The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-04-02

in'?' she answered, in a low voice
that rung like belI,-'Yes, nv poor
brother. Yes, a thousand times!
/ Comm in Gods timer 'Mabelle
| Why, Mabellep said Mr.. Devereux,
but she did not seem to hear. Turnin'
half about, she saw me. go now
with Mis-. Dawson, Jock" she said
in her old voice, and he came to me
/ in q moment We walked on a few
steps, and looked around, and saw
/ the Young men standin' still with
/ their eyes on the ground, and MIR.
DevereuX leanin' on Mabelle's arm,
and waikin' slowly up the hill.
Tom Porter and Ben Britton were
mastery disappointed that the Port
| land chaps went home next mornin'
instead o. stayin' for weeks fishin'
as they'd given out they would. The
boys had allowed to make q good bit
ont of them for odd jobs, but Mabelle
and kept our own counsel.
"Mabelle and her father went home
/ in November, and little while after,
Mis-. Deacon Price told me they had
gone TO France.
'The fall of 1910 was a hard one for
folks as got their Hvin' by the sea.
One gale beat close upon another, and
more than one boat from the Island
went to pieces. Winter came, at last,
and it was q comfort to have the
mackerel schooners all in, and settle
down q little. Comfort, leastwise to
some, in the north seas, and many a
gusty night i used to lay and never
shut my eyes till daybreak.
"Christnas Eve came. All day the
I leland rod honn ohnlrnd In I'll Faf
Away to the northeast the gray. bank
of fog broke little as the sun went
down, and showed q pile of clouds,
black as midnight.
"Joek ID been stsyin, with me ever
since summer. He didn't seem like
himself thxt night, so restless and un-
easy-like, and to see If 1 couldn't paci-
/ fy him, / got my Bible and begun to
read just where it opened, which hap
pened to be at the eighteenth Psalm.
He threw himself down and listened,
but he had such queer, wild look,
that shut the Bible after little, and
told him to go upstairs to bed. lie
started docile enough, but at the
chamber door he stopped so long that
1 spoke to him again.
"'Go on, now, Jock-that's my
good boy He gave such start that
L was scared for minute, then he put
up his hand, and said, quite loud.
It's comin'l Tonight p
"Then he went up stairs.
Somehow couldn't go to bed. /
felt as If something was goin' to hap
pen. The very air wasn't natural.
Before knew 1t, I'd be sayin' over to
myself, Its comin'-to-nightn y Twas
no use tryin' to scold myself out of my
feelin's, and so, at last, 1 just Topped
down on the Tongue with my clothes
on. As laid there, I could hear the
wind risin' and the surf pound on the
rocks outside Of the bar. 1 heard the
clock strike ten, and eleven, and then
l must "a gone into a heavy sleeep,
for when 1 woke up all of sudden,
the last spark of fire was out and the
room cold as grave. The candle was
burnt down into the stick, till there
was hardly gleam of light left. /
got up, for / was shiverin' like an
ague-chill, and as I walked across the
floor, felt the old house tremble in
the gale, and the roar of the sea was
like one long roll of thunder. Then,
all to once-it's a dreadful sound,
ma'am, in night like that-I heard
gun, and in a minute more, another,
and fell down on my knees and
prayed for the poor wretches perishin'
out there in the storm. 1 couldn't
'abear to stay alone, so put some
thing around me and ran over through
the dark. to 'Bijah Porter's. They were
all up, and 'Bijah and Tom had Just
come up from the shore. Tney
couldn't make out any thing, they
said, and the sea run SO that there was
nothin' to do but wait for light.
"Toward mOrnin' the wind went
down, and with the first streak of
dawn, we all went down to the beach.
There was great crowd there already,
and after good while we could just
make out big black thing, lyin' part
ly out OF the water to the IeeWard of
Pirates Rock, not mOre'n quarter of
mile away.
"'Poor creeturs y said Bile, they
must "a, been all dead hours ago.
$50 nigh the land, aud Christmas
Day y said Martha Price, who was a
standin' close to me. Then she grip
ped my arm, and says she unoer her
breath.
"'Ma'am Dawson, dare to say
that it's cruel thing L
"I couldn't answer her. l felt like
blasphemer, for twas my own
thought she'd voiced.
"All of a sudden heard noise be-
hind me, like some one runnin', and
the crowd parted every way. 1 turned
around, and for an instant, ma'am, /
thought the sea ID give up the dead it
swallowed two and twenty years
NUoe-Tk Ha-fn NUf1lf-k1r,
that stood there, with black eyes
flashin' and the salt spray frozen into
his hair Z? A dozen women screamed,
and old Mis-. Price fell down like
dead.
Jock y I called out then, for 1
didn't know what was sayin'-'O
Jock is it come p
"He didn't answer. I doubt if he
heard or saw me ut all. He stood
starin' out to sea with such face as
/ never saw on mortal man. All at
once his voice, that used to be so weak
like child's rung out strong and
clear as a trumpet:
"'He bowed the heavens, also, and
came down, and darkness was under
his feet. And he rode upon a cherub
and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the
wings of the wind. His pavilion
round about him were dark waters
and thick clouds of the skies.
"'He sent from above, he took me,
he drew me out of many waters.
"'Thou wilt light my candle; the
Lord my God will enlighten my dark
ness. For who is God, save the Lord,
and who is a rock save our God%
"The fog lifted up in the east, and
the clear light touched his head. A
minute more and the wreck was in
full view. Jock turned like 3 flash
and wrenched the glass out of Skipper
Gibson's hand. He looked for an IN
slant, then he dashed it down on the
sand, and ran for the bOat-house. The
men looked at each other. Nobody
seemed to breathe. Skipper Gibson
was the first that spoke.
"tMen! God calls us by miracleIi
sit was like breakin' spell. They
ran, they shouted, they pulled down
the boat. Jock was the first inside.
Six times the swell beat her back,
but the seventh she passed the break
er. Up and down over the white caps
We could see spring to the oars. The
men told US after that Jock never
spoke, but pulled with the strength of
three, and that if in all those senseless
years when held=been so much upon
the sea, he'd made the handlin' of "a
boat a study, he couldn't IA seemed to
know better what to do. Skipper
Gibson declared to his dyin' day that
be believed the spirit of his father
came back into Jocks body that day;
but think, ma'am, that it was an
other Spirit that lightened that dark
ness.
ave watched them as they made
fast to the wreck, and then we made
out two men climbin' up the side and
into the riggin'. We saw through the
glass one dark thing and then another
banded down; then somethin' seemed
to fall, and nOtbin' was clear for a lit
tie. The boat moved round and round
the wreck, and headed for shore. As
it came nearer, we made out Skipper
Gibson and 'Bijah and the Others, but
no Jock. a hundred hands stretched
out to pull 'em in. The skipper sprung
over the bows.
"'Quick quick p he called out.
Lend a hand, and we may save them