The Republican journal., 1884-08-14

down, and there it blew, tickering like
flame, making as strong au appeal for
assistance as ever a man could by way
ing his hands. Well, we shortened sail,
and approached her, keeping a sharp
lookout for anything that should resem-
be a human being; there was nothing
in that way to be seen. There was
| lOngish deck house aft, and the remains
of another one forward. There was not
much swell on, and she lay pretty quiet,
| giving herself a slow slant, now and
again, that hove space of her wet side
into the sun, and made her flash out like
a beacon.
"'She looks to be abandoned, sir
says to the Captain.
"'Why, yes; that's her appearance,
certainly. says he. But it's a fine
morning: no harm can be done 10y your
stepping aboard and giving her brief
overhaul
$50 the bark's maintopsai was laid to
the mast, boat lowered, and three
hands pulled me over to the wreck
| Two men clambered over the rail after
me, leaving one in charge of the boat.
We stood a moment looking around.
| Her decks were full of rattle, ropes,
slaves and casks, and the like: the main
matches We're off as if the crew had been
| .jettisoning her cargo, her port bull
warks forward Of the main rigging
were smashed flush with the deck, and
| altogether she had the most Shipwrccked
and strained appearance that | ever saw
in a vessel atoat. put my hand to my
mouth and sang out:
".Anvbodv aboard here r. hgt the on
" answer that came. was the sound of
| the streaming of the wind through the
rigging. and the bubblipg and washing
noise of the water over the side.
".No fear as to her not being aban-
doned, sir said one of the men. An
empty coffin couldn't be more destitute
of life | stepped TO the door Of the
| deck-hOuse and looked in. There was
no appearance of injury here. 4 table
went down it, with fixed chairs on one
side and Il locker on the other, and ON
the port side was a row of cabins five or
| six. | think. The door of this deck
| house SWING omen. and the two men and
peered in, and then says /:
| ''Ill lust step in and see if | can
come across any papers belonging to
| her. for | must tell YOU there was no
name on ber bows. and whatever might
have been written on her stern was
under water. But scarce mad | uttered
the above observation. when a sort of
thin waiing crv came from one of the
cabins
''sHello, saws one of NV men. 'the
crew. have cone and left poor pussy be-
hind
"'pussvn saws /, who had caught .he
crv verv clearly. and heard a note in it
there was no mistaking, that's no eat,
lads. Follow me- And walked straight
| to the cabin. from which the sound ap-
peared to come. and opening the door.
saw lust the kind Of SIGHT nv mind seem
ed to have been urel,ared. by the cry we
had heard. to witness. The cabin was a bit
of box with a scuttle over The tounnst
of a couple of hunks. There were some
female garments on the deck. along with
an infants feeding bottle. broken, and a
few other domestic odds and ends. only
met with at sea when there are women
aboard. As we entered, a second small
waiing cry came from the upper bunk.
and, on looking. we spied a dead woman
in it. with her RIGHT arm cast round a
baby nine or ten months old 1t was
impossible TO tell that she was dead. till
we drew close and saw the signs plain.
She was a Young woman, not more than
tWenty-siX or tVenty-spven. her hair
yellow. and in life don't douht. she had
| been pretty enouoh. bnt now her face was
so STRANGELY white that she ,uiUht have
passed for a figure worked in plaster of
| Paris. The baby was too yo,lno ia sit
up: he lav-it was boy. sir-hp Law ON
his dead mothers arm giving now and
then the uueer crv we Il ID heard. the
wall an infant utters after it has exhaust
ed itself in crvino for honrs nicl1ed
him up out of the bunk. and found him
wet through. and his flesh like stone for
the cold His mothers clothes-if the
woman were his mother. which | don't
doubt-were streaming wet, too. and
this made us suppose that she had been
driven from the deck by the washing
water. and had entered her cabin and
had laid down to die. there.
"The men spoke hurriedlv about how
it came to pass that these two should
have been left alone in the wreck. Who
was she? | said there was no account
inc for what happened at sea. She
might have been the wife of the master,
who was drowned in the storm, and left
no one to look after her: or all hands
might have perished in getting the boats
over; or the crew might have forgotten
her when they put off: there was no teU
ing. There lay the woman dead, sadt
and gave the baby to one of the men
named Nipper to hold whilst pulled off
my coat to wrap the little chap up in,
for he trembled like a shiverng bird
with the cold, and kept on wailing, as if
our handling him and the sound Of our
voices had put bit Of life into him. We
looked hurriedly into the cabins, but
they were empty, and we could find 40
papers. There was no good bringing
the dead mother along with us to bury !:
the ship she was in was her righttul
coffin, and being very deep, with her
main hatch open, ! rightly reckoned
that the next bit OF sea that got up would
sink the wreck fast enough. don't say
as | didn't humble a prayer as | came
away holding the little chap. 1t was an
affecting sight to see that young woman
lying there so lonely-quite recently
dead, as we might suppose by her little
one beng alive; and when took last
peep at her | almost felt as if she knew