The Irish standard., 1888-01-07


] 'C1RDA j ANIJ AR
been blotted from the heavens. Worse
than that When the earth was dark
We had still the sustaining strength of
that brave spirit to uphold us. The
glance Of dauntless determination, the
words of encouragement and cheer
the magnetism Of command and sup
port which the true leader has. But
now-these were gone.
i 'We can but de-
! Il said this after a long stupor of
silence, which followed our first stock
of despair.
\ t'No,' answered my companion-and
his clear glance seemed to have ac-
quired the steady light and noble re
solve of the eyes that lay closed now
before us. we are Christian men; we
must courage take--live we must. To
despair is sin. And for his sake-he
, pointed to the still form-'we must
take back to the world his story. We
cruelty have suffered-we much have
} endured-and brayely, thank God! But
, our sufferings to his-what? Each
man his own pain felt-and some fol
: his comrades. He-each mans pain
was his, too. Hardship and labor and
starvation we bore-and well; but his
was the double share of all. My com.
rade'-he extended his hand and
grasped mine-'we must hve--we must
obey Gods law to preserve the life he
, bestowed. And we live to tell to the
} world what this man was, who--'
} His voice failed-Eis disengaged
hand fell on the noble breast cold now
in death. Yes l said, overmastered
J by his generous nature: 'we will live -
Again there was a brief silence,
} which Father Rudolph did not inter
} rupt. He felt that it WAS indeed best
to let the penitent---for such he seemed
relieve his conscience Of The burden
} that oppressed it. And the latter soon
resumed:
sThe man who WAS now my sole com-
panion in misery was q German. Like
myself supernniDerar7-Whc mad been
; permitted to join the expedition as
botanist--he had proved himself one Of
the best of our indomiJable band. From
the first we had been friends-partlY
our similar circumstances, partly iudi-
Yidual attraction having drawn us
much together; aud each had become
we'll acquainted with all Che particulars
OF the others life. Perhaps one of the
strongest links that bound us together
was the fact that we were both Catho.
lies. For though, as I said before, re-
ligion had been a dead letter in nay
life, I han never apostatjsed. [ was
like a son so long estranged from his
mother that her face was strange to
him, her very memory dim-but still
feeling that her blood was in his veins.
And this man, her always faithful
child. seemed to me as a brother. Some
times before our great calamity oc-
CURED. he would say to me when about
to make his own devotions Come and
pray, my brother But laughed.
had forgotten how to pray. Later,
alas, if he said Pray with me, Cursed
For had not God forsaken us, asked
and I would not listen to what be would
fain have said in reply.
But when he kuelt, still holding my
1 hand. and recited the De Profundis and
the Memorare for the repose of our
noble CAPTAINS S soul, L knet too-and,
spirit broken, tried to join in his sup
plication. But my soul was very bitter,
+ felt like raying bIasphemously-only
the presence Of that rigid form and that
face with the strange SMILE of the dead
On it's set lips, restrained me.
sWe laid it to resi- before this sun
dipped again beneath the horizon. In
the cairn from which his own hands
had labored so tirelessly to remove The
boat, we made his grave. Then-his
brave spirit still living in the comrade
at my side, we started again on our
journey.
with incredible effort we toiled--we
could only move inch by inch--to con-
vey our boat across the rough, snow
covered beach, to the water And thus
weeks passed. The suns orbit was
constantly growing higher and wider,
until the great blazing ball of light
circled around and around the frma-
mept, never sinking below the verge
The Arctic day was IN its' full glory.
| Our health hadIimproved. The game
we now obtained-birds especially
abounding-together with mosses and
scurvy~grass, had so recuperated our
strength, that when at last we came to
the lands edge we were very much
cheered- though the wide ice belt yet
lay between us and the water itself.
The fact that the heat of the sun would
aOon heuin tO break this nm made 7,9 all