The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-15

that know not. it must have been many weeks,
for they told me after had been twice gwen
up by the DOCTORS l delrious the greater
part of the time, and had no recoiiec-
| tons ot anything, except when was getting oct
ter, had dim Consciousness of familiar pres
ence in the room, and once fancled some one
kissed me on the forehead. The first persons
! recognized when r:y senses cleared were my
mother and the woman whom had louhc ou
that eventful night, lying in the shadow OF the
shed on the bare heath. I grew stronger ana
| stronger was pronounced out OF dan-
ger, and at last allowed TO siC up
in bed and talk. One day the , GocVor
asked me if l had heard the history
| of the woman whose life, he said, had saveu
| and when told him No, he. answered, TASK
her to tell it to you. 1t is "a most tragic affair
She, too. has lost her husband and think you
will be interested" give her tale almost as it
came from her own lips, emitting my question
ings and Interruptions.
MY husband :" she said "died six months
after our marriage, and as / was left almost
penniless my brother in Australia wrote to me
to come and keep house for him. In the steamer
went out by there was young German gen
tlenan, called Wagner. who was very kind 10
me. We were within five days journey of our
destination when / woke up one night to find
myself alone in the cabin, and the ship on fire.
l sprang to the door. but fell back almost suf
located by the deadly smoke and just as | felt
| my consciousness going, Mr.. Wagner rushed in,
seized me in his arms, and knew no more, until,
l.
small boat with my deliverer, the first mate
| and two sailors-alone on the wide sea, keg
| of water and package of biscuits were ali we
| had IN the way of provisions-enough to last US
| about three days The first mate, however, de-
| clared that it might be weeks before we were
| picked up and that he must portion them out so
| as to last ten days. at least. Seven long days
| and nights went by, no sign Of succor. and all
our allowances gore! Each day Mr.. Wagner had
| taken his snare of biscuit, but the tablespoonful
of water meted out to him he always gave to
me. | did not pretend to refuse, brute that
was! In fact, hardly thanked him for it, so
utterly mad was with the fearful cravings OF
hunger and thirst l had noticed, however,
that. strong as he appeared, the awful privatons
to which we were subjected seemed to tell on
him more than on any of the others; he was
| weaker, paler, and more exhausted. l soon
| found the reason for when there
| starvation, and when the strong men began to
whine and pule like infants he turned to me
with an attempt at a smile, bidding me to keep
a brave heart and showing me, hidden away in
| his pocket the whole allowance of biscuits that
| had been doleG out to him They all for
| you: kept them purpose, he said, in reply to
| my savage demand for one. God forgive me!
| snatched it from his hand like wild beast,
never even thanking him for his noble self
| sacrifice, although | saw that the poor fellow
was fast sinking from hunger and exhaustion.
| can see now, though did not notice it at the
time, the sad, panied look on his face as he
biscuits, then and there. and even attempted TO
tear them from him by force. | was mad-mad
with hunger and thirst!'
The poor woman broke down here utterly. and
1t was some time before | could soothe her suff
GENTLY to 60 on with her tale
I'VE were ten days in that boat" she con
tinued, land on the morning Of the eleventh we
saw, when daylight broke, that we were fast ap-
preaching land OF some sort. We were too weak
to row or direct the boat in any way but we
soon found we were drifting rapidly in. Fortu
natelv, just came into shallow water
large breaker lifted us clean up and flung
| boat some way in leaving it stranded the e.
otherwise it would probably have been over
| turned and all washed away by outgoing
| wave AS we crawed out of the boat, which was
| lying on its side among the shnge. one of
| noticed a quantity of shellfsh adhering to the
| bottom We had just enough strength left to
tear them off, greedily open and devour them.
If it had not been for this believe we must
have died where we lay, for there there
and single to pass before we could get suff-
GENTLY inland to obtain any food. However,
hard as the she'll fish were, they served to sup
port life for a time The mate, who was the
least exhausted, crawled a little way in and at
last returned bearing some turtles eggs he had
found Day by day passed, and we grew
| stronger and stronger. all except poor Mr.
| Wagner, whose noble self-sacritice nearly cost
| him his life. He got little better at last and
| was able to accompany the others short
| hunting expeditions but in all long dangerous
| adventures he had to be left behind with me at
home. How long we were on that island Gf it
were an island) cannot say. 1t must have
been considerably more than year, but there
was nothing to mark the days by. They came
and went one after another, bringing always
tho same events and the same requirements. We
saw several ships pass by, a long way out to
sea, but could not succeed In attracting atten-
ton.
"One morning, however when all the others
had gone for whole days hunting expedition.
| leaving only Mr.. Wagner and myself at home
in the cottag &c huts we had built we saw a vessel
come within few miles of the island, and went
almost mai with joy to see that they were low
erinS boat In reply to our signals. 1t was a
little trading ship, bound for Liverpool, and
manned by ruffianly set as | had ever seen.
We told them the others would be back in the
evening. and begged them TO wait: but when
they found what little chance there was of get
ting anything for their pains, they said roughly
that il we liked to 90 with them. could,
but that they were behind already, and could
not afford to wait another hour for anyone We
begged, prayed, promised they should be amply
rewar.1S, i1lt az without effect and we were
obliged at last TO go with them, leaving a note
behind for our absent comrades. telling them
that we would take steps to insure their deliver
ance on getting to England. Mr.. Wagner
told me that when he landed at
| Liverpool his first action must be to let
his wife-I mean his mother--know of his safe
| ty. He said he would take me home to her and
| could stay while ] communicated with my
| friends in Australia. Poor fellow. Little did he
think what was before him. The very day of
our landing before he had time even to tele
graph home, he fell down in the streets in sort
| of fit. They carried him to a dreadful hospital,
where ! followed and begged to be allowed to
nurse him; out when they asked if | were his
wife, and told them No, they refused to be
lieve or even listen TO my story. threatening to
| give in charge as vagrant if I came again
| There was one doctor who looked kind and
waited for him outside, begging him to tell me
if there was any nope. He said he was afraid
not If my story were true. and the patients
| friends could be found. he thought, perhaps by
| the greatest care and attention such as it was
impossible for him to receive in the hospital
where he was, which was only a kind of pauper
! institution for foreign seamen, he might possibly
recover. He said he would write Mr. Wagncrs
/ friends IL | rava him the a6Grncc hut