Show V TOUGH MAXXIIAX Im a Manxman and I have Inherited a rugged constitution Ir seldom wear gloves even in your winters and much of the time I go without an overcoat For many years I followed the sea and I had one adventure that few would have lived to tell of It was a midnight mid-night of December when I was rdered aloft to stow the main royal and before be-fore I knew what I was about I fell from the yardarm into the sea No one on deck had noticed my fall and apparently no one had heard my cry for the ship kept right on There I was with heavy boots and a heavy coat alone amid the waves of the Atlantic At-lantic You may not believe me but I did not feel greatly alarmed I managed man-aged to get out of my boots and coat and then I began to swim to keep myself my-self afloat Somehow I felt that I should be saved We had passed a vessel about sunset and I thought shed come along and pick me up I had been a good swimmer all my life andI kept afloat till daybreak when that other vessel did come along and fish me out four hours after I fell in We got into New York three days after af-ter my ship arrived and when I came aboard as she lay at her wrarf my mates took me for a ghost New York Sun |