The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1873-08-06

/ uTdgIcu unueT HnlIc Was enuedNoI
/ ing to get at that whale"
4 strange thing to forget,
thought the captain
Moreover. be did not like tb,
mates manner, which was singularll
unnatural.
As to Marian, she felt uneasy. a
strange foreboding seemed to tell 0
evil-to whisper TO her heart tha
Barkton had not told the whole
truth.
All that night the captain, now
having good breeze, cruised hitbel
and thither for that portion Of tbt
crew whom the mate had stated wer,
left on the ice. Next morning, the
other boats with the whale, came
alongside. The missing men, how.
ever, could not be found.
Al that day and the next the cap.
tain vainly searched for them
Marian was almost distracted. In
the afternoon of the second day all
aboard beheld a horrible sight. \
huge, wounded whale came up close
to the ship, hdriag a Erjpg bod,
pinned 10 IL, apparently ,cih hGr,
pooH. The creature sounded ere the
spectators could obtain a distinct
view of the apparition, but Marian,
with a wild shrek, exclaimed that she
blieved it was the body of William
Wren they had seen.
Heaven forbid y groaned the cap.
tain :; "and yet me thought it did
look like him -
Others Of the crew thought so, too.
Meanwhile all had noticed the az.
citation of BarktOn at sight Of that
whale with the dead body attached.
The mate had turned liyid, while be
shook like an aspen.
The same pinehed. wrinkled ex-
preston the captain had previously
noticed seemed TO come again, and re-
main upon his parehment-hued face
An hour after the whale had dis
appeared. the man aloft reported
some persons on an iceberg TO lee
ward.
Instantly there was great COM
motion throughout the ship.
The vessel was headed for the
berg. and the men picked up, were
found TO be all those missing except
William Wren.
Half frozen and starved. it was
some time before they were ft to be
questioned.
They then corroborated the mates
story about the boat being capsized,
and their being spilled out
=" Was William Wren among YOU -
inquired the captain.
They could not say-it was so
dark at the time-but they thought
not, or they would have seen him,
unless indeed his body went down
between the bergs, when be fell out
of the boat and got under
The captain was sorely puzzled.
Stronger than ever became his con-
viction that the man pinned TO the
whale was Wren, and that it was
Barkton who had performed the hor-
rible deed.
Days and weeks passed and still
there was no further news of the
missing fourth mate.
One morning up came that whale
again, right ahead of the ship, with
the body pinned to it
The harpoon had gone right
through the form, and fastened to
the whale, showing that the situa-
tion of the corpse could not be the
mere result of accident
The clothing had now all become
torn from the body, while the disfg-
ured face was unrecosnizable
All hands, however. believed it to
be William Wren, and again many
stern glances were directed al the
mate, who. a. before. showed singu-
lar agitation
His whole frame trembled, and he
seemed transfxed to the deck, as his
ewes, apparently by some strange
were turned upon the body.
Before q boat could be lowered,
down went the whale. and was next
seen far away 10 windward, where it
would be impossible to capture him.
Poor Marian was nearly distracted.
Her excitement threw her into
from which she would
never, propably, have recovered but
for a most unexpected circumstance
the temperance of William Wren:
alive and well.
Coming aboard from another whale
ship the captain had spoken, he stat
ed that his vessel had picked him up,
after be had remained on the ice for
two two DAYS On being spilled out
Of the boat, be had gone down be-
meath the ice, but, by swimming rap
idly some distance under water, he
had saved himself, clutching another
berg when be arose 70 the surface.
The darkness had prevented his
seeing his shipmates, whom he did
not know had been also spilled out.
The berg drifted. with the current.
and q mist. the next morning, still
kept his shipmates out of sight
Half famished and frozen. he f.
nally sighted and signalled the ves-
sci which had picked him up.
The men now wondered whose
body it was they had seen fastened
to the whale.
Barkton had said he knew nothing
about it, and all hands were now in
clined to believe him.
Finally, for a third time the ghast-
" object was seen, and boat being
now lowered, the whale was capture
ed. The mate had refused 70 go
down, saying that no good would
come Of hunting a whale with dead
man attached.
This had been charged to his su-
perstitious notions: but when the
whale was captured, and the harpoon
from the body, the mates
name was found upon the weapon,
and on the body ring which was re-
cognized as the property of Tom
Cutie.
Cutie had been frightened-when
the whale came up, and while the
mate was trying TO kill ito a de-
gree which had caused him TO DISC
bev orders This so enraged Barkton