The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-07

in, and shading my eyes with ny hand to keep od the salt spray,l peerkd out to sea. ! could distinguish nothing, and yet it seemed to me that shouts and 0rnat inarticulate cries were borne to me by the blasts. Suddenly as gazed made Ont the glint of light, and then the whole bay and the beach were lit up In mo. ment by vivid blue glare. They were burning colored signal-light on hoard of the vessel. There she iayon her beam ends right in the center of the jagged reel, hurled over to such an angle that could sec all the planking of her deck. Sue was large two-masted schooner of foreign rig, and lay perhaps ISo or 900 yards from the shore. Every spar and rope and writhing piece of cerdage showed up hard and clear under the livid light which sputtered and fiickered from the highest portion of the forecastle. Be yond the doomed ship out of the great darkness came the long rolling lines of black waves, never ending, never tiring, with petulant tuft of foam here and there upon their crests Each as it reached the broad circle of unnatural light appeared to gather strength and volume and to hurry on more impetu- ously until, with roar and a jarring crash, it sprang upon it's victim. Cling 1 ing ie the weather shrouds could dis tinctly see some ten or twelve frighted seamen, who, when their light revealed my presence, turned their white faces to- ward me and waved their hands im- ploringiy. l felt my gorge rise against these poor covering worms. Why should they presume to shirk the narrow path way along which all that is great and noble among mankind has travelled !? There was one there who interested me more than they. He was a tall man who stood apart from the others, balancing himself upon the swaying wreck as though he disdained to cling to rope or bulwark. His hands were clasped behind his back his head was sunk upon his breast, but even in that Respondent attitude there was litheness and decision in his pose and in every motion which marked him as man little likely to yield to despair. Indeed, could see by his occasional rapid glances up and down and all around hi n that he was weighing every chance of safety, but though he often gazed across the raging surf to where he could see my dark figure upon the beach, his selfrespect or some other reason forbade him from imploring my help in any way. He stood, dark, silent, and inscrutable, looking down on the black sea and wait ing for whatever fortune Fate might send him.
 It seemed to me that that problem would very soon be settled. As looked, an enormous pillow, topping all the others and coming after them, like driver fol- lowing a flock, swept over the vessel. Her foremast snapped short of, and the men who clung to the shrouds were brushed away like a swarm of flies. With a rending, irving sound the ship began to split in two, where the sharp back of the Mansie reef was saving into her keel. The solitary man upon the forecastle ran rapidly acrcss the deck and seized hold of a white bundle which had already observed but failed to make out. As he lifted it up, the light fell upon it, and saw the object was a woman, with a spar lashed across her body and under her arms in such a way that her head should always rise above the water. He bore her tenderly to the side and seemed to speak tor a moment or SO to her, as though explaining the impossibility of re. maining upon the ship. Her answer was singular one. saw her deliberately raise her hand and strike him across the face with it. He appeared to be silenced for a moment or 50 by this, but he ad- dressed her again, directing her, as far I could gather from his motions, how she should behave when in the water. She shrank away from him, but he caught her in his arms. He stopped over her for a moment and seemed to press his lips against her forehead. Then a great wave came yelling up against the side of the breaking vessel, and leaning over he placed her upon the summit of it as gently as child might be committed to its cradle. ] saw her white dress flicker ing among the foam on the crest of the dark pillow, and then the light sank gradually lower, and the riven ship and its lonely occupant were hidden from my eyes.
 As watched those things my manhood overcame my philosophy and felt a frantic impulse to be up and doing. Il threw my cynicism to one side as a gar ment which might don again at leisure. and 1 rushed wildly to my boat and my souls. She was . leaky tub, but what shens Was l, who had cast many a wistful. doubtful glance at my opium bot tle, to begin now to weigh chances and to cavil at danger. dragged her down to tho sea with the strength of a maniac and sprang in. For a moment or two it was a question whether she could live among the boiling surge, but a dozen frantic strokes took me though it, half full of water, bat still afioat. l was out on the unbroken waves now, at one time climbing, climbing up the broad black breast of one, then sinking down, down on the other side, until looking up I could sec the gleam of the foam all l around me against the dark heavens. Far behind me could hear the wild wailings of old Madge, who, seeiag me i start, thought, no doubt that my madness had come to q climax. As 1 rowed | peered over my shoulder. until at last on l the belly of q great wave which was | sweeping toward me l distinguished the |