Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-11-25

fo5or - pu1h o&; the speaker was j,
eob K1cL Iaeain Shouted in nv agonv
but ~ voSos and The wind rose toeeth,
iee1 vas not bsard. / continued r.
- nlndnan, though ! knew
IL 66to wos Goue that I uas
ecne, he Trapped mt r. the sinking
Sr1osSly / be.s shs deor. an u.
~ G6unl1ouo tHxf Yeocue
IL u po<si6ls ANA Heath certain, 70,
fit was night, and, - no doubt the storm
would separate the boats, my absence
would not be discovered until the YES
sci had foundered.
Could I expect aught else, when in
the occasional lull Of the hurricane
heard the rush of the deadly waters in
the hold, and felt the ship lurch more
heavily each moment as she plunged in
the trough Of the sea? Suddenly she
gave terrific keel over, and a wave
came rattling down the companion lad
der like thunder, rushed under the door
and inundated the cabin.
shrieked In agony, believing that all
was over-that l was to die thus, not
even with the chance of battling for
life.
I felt that could meet death calm.
~ if were on deck, with the heavens
above me; but my very hair stirred at
the horrible thought of being buried in
the sea a. it were in a box. Was
there really NO way of escape? l
looked round and gave great cry of
joy, then leaped forward, careless now
that the water mounted higher and
higher.
"Fool! Idiot" I exclaimed. "Why
did you not think of it before You
are your own murderer y
My eyes had rested upon nv revol-
yer. In a second ! had fired two of its
barrels into the lock of the door, shiv-
ering it to atoms, and the next minute
l was upon the deck-only just in time,
for the vessel was settling fast. 1t
would have settled long before, but that
the storm had abated.
With a wild hope looked for the
boats. Near or far all was alike
darkness hid the waters. But, having
succeeded so far, ] resolved not to
despair. One by one / discharged the
remaining barrels Of my revolver, and
then plunged into the sea, to swim as
far as I could from the ship before it
,5Ahk, hoping that / should find some
pieces of wreck. did 30 before I had
proceeded far-a mast, with cordage
attached. This helped me; for after
lashing myself to the mast as we'll as
Il could, the waves bore me away
FSuddenly, however, fearful rush of
water seized me. was drawn rapidly
back, aud then down as in . whirlpool
flung, it seemed, here, there and ev-
lerywhere-after which / remembered
no more. When / came to, / was in
one of the boats, with May Brodstone
leaning over me.
1t appeared that directly morning
dawned the boats were called together,
and the captain went over the names,
when mine was found missing; upon
which he resolved to row back, and see
| If he could not find me, urged thereto
by many of his companions, who won-
dered-as did not Jacob Kiel-what
could have prevented my getting into
one of the boats.
The sea was nearly calm, the sun
shining, and their search was not diff.
cult. They soon perceived dark OBJ
ject. Approaching it they found it to
be myself. cliuging like grim death to
the wreck but laughing and yelling like
n maniac. In fact was mad, and fol
some time after they had managed te
get me into the boat l remained so
then I became calmer. though / was
delirious for whole day and night.
Directly sensibili.y returned 1 told
my story, filling every one with hor.
ror, especially May Brodstone
81 see it all :" exclaimed the captain
'The william! Last night our boat:
separated in the darkness; this morn
ing the one bearing Jacob kiel and tn,
worst of the crew was missing. III,
has either steered thesboat into diff
ferent track, or paid the fellows to de
sert us, fearful of the punishment tha
might have awaited him when ",
touched land"
Whether this was so I do not know
for we never heard of Jacob kiel again
| That day we were picked up by ON
of Green's ships, homeward bound
aud in due time were landed in Eng
land, where May and I were mar
ried, and where we now reside, for m,
wife will not hear of crossing the oceal
lagsin, Al she cannot forget-as sindee'
/ -cannot-that most terrible momen
of my life.