Show T 0 i ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB f HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF cc Ten en Terrible Seconds I ELLO EVERYBODY i H HELLO This is a yarn about a couple of ropes The yarn yarn welli well well-J its it's told by Herman R. R Wallin of Brooklyn N. N Y Herman Herma Hermanis i is supposed to be the adventurer and principal character in it ita but somehow or other the ropes managed to take over the story One of those ropes chisels into this story solely on the strength of the fact that it it well that well that it just If we mentioned it here its it's only to post it as A. A W. W O. O L. L at a time when it was was needed for guard duty The other rope comes in at the crucial point in our story Like the hero of the old twenty thirtY Y i melodrama it shows up in in the nick of time to right the wrong th the theother other rope has done and prove to the world that though sonic some ropes may be low down and onery there are good ropes as well as bad And now that Ive I've told you the plot of today's little drama drama- lets let's bring in Herman Wallin and Wallin-and and on with the show J j Today Herman is a a radio operator on the S. S S. S Birken head b but t this adventure happened in July 1926 when Herman was occupying the radio shack of the S. S S. S Cornelia plying be bee b between tween New York and the West Vest Indies The Cornelia was almost at th the end of her out outU trip trip just two or three hours run from the first of th the tropical island ports at which she was due to call I Hermans Herman's Radio Shack Located on After Part of Boat Deck j It was a dark night and amI Herman lIerman was on the lower de deck k making his way up to the boat deck where his room was located And well before well before we go any farther with this yarn well we'll have to tell you something about the way the S. S S. S Cornelia was con- con Suppose we let Herman do that himself My radio shack Herman says was on the after part of the boat boa deck the deck the only quarters located on this part of the ship A few feet fee away from my room on either side of the shack were davits for two l lifeboats which had been removed Since the members of the crew 0 He went through an open space between the two boat davits davits and and d ed overboard seldom came up on this deck and then in the daytime only no ropes rope had been stretched across the openings between the davits t And there you have not only the layout of Hermans Herman's sea-going sea pen peat house but also the lowdown on that rope that just wasn't there That missing rope was quite a problem You know they dont don't I have any open lights on the top deck of a ship because they interfere with the vision of the officer on watch up on the bridge On nights when there wasn't any moon Herman used to have to 1 watch his step pretty carefully Usually he would start walking from the ladder in a straight line counting out the number of steps it required to get to his door But on thus particular night he paused half way in his course and looked back Lots Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for stopping and looking lookin back Herman just lust sort of lost his bearings but that was almost a as bad When he started out again he was was was' going the wrong way in th the dark He was still counting steps when all of a sudden he wen weft through an open space between two boat davits davits and and walked overboard tines anti men Tuen i lame me tue Ten len Terrible seconds And then came those ten terrible seconds the seconds the worst moments j in Hermans Herman's life It felt as if time had been slowed down like one of those slow-motion slow movies seemed movies seemed as though that dive j from the top deck was taking a year Herman can still sun count over every everyone one of those seconds seconds can can still remember how the lights of the lower deck went crawling past him as he fell One of his arms grazed the rail of the lower deck as he went by and through his mind flashed the Ule thought that that rail was the last thing he could possibly have caught hold bold of Below him hun now were only the smooth steel plates of the ships ship's side straight down to the water line Herman thought of the propeller threshing the water at the ships ship's stern and remembered hearing that anyone falling overboard close to the side inevitably gets sucked in inthe M int the vortex of the churning water and chopped to mincemeat I IThe The water was coming up at him now He could see it gleam dully beneath him and he braced himself for the shock of hitting it Then suddenly his left arm hit something something hit hit Jt it with a sharp I blow that bent it double and almost took Hermans Herman's breath away l Herman didn't know what it was but instinctively he lie made a grab for it He lie caught it and it-and and his hand skidded several yards along a wet slimy surface before he realized what it was A J rope A missing rope had gotten him into this spot in the first 1 f place Another one one one-a a rope that was very much present seemed present seemed to be helping him out of it ms his r were Dragging in me the water Vater When He tie Stopped Stoppers j Herman clutched at that rope until he thought his arm would con colt coin i off My liMy feet were dragging in the water as I came to a stop I t. t says and lIand the tug of the water added to the strain on my hands I 1 heard faint shouts above me The telegraph rang and and 1 II i could feel the side of the ship shuddering as though it had hit some e I in the water Then I could see heads thrust out over the d deck dec rail and several voices were calling to me to hang on A couple of m sitting on the lower deck had seen me flash by and had shouted to t th officer on watch to stop the ship j A rope ladder came over the side and a deckhand came downto down downto to help Herman back aboard When I reached the deck he be t says I was so weak with fright that I couldn't stand LIp up They took me to a stateroom and put me in a bunk Outside of ofa a t few bruises and a pair of skinned hands I was as good as ever in ina ina ra r- r I a few hours but I saw to it next day that a couple of lines j were stretched between those empty boat davits t And in case youre you're wondering what that other rope was doing h halt hant hanting ing over the side of the ship heres here's Herman with the answer It 9 what is known as the guest line he P says Its uIt's a heavy rope over the side near the waters water's edge and used to tie small boats a launches near the gang The ship was approaching the first of o tropical ports and this line had been put out only a 3 few hours before before- Released by Western Newspaper Union j |