The Morning herald., 1876-11-29
CORD AND CRRRsR.
CHAPTER VIII.
the SIGNAL OF FIRE.

night Brandon flung himself down where
ever he happened to be, either 1t the brig
or at the rock. Every day he had to 60
to the rock for water, and also to look out
toward the sea from that side. At first,
while intent upon his work at the ship,
the sight of the barren horizon every day
did not materially affect him; he rose su-
perior to dependency and cheered him
self with his task. Bat at length, at the
end of about three weeks, all this work was
done and nothing mtre remained. His
only idea was to labor to effect his escape,
and not to insure his comfort during his
stay.
Now - day succeeded day allhis old
gloom returned. The excitement Of the
last few weeks had acted favorable upon
his bodily health, but when this was re-
moved he began to feel more than his old
weakness. Such diet as his might sustain
nature, but it could not preserve health.
He grew at length to loathe the food which
he had to take, and it was only by stern
resolve that he forced himself to swallow
it.
At length new evil was superadded to
those which had already afflicted him.
During the first part Of his stay the hollow
or pool of water on the rock had always
been kept filled by the frequent rains. But
now for three weeks, in fact ever since the
uncovering of the Vishnu, not single
drop of rain had fallen. The sun shone
with intense heat, and the evaporation was
great. The wind at first tempered this
heat somewhat, but at last this ceased to
blow by day, and often for hours there
was dead calm, in which the water OF the
sea Law unruffled aud all the air was mo-
tionless.
If there could only have been something
which he could stretch over that precious
pool Of water he might then have arrested
its flight. But he had nothing, and could
contrive nothing. Every day saw per-
ceptible decrease in its volume, and at last
it went down SO low that he thought he
could count the number Of days that were
left HIM to live. But his despair could not
stay the operation Of the laws of nature,
and he watched the decrease of that water
as one watches the failing breath Of dy-
ing child.
Many weeks passed, and the water of
the pool still diminished. At last It had
sunk SO low that Brandon could not hope
to live more than another week unless rain
came, and that now he could scarcely ex-
pect. The look out became more hopeless
and at length his thoughts, instead of turn
ing toward escape, were occupied with de-
lberating whether he would probably die
of starvation Or simple physical exhaus-
ton. He began to enter into that state Of
mind which he had read in Despard's s
MSS, in which life ceases to be matter
OF desire, and the only wish left is to die
as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
At length one day as his eyes swept the
waters mechanically out Of pure habit and
not expecting any thing, he saw far away
to the northeast something which looked
like sail. He watched it for an hour be-
fore he fairly decided that it was not some
mocking cloud. But at the end of that
time ii had grown larger, and had assumed
form which no cloud could keep SO long.
Now his heart beat fast, and all the old
longing for escape and the old love oflife
returned with fresh vehemence. This new
emotion overpowered him, and he did not
try to struggle with it.
Nov had come the day and the hour
when all life was in suspense. This was
his first hope, and he felt tina. it must be
his last. Experience had shown that the
island must lie outside the common track
of vessels, and, in the ordinary course of
things, if this passed by he could not hope
to see another.
Now he had to decide how to attract her
notice. She was still far away, yet she was
evidently drawing nearer. The rock was
higher than the mound and more conspi-
cuous. He determined to carry his signal
there, and erect it somewhere on that place
SO he took up the heavy staff, and bore
it laboriously over the sand till he reached
the rock.
By the time he arrived there the vessel
had come nearer. Her top.sails were visi.
bic above the horizon. Her progress was
very slow, for there was only very little
wind. Her studding-sails were all set tc
catch the breeze, and her course was such
that she came gradually nearer. Whether
she would come near enough to see the ls-
land was another question. Yet ifthey
thought of keeping a lookout, if the mer
in the tops had glasses, his rock and tht
signal could easily been seen. He feared
however, that this would not be thought Of
The existence of Coffin Island was no
generally known, and if they supposed
that there was only open water here the!
would not be on the lookout at all.
Nevertheless Brandon erected his sigma
and as there was no place on the solid rocl
where he could insert it he held it up il
his own hands. Hours passed. The shi]
had come very much nearer, bnt her hui
was not yet visible. Still he stood ther
under the burning sun holding aloft hi
signal. Fearing that it might not be sufti
ciently conspicous he fastened his coat t
the top, and than wa, ed it slowly backwar