The Portland daily press., 1876-01-08


knows what an hour may bring forth If you
have to swim for your life, will you have any
| chance if you start eXhausted?"
l saw that she was right, and We snatched
| a hasty meal together as best we could. Just
as we had finished, culver ran through the
| ship; the motion changed; she began to roll
heavily. The sofa on which we were sitting
broak away from its fastenings, and we were
thrown violently from one side of the cabin
| to the other, in the midst af an avalanche of
| all the movables that were unfastened, or had
broken away.
As soon as we regained our feet, we made
| for the deck. 1 thought that the last moment
had come, and desired only to see daylight
once more. We had parted from our anchor,
and were drifting rapidly away towards the
dark bristlng cliffs to leeward.
The sight seemed to restore confidence and
courage to Jenny. GO forward!' she
screamed in my ear; ego forward, you and
| the steward, and get the lower sail on the
| foremast black Jem and l will steer the
ship"
Jenny's voice inspired me the prospect Of
| doing something TO avert our fate gave me
new strength. l stumbled forward, holding
on TO any thing that came to hand. The
steward stood at the door of his caboose,
having damned himself into secure position |;
pipe was in his mouth, and black bottle in
his hand. He looked at me with luck-lustre
eyes, Come along man." l shouted in his
ear; s'come and help me get UP SAIL"
"What's the odds ?" he replied in sullen
voice; ''what's the odds? Let's be happy
while we mayp
The man was drunk. 1 cast despairing
glance behind me when the poor ship, raised
high in the air by some towering wave,
seemed almost to touch the sky. Jenny was
at the wheel, shading her eyes with her hand,
looking anxiously forward. All what could
do among all this bewildering maze of cord
age and rigging, all shaking and rattltng in
the wind-I who hardly knew one rope from
another? But the sight of Jenny at the
wheel, looking out for me, nerved me to do
something. l made my way to the foremost,
and clambered up the rigging. Sometimes l
hung over the boiling abyss, sometimes
found myself pressed against the rigging,
looking down at precipice of water beneath
me. Loose ropes and flying blocks threat
ened Inc every moment with destruction; but
/ held on to the ropes like grim death, and,
inspired by the courage of despair, essayed
| that which at another time l should have
never dreamed Of; crawled out on the yard,
with my knife in my teeth, and cut, one by
one, the lashings that bound the sail TO it.
The sail flew out with a tremendous report.
and threatened every moment to tear itself to
tatters but, Selling rope, slid down 20 the
deck with the rapidity that took every morsel
of skin of my ANGLES, and getting hold of a
rope that saw controlling the movements OF
the sail, I hauled it in, bit by bit, and sue
ceeded in making fast one side of the sail.
The other offered less difficulty. Jenny
waved her hand triumphantly from the poop.
The ship began to move through the water,
no longer to drift helpless and forlorn. We
should clear the teadland that now doomed
so ominously upon US, crouching there like
some hungry animal awaiting his prey.
I crawled back TO the poop, and Jenny
rewarded me with an encouraging grasp of
the hand. "You did that beautifully" she
cried. ''Now, if the gale moderates, as I
think it will and doesn't veer round more to
the westward"-
AS she spoke, we shot past the headland,
and gained clear view of the coast beyond.
The sun was sinking low, and showed for
moment blood-red streak between two angry
clouds. The lurid light it cast upon the red
frowning cliffs was something appalling.
They ran along for miles, as far as the eye
could reach-steep, inaccessible heights, with
the surf beating angily against them, and
flying up in clouds of spray halfway to their
summit.
AS the sun went down, it came on to blow
harder and more from the westward. The
line of cliffs TO leeward doomed nearer and
nearer. The'sail ceased to draw, beginning
to shake and flap with loud noise.
"She will 60 no nearer the wind, Wilie,"
cried Jenny, knitting her brows; "and we
drift continuously to leeward. You must haul
that sheet tighter, Willie; it's our only
chance"
Twas running forward to my work, when
block, detached from the rigging by the
force of the wind, struck me violently on the
head and fell to the ground insensible.
When came to myself. my head was aching
violently, although it seemed to be supported
by soft pillow. Il was quite dark, and the
air was full of hideous noises; the scream of
the wind, the loud roar of the surf, filed the
air with tupult indescrbabe. "Where am
II" said feebly stretching out my arms
into the darkness. felt arms about me,
soft kiss imprinted on my forehead.
''We shall be ashore, dear, in five minutes!
said voice in my ear, "and all our troubles
over"
I raised myself up, with groan, an tried
to gain my feet, but fell back exhausted.
The scene about me struck me with terror:
the thought of drowning helpless in this rag
ing gulf of waters had an ineffabe bitterness
to me.
"Willie," said Jenny once more in nay ear,
eff you get safe ashore, will you give my love
to father 90
Then found that was lying beneath The
oAOitOL VI taC pOOphCSh, plObCSUCO d lltGlO ny
that from the sea that was breaking over us,
and that life belt was fastened under my
arms. Jenny was crouched beside me, hold
ing my head in her lap chatting my temples
and hands.
The few minutes that elapsed before we
struck seemed to be an age. The wind be-
meath the cliffs was not so violent, and the
back current of the waves kept us for mo-
ment away from the rocks which we almost
touched. But the respite was not for long;
we grounded upon an outrunning spit of
rock, and instantly the sea made clean
sweep over us, carrying away masts, spars,
rigging-everything went by the board. 1
had seized Jenny at the moment of striking,
and we were hurried away together in hid
eous trough of cordage and timber Dash
ing violently against mass of slippery chalk
which afforded no purchase for hand or foot,
1 lay there, fairly exhausted, expecting every
moment the return of the wave that would
sweep us back into the gulf, when thought
l saw light close beside me, shining into my
eyes, and face peering anxiously over the
waters. It was delusion, one of the hallu-
cinations of approaching death. Next mo-
ment we were covered with binding surge,
and great green wave swept over US, driving
us pell-mell before it with inconceivable fury.
l lost my senses for while to find myself
damned in between two fragments of rock.
Jenny was gone. had lost my hold of her,
and she had been carried away into the boil
ing gulf.
had nothing to expect myself but instant
death. The next wave would wash me out of
my hole, mere crevice in the precipice. I
had hardly strength enough to breathe, and
could fight no longer against my fate.
But though l was constantly covered with
surf, and nearly suffocated, yet the waves did
not reach me with full force. The tide was
retiring.
Time passed on, hardly knew how, till
the moon rose red and menacing. The tide
was down now, but the surf reached to the
very base of the cliffs. The food would
come presently, like lion to his half
devoured victim, and I should perish. Then
/ heard voices below me, and saw by the
moonlight some men draped in short smocks
or blouses cropping about among the rocks
beneath me. They were countrymen, evil
IDENTIFY, who had been attracted by the wreck,
and who had found their way down the
cliffs by some concealed footpath. l shouted,
they heard me and clambered to my retreat
They were full of compassion and kindness.
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