Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-04

had shrunk, and the sliding door being open
| admitted the cold of the cabin; but the con-
| alteration was, How was to resist the killing
embodiment of this atmospheric l had slept
| in the boat, it is true, and was none the
| worse and now was under shelter, with the
heat Of n plentiful bellyful Of meat and
| liquor to warm me; but if wine and ham and
cheese froze in an air in which a fire had
been burning, why not | in my sleep, when
there was no fire, and life beat weakly, as it
| does in sluInberi Those figures in the cabin
| were dismal warnings and assurances; they
had been men perhaps stOuter and heartier
| than ever | was in their day, but they had
| been frozen into stony images neverthe-
| less, under cover, too, with the ma
| terials to make fire, and as much strong
waters in their lazarette would serve their
schooner to float in.
| 1t strangely and UNFORTUNATELY entered my
| head to conceive that though those men were
| frozen and stirless they were not dead rs
| corpses are, but as a stream whose current,
checked by ice, will flow when the ice is
| melted Might not life in them be suspended
| by the cold, not endedf There is vitality in
the seed, though it lies a dead thing in the
| hand. Those men are corpses TO my eye,
| but, said l to myself, they may have the
| principles of life in them, which heat might
| call into being Putrefaction is a natural
| law, but it is baked by frost; and just as
| decay is hindered by cold, might not the
| property Of life he left unaffected in body,
| though it should be nunbed in a marble
| form for fifty years,
This was "A terrible fancy to possess a man
situated as | was, and it so worked in me
| that again and again caught myself look
| ing first forward, then aft, as though, heaven
| help mel my secret instincts foreboded that
at any moment | should behold some form
| from the forecastle or one Of those figures in
| the cabin stalking in, and coming TO my side
| and silently seating himself pshawed and
| piShed, and ENORMOUSLY asked of myself what
| manner of English sailor was / to suffer such
womanly terrors to visit me; but il would
| not dos | could not smoke; GOODNESS of the
| heart fell upon me, and set me trembling
above any sort of shivers which the frost of
the air had chased through me; and presently
| "A hollow Creak sounding out of the hold,
caused by some movement of the bed of ice
ON which the vessel lay, | was seized with
| panic terror and sprang to my feet; and Ian
tern in hand made for the companion ladder,
| with prayer in me for the sight Of a star!
burst not look at the figures, but setting
| the light down at the foot of the ladder
squeezed through the companion door ON to
| the deck, Ny fear was fever in its way,
| and | did not feel the cold. There was no
star to be seen; but the whiteness of the ice
was flung out in a wild, strange glare by the
blacSness of the sky, and made light of its
own. 1t was the most savage and terrible
picture of solitude the invention of man
could reach to, yet | blessed it for the relief
it gave to my ghost enkindled imagination.
Presently, when the cold was beginning to
pierce me, my courage was SO much the bet
ter for this excursion into the hoarse and
black and cleaning realities of the night
that my heart beat at its usual measure as
passed through the hatch and went again to
the cook room.
| was, however, sure that if sat here long,
listening and thinking, fear would return.
SO, raking out the fire, picked up the lantern
and was about to go, then halted, considering
whether l should not stow the frozen provis-
ions away. IL was natural thought, seeing
how precious food was to mo But alas it
mattered not where they lay they were as
secure here as if they were as snugly hidden
in the bottom of the hold. 1t was the white
realm of death if ever rat had crawled in
this ship it was in its hiding place, as stiff
and idle as the frozen vessel So | let the
lump of wine, the ice, ham, and SO forth, rest
where they were and went to the cabin had
chosen, invountarily peeping at the figures
as passed, and hurrying the faster because
of the grim and terrifying liveliness put into
the man who sat starting from the table by
the swing of the lantern in my hand
shut the door and hung the lantern near
the cot, having the flint and box in my pocket
There was, indeed, an abundance of can.
dies in the vessel; nevertheless, it was my
business to husband them with the utmost
niggardlness How long | was to be i'm
prisoned here if indeed was ever to be de
livered, Providence alone knew; and to run |
short of candles would add to the torrors of
my existence by forcing me either to open
the matches and ports for light, and so filling |
the ship with the deadly air outside, or living
in darkness. There were cloak and a coat
in the cot, but they would not suffice; there
was however, plenty of apparel in the cor
ner to serve as wraps, and having chosen |
enough TO smother me vaulted into the cot,
and SO covered myself that the clothes were
above the level of the sides of the cot.
l left the lantern burning while Made |
sure my bed was all right, and lay musing, |
feeling extremely melancholy; the hardest |
part was the thought of those two men |
watching in the cabin. The most fantastic |
alarms possessed me, Suppose their ghosts |
came to the ship at midnight, and entering |
their bodies quickened them into walking? |
L caught myself listening; and there was
enough to hear, too, what with the subdued
roaring of the wind, the splintering of ice
the occasional creaking-not unlike a heavy
booted tread-of the fabric OF the schooner
to the blasts of the gale against her masts,
or to movement in the bed on which she
reposed.
But plain sense came to my rescue at last.
] resolved to have no more of these night |
fears; so, blowing out the candle, 1 put my
head on the coat that formed my pillow, res
oIutely kept my eyes shut, and after while
fell asleep