Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-31


and the rock upon which l stood being level,
fell to pacing it, with my hands locked be-
hind me, my head sunk, lost in thought.
By this time the boat was out Of sight. i
looked and looked, but she was gone. Then
came my good angel to my help, and put
some courage into me- "After all, " thought |,
"what do dreadi Death lit can but come to
that. 1t is not long ago that Capt, Rosy
| cried TO me: "A man can die but once. He'll
not perish the quicker for contemplating his
| end with stout heart He that so spoke is
dead. The worst is over for him. We're he
babe resting upon his mothers breast he
could not sleep more soundly, DO more ten
derby lulled, nor be freer from such anguish
as now atilicts me, who clings to life as if this
this" l cried, looking around me, were a
paradise of warmth and beauty. ! must be u
man, ask God for courage to meet whatever
may betide, and stoutly endure what cannot
be evaded."
My mind went to the schooner, yet felt
an extraordinary recoil within me when l
thought of seeking an asylum in her. had
the figure of her before my fancy, viewed the
form of the man on her deck, and the idea of
penetrating her dark interior, and seeking
shelter in facric that time and frost and
death had wrought into a black mystery, was
dreadful to me.
1t must be DONE nevertheless, thought l l
shall certainly perish from exposure if linger
here; besides, how do | know but that | may
discover some means of escaping from that
shipi Assuredly there was plenty of material
in her for the building of boat, if | could
meet with tools. Or, possibly, | might find Il
boat under hatches for it was common for
vessels of her class and in her time to stow
their pinnaces i'll the hold, and when the
necessity for using them arose to hoist them
IL. a.
somewhat heartened me, and l turned my
back upon the clamorous ocean and started
to ascend the slope once more.
helped myself along with the oar, and
presently arrived at the brink of the slope, i'll
whose hollow lay the ship as in n cup The
wind made a noisy bowling in her rigging;
but the tackling was frozen SO iron hard that
| not rope stirred and the vane at the mast
head was as motionless us any of the ad jacent
steeples or pillars Of ice. My heart was dis
mayed again by the figure of n man. He was
more dreadful than the other Because of the
size to which the frozen snow upon his head,
trunk and limbs had swelled him; and the
half rise of his face was particularly start
ling, as if he were in the very act of running
| his gaze softly upward. That he should have
died in that easy leaning posture was strange;
however, supposed, and no doubt rightly,
that he had been seized with sudden faint
ness ana IL hau leaned upon the ran ana so eX-
pired. The cold would quickly make him
rigid and likewise preserve him, and thus he
might have been leaning, contemplating the
ice of the cliffs, for years and years!
wild and dreadful thing for one in my
conditlon 10 AShC OH, ana DC Iorced 10 Ohlhk
OF!
MY heart' as nave s,ilu' st'iih III me oBalh
at the sighu Oh MN, ana iear' anu awe; ana
superstition 50 "orheu upon my SPiil's 'nao
$1,000 irleSoiute' anu "ouii ii"vo solie o''oA
had there oeeI any pace 70 leV Return 70
pIuckeu up aiIer NUE. ali'' gripping 'he
oar, started on Ihe descent
Inc depth was hoU great nor the ueellVloy
sharp; but the surface was formed of blocks
of leo like the collections of bic stones YOU