San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-03-31
ICE BOUND.
BY w. CLARK RUSSELL,
Author of "The Wreck OF the Grosuenor,"
"Jdcks Courtship," My Watch Be-
toO, ""The Lady Maud Etc.

room. now docs Icnappen that am lying
heref
told him exactly how it was, adding that
if it had not been for his posture, which
obliged me to thaw i'll order to carry him. be
would now be on deck with the others, await
ing the best funeral / could give him.
''Who are the others!' asked he.
81 know not" said l. "There were four in
ALL counting yourself; one sits frozen to death
on the rocks. met him first, and took his
watch from his pocket that | might tell the
time"
He took the watch in his hands, and asked
me to bring the lantern close.
''Ha" cried he ''this was MendOza's-the
captains. l remember; he took it for the
sake of this letter upon il. He lies dead on
the rocksl We missed him, but did not know
where he had gone" Then, raising his hand
and impulsively starting upon the mattress,
he cried, while he tapped his forehead, ut
has come backl have it! Giuseppe Tren-
tanove and l were in the cabin; he had fallen
blind with the glare of the ice-if that was
it. We confronted each other. On sudden
he screamed out. had put my face into my
arms and felt myself dying. His cry aroused
me. l looked up and saw him leaning back
from the table with his eyes fixed and horror
in his countenance. / was too feeble to speak
too languid to rise | watched him a while,
and then the drowsiness stole over me again,
and my head sank and l remember no more"
He shuddered, and extended the pannikin
for more liquor. l filled it with two-thirds
of brandy and the rest water, and he supped
it down as if it had been thimbleful of wine.
''By the holy cross" cried he, 'but this is
very wonderful, thought How long have
you been here, sir?"
''Three days"
"Three daysl and | have been in a stupor
all that time-never moving never breath
ing2'
"You will have been in stupor longer
than that, expect" said l.
"What is this month";" he cried
"July," replied.
"July-July!" he muttered "Impossiblel
Let me see"-he began to count on his fingers
1--WE fell in with the ice and got locked in
November. We had six months of it; recol
lect no more. Six months of it, sir; and
suppose the stupor came upon me then, the
month at which my memory stops would be
April. Yet you call this July-that is to say,
four months of oblivion! Impossiblem
"What was the year in which you fell in
with the iceF' said l.
"The year?" he exclaimed, in voice deep
with the wonder this question raised in him;
1.-THE years Why, man, what year but 1853"
"Good Godp cried l, jumping to my feet
with terror at a statement l had anticipated,
though it shocked me as a new and frightful
revelation 'Do you know what year this is!"
He looked at me without answering.
sit is 1901, )" l cried; and as | said this re-
coiled a step, fully expecting him to leap up
and exhibit a hundred demonstrations of
horror and consternation for this, am per-
suaded, would have been my posture had any
man reused me from slumber and told me
had been in that condition for eight and
forty years.
He continued to view me with a very
strange and cunning expression in his eyes,
the GOODNESS Of which was inexpressibly sur
prising and bewildering, and even mortify-
ing; then presently, grasping his beard,
looked at it; then put his hands to his face
and looked at them; then pulled out his feet
and looked at them; then very slowly, but
without visible effort, stood up, swaying a
little with an air of weakness, and proceeded
to feel and strike himself all over, swinging
his arms and using his legs-after which he
sat down and pulled his clothes over his naked
feet, and, fixing his eyes on me afresh, said:
what do you say this year is, sir?'
Eighteen hundred and one,n replied
"Bah!" said he, and shook his head very
knowingly mo matter; you have been