New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-02-10


! pierce the obscurity, and exclaimlng: I" VIII they
be able to hear it, Jack' Can nothing more be
dOneVs
Never boys. had my heart gone 80 close TO hers as
then, while watched her gllstcn ng eyes, the beau
tful, touching anxiety in the trembling OF her lips,
the sweet contraction of her white brows, her for
ward leaning, listening posture as though, by the
sheer power of her true, tender wOmanly soul that
was with those lonely, blinded, hidden sailors. she
would draw their boat within the sphere OF our
| vision.
We had been lying hove to in this fashion for
about twenty minutes while Mr.. Thornton let fly
his rifle NJ intervals pulling the cartridges out Of
his side pocket as though they were sugar-plums in
| bag there when on sudden the thickness in the
very quarter we were all peering into thnned away
| down into n kind of blush shining as though the
light off the sea was working through IT was but
wide flaw. indeed but as It hung for few minutes
| 1t gave sight of the boat about two hundred
! fathOms distant: she showed on the brow Of
! swell, with her oars over and her head our way,
| though somewhat TO windwaTd OF rs. The man III
the after part of her was rowing fisherman fashion,
| that is TO say standing up, with his face looking
forward: he saw US, and tossed one hand mp, while
we all pressed forward to shout and gestculate. to
encourage them to perSeyere: and nothing in all my
| life sounded moro strangely TO my ears than
the the people who were grouped upon the bull
warks sent up when they saw the boat II swelled
! up like great moan, and the complaining of it
camo down out Of the hidden. steady canvas alOft.
But the abOmnable fog boiled up again betwlXt the
boat and us and all that could be done now was for
Mr.. Thornton to go on firing while Daniel from
time to time hailed the cleaning smother with his
speaking trumpet.
Thrice had he thus hailed when there came a
faint reply. apparently right astern. Captain Jack
son aud Thompson Tucker the skipper, chief mate
and l now all united our voices in prodigiOus
shout which reckon was as far-reaching rs the
port of the rifle; but not being able 10 see we
couldn't tell the poor fellows how TO head nor burst
we bawl q single direction, prefcrrlng rather to
leave their guidance to God; for they might pass
the ship within fifty feet and not see her. and If
once they took to cropping without certainty of our
whereabouts, then, if the fog didn't clear away
soon, they might be- ont of sight when the horizon
showed and lost to us as If they were al the bot
tom of the wafer. pom my word, there was posi-
tive torture in expectation. and we shouted and
fired and listened as If ge were the people who were
in PERIL till suddenly Florence cried There's the
boat" and pointed with passionate eagerness over
the taiirail to spot of shadow low down among the
There size is :" I shouted: and "There she ism
bawed Daniel and, putting his two hands to his
mouth, iiurTah' my, lads" he roared you'll
fetch us now Xou'H be seeing Us plainly enough
nOww and Mr. Thornton sprang on 10 the tafral
with q coil of rope ready to fling to them 1t was
painful to watch the lift and fall of those two oars
the utter exhaustion; the bitter, dying strife for
life they somehow illustrated. In "A few minutes
size was close Look out for the end of thus line"
shouted the chief mate. and he chucked the coil fair
over the foremost man, who twisted himself to
catch hold of IT, took turn. and then fell in heap
on the body ut the bottom. A grOan of pity ran
along our decks; some of the crew came tunibling
aft aud presently the boat was far alongside and
the men lifted ont.
| went with the others to the breal! of the poop
to see them got aboard The fellow who had fallen
was insensible and had to be handed up: the other
had more life in him, but his grasp toe feeble TO
support him, and he'd have fallen back INTO the
boat if orr men had not collared and helped HIM
over the side. To look down at them, as did. yOu
would have thought them the right kind of sea ap
partition to come ont OF that binding white smoke
upon tho water. Had they been ten days drifting
about their faces couldn't have shown more hollow
and gaunty yellow and one of the three being
seemingly dead gave the last finishing touch of hOr
ror to the whole thing. They were taken forward.
the doctor following in their wake and for some
time we lost sight of them But there was the boat
10 watch az the limo that held her was sackened,
and she was veered astern, while the malnyard was
swung and way got on the ship. | found myself
among those who stared at her rs though little
open boat was SO a thing that hundred
pounds would not be too much TO pay for the sight
of it, But where there has been suffering, the the
atre of it though 1t be but an old plank, lakes
kind of mystery and awe that's pure magic OF itself:
and deep II is i'll our nature. since you ma II uni
Vcrsal. though one may wonder AT aud ridicule IT,
Vulgar it may los, when II comes To giving guinea
for an inch of the rope that stranglcd n maefactor
but the fascination is more gcntcel when you lind It
on you in the gloom of a dungeon that has echoed
the Cr0ans of martyr or on piece OF soil that was
once an ashen gray with the embers and burned skin
and bone of some mild and harmless creature whose
sin was that he believed in God as he found HIM In
the Bible. We had Imagination to help us-l can
answer at least for my sweetheart and myself Tor.
not yet knowing the truth, we tancled the worst.
and put the whole spirit of it into that boat, till t
became the emblem of the anguish we pictured, and
horribly fascinating III consequence.
whats the story of those men. dye suppose
captain y says the nayy-man To Daniel who stood
"Impossibie to guess but we shall hear pres
y,
+" / don't see any sign of a breaker in the boat
there's locker and there's no food, says Captain
oh. Captain Thompson. do you think the two
poor men are dead! cried Mrs. Marmaduke Nor
timer
"I'm afraid one is-drowned, he looked to me, "
. How could he he drowned if he's in the boat.
capt'n e. asked Mrs. O'Brien.
"By falling overheard answered Captain Jack
= Hang these Incidents cried Mr. Thompson
Tucker. They max ones flesh creep Hope they
don't forebOde trouble to u.s. that all Hang me II
I'm fond of stumbling over cOrpses, as It might be-
" Oh Marmadukc tmurmured Mrs. Mortimer put
ting her band into her husbands arm
- No use terrifying the ladies, young gentleman
oTite right sir" replied MIR. Thompson Tucker.
brskly: Z" and hope nothing may happen that TiH
Here Mr. Griffith arrived. and we all gathered
round him to hear his report. Well, Doctor, says
Thompson.
aweIl, sir" replied Mr. Griffith. one mans dead;
the other two alive and likely to go on LIVING
What's their story
"Why" said the doctor. half turning TO grope
with his eyes along the leeward lckness, they
belong TO a small brig which can't be fer off, Here
Captain jackson started and looked sternly alOft
and then over the side, in manifest depreciation OF
our rate of sailing, under the circumstances. A
man fell overheard, il seems continued tho doctor
and a boat was lowered with two men and the
mate TO pick HIM up. suppose they re not very
active and smart in those small vessels ana the con
sequence was the man was u tluS uIStthce d9t'In
before tho boat was got into the water. All
this while the poor follow was swimming strongly
but when they were within a few strokes OF MN ne
went down. On seeing this the ma te jumped ont of
the boat after him. but whether he had mlscalculat
ed his strength or something had gone wrong with |
him he sunk a minute two after he had made the |
plunge The men in the boat went to the spot !
where he had vanished. and saw him hanging about |
foot under the surface, with his arms stretchd |
forward and his legs in running posture; one |
leaned over. caught him by tho hair and dragged /
him IN but he was dead. Well the man who tod |
me this says that when he now looked round for |
his vessel he spied her some distance to windward. |
and behind her the sky coming along in white |
wall II swallowed her up then reached TO them,
and there they WERE" says the doctor lost in this
dense mist with dead shipmate at their feet until
we Slid past 'em SO close that another few feet