Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-06-02
OUR CHARLEY.
(COntaued)


One OF his chiefpleasuTes was to JOIN the fish
er lads in their periious expeditions, after the
nests Of the eider-duck, and for the eggs Of other
sea fowl With the aid Of an iron bar and a
rope, he would swing himself over the face Of
the steepest cliffs, and into caverns which one
would have thought no creature could have en-
tered save with wings.
Upon one occasion, he went out with another
youth, with only one strong rope between them,
and, instead OF one remaining above the preci-
pice while the other went below, they thought
Il would be excellent fun to 60 down together
They chose, too, for their amusement, one Of the
loltiest and less frequented cliffs Of al, midway
in which, however, they had seen from their
boat, once, greet cave. much hauntea by the
sea fowl.
They fixed their bar finner than usual, and
took TO the rope together, the fisher lad being
undermOst- They laughed and ehatted in aiI,
with the sea four hundred feet beneath them,
as town bred lads would laugh and ehaiteri in
swing; but they found it by no mems easy to
reach the cavern with their double load, being
afraid to make pendulum of the rope, Tor fear
it should wear away from the increased friction
at the summit
At last, the boy beneath obtained a footing,
aud held the rope fast while Charles slid of in
70 the hole But. attracted by the cry which
the latter raised at sight Of the myriads Of nests
which lay within, and confused, perhaps, be-
sides, with the swinging. the fisher lad let the
rope slip through his fingers; once only 1t swung
within distance, but in his agitation he made a
futile grasp att, and after two vibrations,
succeeding one another more rapidly than can
write of them, the two boys were left in their
living tomb, with the means Of escape indeed
within sight, but only TO tantalife them with ITS
proximity; seven or eight feet Of fathomless
space lay between them and it-a situation to
them, who well understood it, more awfuuy
perilous even than it seems. No vessel ever
came near enough, on account Of the breakers,
to see any signal such as they could make from
the sea; they had left no word at home Of the
whereabouts they were g0ingi andeven should
theJ be found, 1t was very improbable that
means could be devised for their rescue, while
they had still the strength and sPint to take ad-
vantage of them. The boys looked at one
another in blank dismay, as they thought Of all
these things.
my poor, dear mother" said the fisher lad,
with groan, for he was her only hope.
"SuPposing one dropped" asked Charles,
thouehtfully, after few moments, "would this
tide carry one for certain on to shore in the fish
ing bay!"
YES" said the other. "and within the next
aour, to a certainty, but it would be only as a
dead corpse, Master Charles"
"GOd alone knows that" +" quoth Charley; ''we
must trust in him"
He wrote down upon a slip Of paper (Which
now possess, with the writing Just a little, a
very little shaken, poor fellow, when 1t gets to
the last message) SO ne such words as these
"Robert Harris is in The Gull's Hole upon
Walden Cliff; he has lost hold Of the rope, and
must have help at once. My dearest love to all
at home. CHAKLEY."
He put this up in his ease bottle, taking the
cup of at the bottom, so that the writing might
be seen at once through the glass, and buttoned
it up in his coat pocket
MY people are richer than yours, Il Oh, and
can better spare me- said lie. Il am going to
leap at the rope, old fellow; let Us shake
hands"
The lad tried to persuade him not to risk it,
but rather TO hope for rescue by means less des-
perate But
" Don I unnerve me, Bob" was the simple,
heroic answer; " once, twice, thrice, and here
goes"
The other hid his face while the spring was
taken, listening for the far off splash, perhaps,
that should tell him his friend was dead, who
had spoken to him the instant beftne. But
when h looked up, our Charley was holding
well on to the rope, only he was deadly pale.
He got to the cave again in safety, and the two
rescued lads came up to life again, with their
pockets stuffed with elder down.
Charles was brave boy-his widowed moth
er's darling and mine, IN whose care she left
him, and beloved by all. He did not know her
long. but loved her dearly, and had the strang-
est thoughts about her always. He thought
that she was near TO him, and, upon the eve of
any special peril, he seemed to grow conscious
of her presence The night before he left Us, as
we wandered in and out Of the rocks by the
sea shore,a and around the leafy paths that thread
the copse, and up and down the level sands, all
grown so doubly dear t. him at parting, he was
full of this Perhaps it was but natural, having
dwelt so long upon the happy past, and stroke
by stroke together retouehed many a picture
hanging dim enough in the long gallery Of mem
Ory that we should come at last to her. With
our eyes upon that bOundless world Of waters,
darkening as the night drew on, with that
whisper Of eternity breaking softly upon our
ears, alone, and in that beautiful spot, it was
natural, say, that we should speak of the be-
loved dead.
sMotherr-he called me mother even then
=" she is listening to US now," he said. &"
shall see her in my dreams tonight; she is
quite close to u.s."
begged him not to talk thus, and reminded
him that it was time to go within.
'sNay," said he, "but let US once more climb
the Down"
So we toiled up the steep behind US in 81
Ience. under the innumerable stars.
"See you" said he, when we had reached the