NATURALLY REPAIRED.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2283, 5 February 1912, Page 7

NATURALLY REPAIRED.

It was a murky afternoon, and the old sea captains were talking of a schooner which had been struck by lightning ej few days before, and adding their contributions to nautical fiction, thinly disguised as fact. “How about the Emma S., Captain Eli,” asked the privileged listener at last. “Wasn’t she struck once ?” “She was, sir,” and Captain Eli fixed his gaze on a crack in the ceiling of the old office. “She was, indeed, oQ the Cape. Home’ard bound, she was.” “I’d like to hear the particulars,” said the young man, and all the captains moved in their seats and fixed their eyes on the crack which held the gaze of Captain Eli. “ Tain’t much to tell; only what might happen to any vessel in similar circumstances,” said Captain Eli. “A bolt struck the deck amidships and bored a hole right down through the bottom of the schooner big as a man’s leg. The water came rushing in, and o’ course the Emma S. would have founded if a second bolt hadn’t come and struck my forto' galla’ mast, cut it oft near the top, turned it end for end, and drove it right into the hole, plugging it up and making it watertight. “ 'Twas a clear case o’ what folks call the ravages an’ repairs o’ Nature,” said Captain Eli, as he removed his gaze from the crack and let it rest thoughtfully on the ingenious face of the only landsman in the company.