The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-03-01

hAoiC oinS hai' AoS "o 8" "hu Seo IN
| man." ..sis,so, aan aEe. tittaa 4g 80,
They found him in conversation with
the captain Of the rescued ship. They
both came forward, and expressed in the
warmest terms, their gratitude for deliv-
erance from horrible fate--slow coming
death by exposure and starvation. 5a. +,
| The captain replied that he had but
done what he was certain they would
have done for him under the same cir
cumstances,a and asked them both to
step down into the cabin. Then turning
TO the passenger, he said, II hope, sir,
you will not think l am trifling with you !;
but l would be much obliged to you if
you would write few words on this
slate" And he handed him the slate,
with that side up on which the mysteri-
Gus writing was not. 81 will do any
thing you ask" replied the passenger; ;
s. but what shall | write 20
"A few words are all I want. Sup
pose you write Z" Steer to the nor'west."
The passenger, evidently puzzled to
make out the motive for such a request,
complied however with a smile. The
captain took up the slate and examined it
closely then stepping aside so as to
conceal the slate from the passenger, he
turned it over and gave it to him again
the other side up. .as en r.
"You say that is your hand writing"
said he. ''det e.
81 need not say so," rejoined the
other looking at it, " for you saw me
write it." T.r EHS
/ And this!'' said the captain turn
ing the slate over. g., t,..q az
e4 The man looked at one, then the other,
quite confounded. At last, ."iwhat is
the meaning Of this ?" said he. +" / only
wrote one of these. Who wrote the 9TH.
er ?" az, 81 i'.- : .''9l -. =
That's more than can tell you, sir.
My mate says you wrote it, sitting at this
desk at noon to-day" -.ff ...,fs, y
The captain of the wreck and the pas
senger looked at each other, exchanging
glances of intelligence and surprise and
the former asked the latter, g Did you
dream that you wrote on that slate ?"
No, sir, not that remember"
H@+ Aou opcah VI uIeaiuiHS, Sdlu tue
captain of the bark. What was this
gentleman about, at.noon to-day %
Captain" rejoined the other. I" the
whole thing is most mysterious and ex-
troord inarv and I intAndad to sneak to
you about 1T as soon as We got little
quiet. This gentleman (pointing to the
passenger), being much exhausted, fell
into heavy sleep, or what seemed such,
sometime before noon. After an hour or
more he awoke and said to me. g Cap
tain, we shall be relieved this very day."
When asked him what reason lie had
for saying SO, he replied that he had
dreamed that he was on board bark, |
and that she was coming to our rescue.
He described her appearance and rig
and to our utter astonishment. when
your vessel hove in sight she correspond,
ed exactly to his description of her. We
had not put much faith in what he said
yet still we hoped there might be some
thing in it, for drowning men, you know,
catch at straws. AS it has turned out, /
l cannot doubt it was all arranged in
some incomprehensible way, BY an over
ruling providence so that we might be
saved. TO Him be all thanks for his
goodness to u.s."
. There is no doubt" rejoined the
other captain, that the writing on the
slate, however it came there, saved your
lives. was considerably south of west,
and | altered my course to nor'west, and
l had look aloft, to see what would
come Of it. But you say he added,
turning to the passenger, " that you did
not dream Of writing on slate %
mo, sir have no recollection what
ever Of doing so. got the impression
that the bark | saw in my dream was
coming to rescue us but how that i'm
preston came I cannot tell. There is
another very strange thing about it," he
added. Everything here on board
seems to me quite familiar yet l am
very sure | never was in your vessel be-
fore. 1t is all a puzzle to me. What
did your mate see ?' .,ga 4
Thereupon Mr., Bruce related to them
all the circumstances above detailed
The conclusion they finally arrived at.
was that special interposition of Prov
idence interviewed to save them from
what seemed hopeless fate
The above narrative was communicated
to me by Captain j. S. Clark, of the
schooner Julia Hallock, who had it di-
rectly from Mr.. Bruce himself They
sailed together for seventeen months, in
the years 1886 and '37; so that Captain
Clark had the story from the mate about
eight years after the occurrence. He
has since lost sight of him, and does not
know whether he is yet alive. All that
he has heard Of him since they were
shipmates, is that he continued to trade
to New Brunswick, that he became mas
ter of the brig Comet. and that she was
lost. ..I 6a.
/ asked Captain Clark if he knew
Bruce well, and what sort Of q man he
was. .ri oa. age4.g efA 81
" As. truthful and straightforward a
man." he replied, ''as ever met in all
my life. We were as intimate as broth
ers and two men can't be together.
shut up for seventeen months in, the same
ship, without getting to know whether
they can trust one another's word or not.
He always spoke Of the circumstance in