Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-08-17
MlisfelIaaeui.s.
WAITING FOR THE SHIP.
A Fort Point IdyI.
BY BRBrHARrE,

BY BRET HARTE. t-
About an hours ride from the Piazs
there is a high bluff with the ocean
breaking uninterruptedly along its
rocky beach. There are several cot
tages on the sands, which look as ifthey
had recently been cast up by a heavy
sea. The cultivated patch behind each
tenement is fenced in by bamboos,
broken spars and drift wood. With its
few green cabbages and turnips tops,
each garden looks something like an
aquarium with the water turned off,
In fact you would not be surprised to
meet a Norman digging among the
potatoes, or mermaid milking a sea
cow hard by. e. s. -e 81
Near this place formerly arose a
great semaphOric telegraph with its
gaunt arms tossed up against the hori-
zon. 1t has been replaced by an OBJ
servatory, connected with an electric
nerve to the heart of the great CONNER.
cial city. From this point the in-com-
ing ships are signaled, and again check
ed off at the City Exchange. And
while we are here looking for the ex-
pected steamer, let me:tell you story.
MOI long ago, a simple, bard-work-
ing mechanic, had amassed sufficient,
by diligent labor in the mines, to send
for his wife and two children. He ar
rived in San Francisco a month before
the time the ship was due, for he was a
western man and had made the over
land journey, and knew little of ships,
or seas, or gales. He procured work in
the. city, but as time approached he
would go to the shipping Office regular
every day. The month passed, but the
ship came not, then month, and a
week, two, weeks, three weeks, two
months, and then year. ~ ~ ~
The rough patient face, with olflines
OVERLAPPING its hard features, which had
become a daily apparition at the ship
ping agents, the disappeared. 1t
turned up one afternoon at the observa-
tory ast the setting sun relived the opera
ton from his duties. There was some
thing so chiId-like and simple in the
few questions asked by this stranger,
touching his business, that the operator
spent some time TO explain. When
the mystery ofsignals and telegraphs
was.unfolded, theStranger had one more
question to ask. 'ts''How long might a
vesselbe absent before they would give
up expecting her?o The operator
couldn't tell; it would depend on cir
cumstanceS. Would it be a year? Yes
it might be a year, and vessels have
been given up for lost after years and
have come home. The stranger put
his rough hand on the operators and
thanked. him for his 'strouble" and
went away. Still the ship came not
Stately )clippers, swept into the gate,
and merchantmen went by with cOlor5
flying, and the welcoming gun of the
steamer often reveberated among the
hills. Then the patient face with, the
old resigned expression, but a brigh-
ter, wistful look in the eye, was regu-
larly met on the decks of the steamer
as she disembarked her living freights.
He may have had adimly defnei i.hope
that the missing ones might yet come
this way, as only another road over
that strange, unknown expanse. But
he talked with ship captains and sail
ors. and even this hope seemed to fail
When the care-worn face and bright
eyes were presented again at the OBJ
servatory, the operator, busily engaged,
could not spare time to answer. foolish
interrogatoris, so he went away. But
as night fell, he was seen sitting on the
rocks with his face trred seaward, and
was seated there all that night.
When he became 'hopelessly insane,
for that was what the physicians said
his eyes SO bright and wistful, he was
cared for by fellow craftmen who had
known his troubles. He allowed to
indulge his fancy of going out to watch
for the ship, in which she ''and the
children were atnight when no one al
so was watching. He had made up his
mind that the ship would come in at
night. This and the idea that he
would relieve the operator, who would
be tired with watching all day, seemed
to please him. So he went out and re.
lieved the operator every night! d.,i
For two years the ships came and
went. He was there to see the out
ward-bound clipper, and her on return.
He was known only by few who fre-
quented the place. When he was miss
ed at last from his accustomed spot, a
day or two elasped before any alarm
was felt. One Sunday, a party OF
pleasure seekers clambeIing over the
rocks were attracted by the barking OF
dog that had run before them
When they came up found a plainly
dressed man lying there dead: There
were a few papers in his pocket chief.
ly slips cut from different jOuanals ol
an.oId marineime anda-andIhis face
turned toward the distant sea. '..-
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