The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-10-09


got upon my feet, and paced to and fir
the loose boards of the hut.
"Was /, then, condemned to sta,
here, powerless to save my poor Jacl
from being the puppet of yonder malig
nant fiends of the shore and the sea
knew if the coffin were delayed unit
the storm increased in fury, the road tx
the old wrecker's home would be impass
able. flooded. and without clew,
"Was it, then, destined that he should
be thrown into the greedy maw of the
sea, after all, and his place in the deal
little church-yard at home know him nc
more? There were prayers even ther
offered up for him in that dear little
village in the valley, net only by the
thin and withered lips of his mother,
but sweet and roseate ones we're trem-
bling in his behalf that late had clung
to his own In rapture, and gentle young
fingers would gather flowers for his
grave and tnurmur benisons there for
many year. Oh, was it, then, impos-
sible to give this Joy to my poor old
Jack?
"I started up with malediction upon
| the storm and its surroundings, and
with an impulse of desperation wrapped
myself in an old tarpaulin and ventured
forth.
II suppose my nerves we re pretty well
unstrung, for the dead face of my lost
comrade followed me with a grotesque
and horrible persistency. I strug-
gled against the feeling, but it seemed
to me the murky air was full of shape
less fends and bodiless spirits of devil
ish propinquities.
stumbling along, the rain beating
mercilessly down, making the rocky path
perilously smooth, made my way slow
lv in the direction of the old wrecker's
abode.
Feeling the path step by step in
this wilderness and storm, it must have
taken me many hours to accomplish a
mile, for / had scarcely gone halfway
when 1 found by my watch it was
nearly midnight. The same lurid
CLEAN of lightning that showed me the
face of my watch gave me also a feet
glimpse of something lying in the road
before me, almost at my feet.
I" 1 looked, and started back in hor-
ror peculiar sensation came to my
scalp; 1 felt my hair, SO to speak, |
rising on end for there, in a defile of |
the road, half wedged in the shelter of |
rock, was a coffin. The peculiar |
shape of it was only dimly discernible.
and either exaggerated by this dimness
or else the coffin was of gigantic size.
How did it get there? Did the fends
about me contrive this shape to deceive
my half delirious senses / looked
again, and slowly I saw the ponderous
lid rise, a skeleton hand come forth
then an arm. At last half the form
emerged from this terrible resting
place, and, wrapped about with wind
ing-sheet, seemed struggling to leave
the coffin altogether.
"T seized my pistol with trembling
hand. cooked it.
"' Don't shoot, young man cried
the spectre. yell spile the polish, eff
yer do. This cussed rain has e'en-a'-
most done for it already. It was pious
and peart spell back, but it's pretty
well spilled n.w, I'm afeard.'
cit was my old wrecker, carpenter,
and coffn-maker. He explained to me
that he'd started on time with the cof-
in, and kept up till the storm had come
lpon him, and was forced to rest awhile I
Inder the overhanging rock. He '
hought, very properly, hat no better
tself and he was right. We might {
bOtn uhNO CLCpb 1ASlNCS duo bAOAO HOuAu
till have been room for more.
"' Why on earth did you make it so &
zig p said. i don't want my poor I
lack to lie around loose in this way
"'Well, where's the odds?' said the &
accommodating artisan. You didn't {
eem to spare the expense so thought
ID leave plenty of elbow-room. We s
,an find suthin or other for ballast, I 6
eckon down below
"Poor Jack lies to this day in the g
angular coffin thus provided for him, {
md over him the arbutus blooms, and I
ender violets, and all the dainty flow I
rs dear to young girls fancy or an i
Id woman's love-" 8