kept blowing harder and sending us far- ther out to sea. The waves were run- ning high and the aory tossing réund like mad. All that eternal day we rode alon helpiess, and our throats parching for a drink. /At night we took turns at the rud- der, for I had got Bauer up and scolded common sense into him. The raving thirst kept growing, intensified by the salt spray. ' When the dawn came creep- ing over that mass of tossing water the wind was still blowing like mad from the same quarter, but when the sun came up it began to moderate, and when we ‘would ‘g0 “over the top of & bix wave wown, when ft sprang up agatn. “By this time our tongues were swollen wd our lips cracking open. We had slenty to eat, but there was not a thing n our proviston stock that had eny mols- ture in it. We tried some dried aprl- oots, and opened a can of sweet densed milk, but with no satisfactory re- sults. It was getting terrific. Bauer's eyes were bursting from thelr sockets and he was so weak and trembly he couldn’t keep his feet, and was praying In a hud- dle most of the time. , “When the sundown wind came up we set sail in & northerly course as near as I could make out.” All that night I watched and held the rudder, » Bauer moaning and sleeping fitfully, erying for water all the time. My own thirst was something indescribable, but I tried hard to keep at the head of things. “When the daylight of the third day came it showed us Kings Island, a long way off to the north, and I could also make out an outline of land to the east- ward. 1 got Bauer up agaln and encour- aged him, and we both worked hard try- Ing to reach land. But we were so weak by that time that we couldn’t make much headway. We were llke a palr of help- less bables trying to run that boat—our limbs would not support us, and when ‘we lifted & hand it fell back numb and useless. We tried to row, but couldn't either of us hold the oars, and then we had to lfe down In the boat and give it up. “The wind by that time had dled out and left us drifting helplessly further away from land agais, and not a sail In sight. All that day we floated, and the agonies of thirst seemed to Increase, though that seemed impossible. Bauer had been muttering In German, but his tongue was now so thick that the sounds were unintelligible and It was plain the “peor fellow's mind was golng. con- e we could see a faint line of hortson, but. “Night brought on & eoid st and fog, the horizon was water, and we had the and ‘ we nearly froge. The tide was sea on all sides. against us, and so strong that ws were *“The second day Was & repetition of the rapidly ‘being carried out to sea. The first. with (he” Wind slower unill sun- wifid bid disd out. and wé lowerad tha safl and let the dory drift. It was all we could do. I tried to sleep, but my eyes stared wide open, and the burning furnace in my throat would not ieave me and when I regained my senses again it was morning. I was wet and chilled to the bone. Bauer was a pitiful, muttering object, dozing and gabbling his thick- tongued German. I strugsled to my feet and again saw land—many miles away. “My knowledge of the north led me to belleve we were in the Arctic Ocean. We saw two high mountains to the west- ward and some white forms In the fore- ground that may have been drift ice. “I shook Bauer, and tried to make him understand, but he went off into his mut- terings again. Pretty soon his mind scemed to clear again and when I pro- posed trying to make for the land he wildly objected, saying that some parties who had landed about there some months before had been roughly treated by the natives, and he grew so excited and flerce in his objection, hindering me in my weak efforts, that at last I gave up and let the boat drift out again from a pos- sible hope. “I w#s momentarily afraid that Bauer would become a dangerous maniac, and dared not oppose him in anything. The poor fellow was shivering In the end of the dory, ravenously chewing and suck- ing dried onlons, in the hope of extract- ing a drop of molsture, his face drawn and old and the gleam of idlocy in his eyes. “In my own desperation I swallowed some extract of vinegar, but it burned my throat and choked me horribly. ““The night of the dth is the last clear recollection I have. I remember seeing poor Bauer praying, or trying to move his lips in prayer, and whispering huskily that it was to be our last night alive. I myself was too weak to move, and went to sleep for a while. Later in the night I awoke, somewhat refreshed. The stors were clear and bright above in the sky, and a slight breeze was stirring. “I erawled to the ropes and sought to I set the salls dragging myselt We had a land 1ig was rendered defective by having become wet, and was less. By ald of the stars I tried to shape a course. That is the last thing I w. The fifth, sixth and seventh days aré as a blank in my mind. Our sufferings from thirst were beyond deseription. Where we were we did not know; we were too weak to make any effort for anything, and it make one mere effqrt. with great diffculty, about and falling blindly. was now nothing but drift and hope agailnst hope for relief. I do not know what it was that kept us from casting ourselves into the water. It seems to me now that that would have been the nat- ural thing to do. I lay there breat vac: in mind, and only conscious the terrible craving for water, with my crazed partner groveling In his corner, making ‘nartic bunds, and trying to talk to me In Germ: which I did not un- derstand ““The eighth, and last terrible day, I was I¥ing dazed and f unconsclous, when romething like a scream from the parch- ed, swollen throat of Bauer roused me to turn my head. “He was standing erect In tke boat, one weak, gaunt hand uplifted; his eyes d! tended and his lips moving soundlessly But there was the light of reason in his pinched, haggard face—the light of hope At firet I thought it was a nmew freak of his macness, but there was just life and curlosity enough left in me to prompt*m to lift my=elf to my elbow, and then I s: what he had seen—the smoke _of steamer. “That was a moment of joy and relief indescribable, and one that I shall never forget so long as I live. *We grabbed the guns and began fir- ing signals. Under the spur of the new hope we found ourselves able to move W a about, and we éven made pitiful attempts to shout. Bauer tled a white handker- chief to his gun and waved it, and I re- loaded my rifle to repeat the signals. “Our anxiaty was something beyond ASOVEAMBER <5, 19900 comprehenmion. At first the steamer moved steadily on her course, and seemed not to hear, but at last she veered about and came toward us. Then I knew no more. “The next I remembdered I was lying on the deck of the steamer Centennial, and the men were givine ms sips of water. My hands wers wil clutching n the alr, and I was begging for more, “Poor Bauer was even worse tham L and it was days before he regained his reason. He is still 5o weak and ex- hausted, and the painful memory is se indelibly stamped upon his brain, thet his condition is most critical. “Captain J. C. Eagles of the Centanntal is & man to whe we shall both be In- debted all our After that horrible elght days of awful thirst, about by incessant « hore storma, the agonies of dread, the palnful exposure 2nd the dreadful succession of terrfble experiences, one could well appreciate the sight of a fellow being, and those reugh sallors were llke angels from heaven. “When the Centennial brought us mte Seattls on the 8th of October I was pretty well recovered, but poor Bauer will have & long struggle yet. Even now he ccas- sionally breaks out in delirfum, with Ms piteous call for ‘Wasser! Wasser! Joh bin so schrecklich d&uretig CWater! water! 1 am so terribly thirsty! “As for myself, the dreams stfll ceme to me at night, and I live over the agenies of thoss Interminable days. Though time will take away the keenest of it all, I do not think I shall ever be able te for get. It is stamped upon brain.” Does Your Housa Get the Proper Kind of Light? In these days doctors and other sclen- tis! ing all serts of wonder- ful household hyglene. Ome abo of the latest things In this line to be dis- cussed are the of the window, the roc of Paris, & W glene, gives It as his at the best light for a houss is a slanting That sort of light, he asse as more of vi- tality and health-giving properties In it al or a 1 ht. Of course, the light descending $tralght from above co ho to this view ¢ 50 as to recetve the and to ob- t be higher reet. for ex- taet g with is asing as we marked, 1lding, to a remar It of the Ober = a we that of a same. But village has d pected during fees for ticke in excess of and above the form has been done tographs, wood carve ings, rosarles and “holy” im: For picture postcards alone than L7500 has been taken, and it Is sald that the wood-carvers of Oberammergau have not a single article left “on stock.” Thus it is plain to see that though the season in Switzerland and the Tyrol is sald to have been & bad oue, the little Bavarian mountain village has a xolden bharvest. less no