The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-06-01

sleeping and that Of the atmosphere In tho
~passage-a happy discovery, for 1t served 10
assure me that, il l was careful To lie under
plenty OF coverings and to keep tho outer air
excluded, tho heat OF my body would raise
the temperature of the little cabin; nor, pro-
viding the compartment was ventilated
throughout the day, was there anything 20
be feared from the vitiation of tho air by my
own breathing.
My first business was TO light tho fire and
set my breakfast to thaw, and boil me a ket-
tie of water; and while this was preparing /
went on deck to view the weather and TO re.
volve In my mind the routine of the day. On
opening the door Of tho companion hatch |
was nearly blinded by the glorious brilliance
of the sunshine on the snow; after the black
ness Of the cabin IL was like looking at tho
sun himself, and l had to stand a full three
minutes with my hand upon my eyes before
| could accustom my sight to the dazzling
glare. 1t was fine weather again; the sky
over the glass like masts OF the schooner was
q clear, dark blue, with a few light clouds
blowing over it from the southwark. The
wind had shifted at last; but, pure as the
heavens were, the breeze was piping briskly
with the weight and song of a small gale,
and its fangs of frost, even in the compare
tive quiet of the sheltered deck, bit with a
ierceness that had not been observable yes
terday.
The moment / had the body Of the vessel
In my sight l perceived that she had changed
her position since my last view of her. Her
bows were more raised, and she lay over far
Their by the depth Of a plank. l stared ear
nestly at the rocky slopes on either hand, but
could not have sworn their figuration was
changed. An eager hope shot into my mind,
but IL quickly faded into an emotion Of APP
p~rehension. It was conceivable, indeed, that
on a sudden some early day I might find the
schooner liberated and afioat, and this was
the first inspiriting flush; but then came the
fear that the disruption and volcanic throes
Of the ice might crush her-a fear rational
enough when I saw the height she lay above
the sea, n how by pressure those slopes
which formed her cradle might be jammed
and welded together. The change of her
posture then fell upon IRE with a kind of
shock, and determined me, when l had
broken my fast, to search her hold for a boat
or for materials for constructing some ark
by which 1 might float out to sea, should the
ice grow menacing and force me from the
Schooner.
Imade a plentiful meal, feeling the need of
abundance of food in such a temperature as
this, and heartily grateful that there was no
need why l should stint myself.
While I ate my mind was so busy with
considerations Of the change in the ships
posture during the night, that it ended in de-
termining me to take a survey of her from
the outside, and then climb the cliffs and
look around before l fell to any other work.
Aiming myself with a boarding pike to serve
No a ole Io~-o s-Ao A. &C., -, -LI
thence stepped or to the ice, and very slowly
and carefully walked round the schooner,
examining her closely and boring into the
snow upon her side with my pike wherever l
suspected q hole or indent. l could find
nothing wrong with her in this way, though
what a thaw might reveal 1 could not know.
Her rudder hung frozen upon its pintles, and
looked as it should. Some little distance
abaft her rudder, where the hollow; or chasm
sloped to the sea, was a great split three or
-four feet wide; this had certainly happened
in the night, and / must have slept as sound
as the dead not to hear the noise of it. Such
a rent as this sufficed to account for the sub
sidence Of the after part of the schooner and
her farther inclination to larboard. Indeed,
the hollow was now coming to resemble the
ways" on which ships are launched; and
you would ave conceived by the appear
n C Of it that il it should slope a little more
yet, of would slide the schooner for the sea;
and in the right posture, too-that is, stern
on. But I prayed with all my might and
main for anything but this. 1t would lave
been very well had the hollow gone in a gen.
tie declivity to the wash of the sea-to the
water itself, in short; but it terminated at
the edge of a cliff, not very high, indeed, but
high enough to warrant the prompt founder
ing Of any vessel that should launch herself
of 1t. Happily the keel was too solidly
frozen into the ice to render a passage Of this
description possible; and the conclusion l ar
rived at, after careful inspection, was that
the sole chance that could offer for the de-
livery Of the vessel to her proper element lay
in the cracking up n disruption of the bed
on which she lay.