Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-05-08


other cause he was in his she'll Tn thf
turnings of my pacing astern, threw oul
numerous bats for him to rise to. but a,
but at length discovered that NV friend
was mapping by the idle helm.
In reverie of pleasant thought en-
Joyed the quiet lonely rocking of om
yacht, the golden mistiness of the moon
hight, the lazy splashing of the water on
our sides, and the low indolent fappino
now and then of our canvas. A dim bro
Ken line and a hazy ray of light in the
west were the Jersey shore and lighthouse
sometimes my ear caught very low the
mum OF the distant surf Nowhere sea.
ward was there sail in sight, until sud.
deniy, ana greatly to my establishment, as
wheeled IN my march, | discovered close
on our larboard, and not four hundred
yards OH, large brig, her sails hanging,
ana she as idle in the calm as we She
was not there minute before; of that
was sure. AS gazed in utter bewilder-
ment | herd a voice come clear from q
figure on ner deck:
Alloy, yacht ahoy! Is Archie -
aboard? Tell him.
At that instant our master sprang
from his doze, crying out, Who called
me? Was it you, Mr.. -?'
My attention distracted, turned again
quickly to the brig. There aoas 1aot4i1q in
slght!-nOt mast nor sail on the whole
clearly-lighted expanse
Ibid y0u call me?' continued Archi-
bald, repeating his question, and then,
with little surprise, added, No, it was
not bit like your voice.
mo, | answered in amazement; 4
have not spoken word; butt | hest
tated whether to say more, when he con
tinued, with a short laugh, but some sur
prise or concern:
"'What dream-vivid as life, Right
Oft there pointing to the spot where the
brig had seemed to me to ride, right there
thought was a brig as lazy as our little
craft, and fellow on deck, whom / saw
as plain as | see you now, Mr. -, hailed
us exactly in brother Ben's voice, but
husky a bit-"Ahoy! yacht ahoy Is
Archie - aboard? Tell him" and
then | wake up, and find it all CANNON.
Well, what's the use of being awake, if
that's a dream?'
"'Ohon answered |, trying to hide my
uncomfortable amazement under a light
specch-'Oho! a skipper asleep and with
nightmare
HE laughed and loaded a fresh pipe,
L
watch, Any sails in sight to-night?'
90 Nary a one sir, to bless my eyes.
Generally they is most plentiful off here
Only seen a steamers smoke away off
starboard an hour or better ago; that's all
this watch, so far
"' How stranger
What's that, sir?'
"'Ahcm. Strange! Why, SO near har-
Dor, you see, and no sails
Yes, sir; rather So"
The captain called up a fresh man to
relieve him at the wheel, and he and de-
scended to the cabin. | said nothing to
him of my mysterious delusiOn (as much
so to him as to mc), and we soon turned
in. | lay awake some time that night,
turning the matter over in my mind 1t
puzzled me greatly, and many times since
have l tried to study it out to some prac-
teal solution; but-oh | made an entry
of it in my diary the next morning-here
it is now
From an inside pocket he drew out a
small notebook, and, turning over its
pages for a few seconds, he handed it to
me at this item:
'21st July, 1870-About II As p m off
Barnegat, hailed by . !n'
Merely a memorandum, Of significance
to no one but its writer.
'Twelve hours afteward, he continued,
as | returned the note book, we were
landed in New York Returned to nv
usual work and these almost daily trips
by rail, l sometimes recalled that Incl
dent of the yacht trip, but, as have said,
| never repeated its experience to any one.
1t was a nut for leisure cracking | want
ed to keep it all to myself until | might
pick out its meaning. And now to a
chance companion | hand it for his con
sideratiOn. Is it an intuition or mere
chance that brings us SO Ell rapport?
However, to resume the story''-I had
bowed my head and smiled recognition
of bis implied compliment, but, much alb
sorbed in the narrative, and suppOsing it
had spoken no words to delay
its continuancc-"tO resume the story
One morning, early in September, as | ran
down in the seven O'Clock train to New
York, | bought the Times, as usual, and
my eyes happening accidentally on
Marine Intelligence read at the close
of its column this paragraph" Here he
again handed me his diary, marking
a page with his finger On this page
there was pasted printed slip under
the written date Of Sept. 9Th. 1t
read: The brig Racer - master, lost
at sea July 21st in command of Rollin-
son, first mate, from Singapore and Pa
dang, arrived I'd and anchored on the bar;
came up this Q. m, and reports passed
Cape of Good Hope June 81, and crossed
the equator July IS; then had light winds
from S. f. to n. w. to lat % On after
noon Of 21st took a hurricane from w S.
w, veering continually until near mid
night, when it struck us fiercely from E.
W. f. Shipped heavy seas that stove bull
Warks sails, and bow and stern. The
rolling broke loose a top spar that struck
the captain and knocked him into the sea.
The binding spray Immediately shut him
from sight, but no boat could have been
lowered in the sea then running, and
probably the captain was instantly killed
by the blow
Forcibly impressed, l looked up from
the book to my companions face, mutely
asking him to proceed
"Do you notice the coincidence of dates
in this and in my former entry?" he asked,
and stretched out his hand for the diary.
Yes" said; "go on"
"Well, what remains is meager and
gives no clue to the unravelment we de-
sire Soon after called on Archit aid in
Tenth street He was settled for the win
ter at his studio. His brothers death had
wounded him deeply. He gave me all the
particulars that he had obtained from
Robinson, the mate. They were but little
more complete than the newspaper para
graph. What surprised me was that he
lad f0rUottpn his dream on tho yacbt ar