The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-06-10
Ice Bound.
By W. CLARK RUSSELL.
Aua1or of"T1e Wreck Of the Grosoenor'"
"yaeRs Courtship," NY Watch he.
ou," "TM Lady Aand, Hc.
CHAPTER XVI.
AN TROUBLED BY THOUGHTS OF TIE
TREASURE.

The weight OF the wind IN the rigging
staadied the schooner somewhat and pre-
vented her from rolling too heavily to star
hoard. while her list corrected her larboard
rolls. SO as sat below she seemed TO me 10
be making tolerably good weather OF IT. NO!
much water came aboard; now ana again
wmld hear the chatter of fall forward bur
at comfortably long intervhl1
Sat against the dresser with my BACK upon
it, and being dead tired must have droppeo
asleep on a sudden--indeed, before had nan
smoked my pipe out-and do not believe
gave thought 10 my situation before SUM
bcred SO wearied was l. The cold awoke me.
The fire was out, and so was the candle III
the lantern. and ! was in coffin darkness
This the finder box speedily fci1edIed
looked at my watch O'Clock, as was a
sinnerl so that my sleep had lasted between
three and four hours. ...
1t was d flne wintry Piece: the Sea green
and running in ridges with frothing heads,
the sky very pale among the dark snow laden
clouds, the sun darting ray now and again,
which was swung into the north by the shad-
ows of the clouds until they cxtinSuished It,
Remote in the northwest hung the CLEAN of
An iceberg-therc was nothing else III sight.
Ves-something that comforted me exceed
:pgly, though it was not very many days ago
that q like object had heavily scared mean
albatross, a noble bird, sailing on the wind
ward close enough TO be shOt. The sight OF
this living thing was inexpressibly checring
it put into my head fanry Of ships being at
hand, thoughts Of help and of human compan-
IONS In truth, my imagination was willing
10 fhac n hot | ha1 fri g..
ened away when in the boat, now returned
tnkilently' reproach me for my treatment Of
it. Nay, my lonely eye, my subdued and SUI
fering heart, might even have witnessed the
good angel of my life in that solitary shape
Of ocean beauty, and have deemed that,
though unseen, it had been with me through
out, and was now made visible to my gaze
by the light of hope that had broken into the
darkness of my adventure.
Well, suPposing it so, should not have
been the only man who ever scared his good
angel away and found il faithful afterward.
unlashed the tiller and got the schooner
before the wind, and steered until little be-
fore noon, letting her drive dead before the
sea. which carried her northeast. Then, Sc
curing the helm amidships ! ran for the
quadrant, and while waiting for the sun TO
show himself observed that the vessel held
herself very steadily before the wind which
might have been owing 10 her high stern and
the great swell Of her sides and her round
bottom: but be the cause what II might, she
ran as fairly with her helm amidShips as if |
had been at the tiier TO check her-a most
fortunate condition of my navigation, for II
privileged me to get about other work, while
at the same time every hour was conveying
me nearer to the tracks of ships and farther
from the bitter regions Of the south.
/ got an observation, and made out that the
vessel had driven about fifteen leagues dur
ing the night She must do better than that,
thought /; and when had eaten some din
ner took chopper, and going on TO the
forecastle lay out upon the bowsprit, and
after beating the syritsail yard block clear of
the ice, cut away the gaSkets that confined
the sail to the yard, heartily beating the can
gas, that was like iron, till clew OF IT fell.
then came in and braced the yard square,
and the wind, presently catching the exposed
part of the sail, blew moro of il out, and yet
more, until there was good surface show
ing: then to a sudden hard blast of wind the
whole sail flew open with a mighty crack
ling, as though indeed it was formed of ice;
but to render it useful | had TO haul the
sheets aft, which could not manage without
the help of the tackles We had used in sling
ING the powder over the side; 50 that, what
with one hndrance and another, the setting
OF that sail took me an hour and half
Finding that the ship continued to steer
herself very well, and the better for the spirit
sail, thought would get the body of the
old Frenchman overheard, and so obtain a
clear bold for myself, so far rs corpSeS went.
carried the lantern into the fOrecastle, but
when pulled the hammock off him confess
it was not without stupid fear that should
find him alive. Recollection Of his astound-
ing vitality found something imperishable in
that ugly anatomy, and though he lay before
me as dead and cold US stone, yet had fancy
that the seeds of life were still in HIM, that
twas only the current of his being that had
froze, that II were to thaw him afresh he
might recover, and that if ! buried him
should actually be dispatching him.
But though these fancies possessed they did
not control me. ! took his watch and what
ever else he had in that way, carried him on
deck. and dropped him over the side, using
as little ceremony as he had employed in the
disposal of his shipmates, but affected by
very different emotions for there was not
only the idea that the vital spark was still in
him; l could not but handle with awe the
most mysterious corpse the eye had ever
yiewed-one who had lived through a stupor
or death sleep for eight-and-forty years in
whom in few hours Time had compressed
the wizardry he stretches in others over half
q century; who in a night had shrunk from
the aspect Of his prime into the lean, puck
cred, bleared eyed, deaf and lettering ex-
preston Of 100 years.
All that day and through the night that
followed the schooner drove, rolling and
plunging before the seas, into the northeast,
to the pulling of the spritsail ! made sew
erai excursions into the forehold, but never
could hear the sound of water in the vessel.
Her sides in places were still sheathed in ice;
but this crystal armor was gradually drop
ping off hes TO the working of her frame in
the seas, 50 that, since she was proving her
self tight, it was certain her stanchness owed
nothing to the CLASSY plating.
should but fatigue you to follow the sew
eral little stories Of these hours one by one