Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-12-09
0alfs aud Skftfhes.
HANGING OVER fHE SEA.
AN ADVENTURE IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.


A stormy sea on every side. nothing 10
stand on but a ledge of slippery rock
barely six inches wide. the tide rising
higher every moment. night coming on.
no help within reach. and not living soul
in sight. This is just one of those adven-
lures which are a good deal pleasanter u
read about after dinner. in snug armchair
bv the fire, than to meet with oneself ;and
it was jus. in this agreeable position that
I found myself on gloomy March even
ing. in one OF the loneliest parts of the
northern seas.
| In the shortlived brightness of summer,
when two whole months are one long day,
during which the sun never sets. even the
treeless islands of the far north make a
charming picture. With the grass green
in the valleys and the sky blue overhead,
and the sea sparkling in dancing ripples
far as eve can reach.-Orkney, Shetland,
Farce. and grim old Iceland itself, are a
match for anything in Switzerland or the
Crimea. Bet in winter or early spring,
when everything is bleak. and gloomy,
and desolate. and when roaring gales and
torrents of rain come turn about with
| frosts that seem able 10 split solid rock,
it is a very different matter. as was now
beginning % learn to my cost.
| How had got into the scrape is easily
told One OF these deceitful spells of fine
weather, which, in these high, northern
| latitudes, so often mislead even an ex-
perienced traveller into thinking the spring
storms fairly over, had set in two or three
| days before. Such chance was not to
be lost. was as eager as Robinson
Crusoe himself to explore the island, and
hitherto. what with brooding mists, swol-
len torrents, and impossible boys, | had
seen nothing OF it beyond the two huge
gray ridges that shut in the little hut of
big stones and driftwood which sheltered
myself and the hardfaced old fisherman
with whom had taken up my quarters.
My first start on this voyage of discov-
cry, however, was not a success. | had
ventured out over the slippery, weed
coated rocks. to solitary crag,-one of
those isolated stacks" so common in the
northern seas-which seemed to have
been torn from the main cliff by some
CONFUSION, ages ago. Once there, had
forgotten all about the tide. till suddenly
found that my peninsula had become an
island. and that was in very awkward
fix.
Had the sea been calm, | could have
swum ashore in half a dozen strokes; but
Capt. Webb himself, would have had no
chance among the furious waves that
made the very cliffs tremble with their
blows, and dashed up their boiling foam
as high as the ledge on which stood. The
strongest man on earth could not have
Ieaped across the gulf that yawned be-
tween me and the main headland; and
even had the leap been possible, ca.
could not have found footing on the grim
precipice beyond To escape seemed
impossible; to stay where | was, till the
rising waves swept me off the rock,
would be slower but an equally certain
death. What was to be done?
Suddenly thought struck me knew
that the cliffs or the northern islands, con-
stantly sawed away by lashing waves,
often beetle over so as to make the dis
lance between their tops less than fourth
what it is lower down. | determined to
climb higher. and soon found place
where the huge crags, jutting out toward
each other from the opposing precipices,
made a jump barely possible,
1t is not pleasant to look down from
tii't iNdl iui IutO iHt tOdIlug sta.
and think what would happen if | fell
short, or failed to make good my footing
upon the narrow, uneven. spray-lashed
ledge on the other side of the gulf But
| know that the longer | thought of it,
the worse it would be; so, drawing my
self together, shot out into the empty
air. The next moment found myself, q
hardly knew how safe on the other side,
Sate-but what next? Except that was
now beyond the reach of the tide. |
seemed to be not whit better off than be-
fore. Although | was at least 100 feet
above the sea, the mighty precipice still
rose more than 80 overhead, gaunt and
bare as Mount Sinai itself. without an inch
of foothold. Worse still. could see the
angry redness of the setting sun. and the
great mass of leaden cloud which was
gathering to windward. that a storm was
rising which would whirl me off that
narrow shelf like straw.
just then | was startled by a harsh,
horrible cry close beside me, which had
heard too often not to know at once for
the shrek of the northern raven. And
there it came, the huge, black, hideous
! thing, circling round ard round me. with
/ its gloomy wings outspread like the
| shadow of death, and its fiery ewes fixed
hungrily upon me as if already marking
me for its prey.
Shaken as my nerves were by fatigue
and exhaustion, could not restrain a
passing shudder at the sight of this horri-
bic creature. which. Gas the northern
islanders firmly believe is drawn by an
unerring instinct to the lost and helpless
man who is about to become its victim.
shouted, to scare it away, but it only drew
off a little, and then continued to hover
over me as before.
But just then my eye caught a cleft, or
rather seam, that ran up the face of the
precipice, little to the right, the edges
of which, gaped and splntered by years
of storm. seemed to promise some foot
hold. | sided along the ledge till
reached it, and. buttoning my coat tightly.
to give the wind as little hold as possible.
began the ascent.
Such a climb never had before or
since. Twice did the stones to which |
chung, give way, and go crashing down
into the raging sea below. The sharp
edges tore my hands. the brittle stones
broke away under my feet, while the
screams of the lowering raven mingled
drearily with the bowling wind, which
tugged and buffeted me like live enemy.
Were the top to beetle over so that could