The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-05-11

as now afilicts me, who clings TO life as ii this
--this,n cried, looking around me, were a
paradise OF warmth and beauty. must be
man, ask God for courage to meet whatever
may betide, and stoutly endure what cannot
be evaded."
My mind went to tho schooner, yet felt
an extraordinary recoil within me when
thought of seeking an asylum in her. had
the figure of hor before my fancy, viewed the
form of the man on her deck, and the idea of
penetrating her dark interior, and seeking
shelter in a facric that time and frost and
death had wrought into black mystery, was
dreadful to mo.
II must DO done, nevertheless, thought /;
shall certainly perish from exposure if linger
here; besides, how do know but that may
discover some means of escaping from that
ship! Assuredly there was plenty of material
in her for the building of boat if / could
meet with tools. Or, possibly, | might find
boat under matches, for it was common for
vessels of her class aud in her time to stow
their pInnaces in the hold, and when the
necessity for using them arose TO hoist them
out and tow them astern. These reflections
somewhat heartened me, and l turned my
back upon the clamorous ocean and started
to ascend the slope once more.
Ihelped myself along with the oar, and
presently arrived ut the brink Of the slope, in
whose hollow lay the ship as i'm 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 ut the mast
head was as motionless as any of the adjacent
stceples 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 tho 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 i'll 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 a sudden faint
ness and had leaned upon the rail and 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.
A wild and dreadful thing for one in my
condition to light on, and DO forced to think
Oft '.--~. ~--.-~'--.
My heart, as have said, sank in mo again
ut the sight of him, and fear, and awe, and
superstition so worked upon my spirits that
stood irresolute, and would have gone back
had there been any place to return to. I
plucked up after a little, and, gripping the
oar, started on the descent.
The depth was not great, nor the declivity
sharp; but the surface was formed Of blocks
of ice, like the collections Of big stones you
sometimes encounter on the sides of noun
tains near the base; and 1 had again and
again to fetch a compass so as to gain a
smaller block down which to drop, till was
close to the vessel, and here the snow had
piled and frozen into a smooth face.
The ship lay with q list or inclination to
larboard. l had come down to her on her
starboard side. She had small channels with
long plates; but her list on my side hove
them somewhat high, beyond my reach, and
perceived that to get aboard must seek an
entrance on the larboard hand. This was not
hard to arrive at; indeed, had but to walk
round her under her bows. She was so coated
with hard snow could see nothing of her
timbers, and was therefore unable to guess at
the condition of the hull. She had something
of the look of the barco-longos of half a CEN
fury ago-that is, half a century ago from
the date of my adventure; but that which, in
sober truth, a man would have taken her to
be was a vessel formed of snow, spared and
rugged with glasslike, frosted ice-the artistic
caprice of the genius or spirit of this white
and melancholy scene, who, TO complete the
hooking illusion, had fashioned the figure of
man to stand on deck with human face
toughened into an idle, eternal contempla-
ton.
climbed without difficulty into the fore
chains, the snow being so hard that my feet
and hands made not the least impression on
it, and somewhat warily-feeling the govern
ment of a peculiar awe, mour'i ing into a sort
of terror, understood awhile peering over
the rail of the bulwarks; then entered the
ship. i ran my eyes swiftly here and there,
for indeed did not know what might steal
or leap into view. Let it be remembered
that / was a sailor, with the superstitious
feelings of my calling in me, and though do
not know that actually believed in ghosts
and apparitions and specters, yet 1 felt as
If ALPHABETICALLY upon the deck of this
silent ship, rendered spirit like by the grave
of ice in which she lay, and by the long years
las could not doubt during which she had
thus rested. Hence, when slipped off the
bulwark on to the deck and viewed the
CHASTITY, white, lonely scene, l felt for the
moment as if this strange discovery of mine
was not to be exhausted of its wonders and
terrors by the mere existence of the ship-in
other words, that must expect something of
the supernatural to enter into this icy sepul
cher, and be prepared for sights more mar
velous and terrifying than frozen corpses.
Presently, getting the better of my pertur
baton, walked aft, and stepping on to the
poop deck, fell to an examination of the COM
panion or covering of the after hatch, which,
as have elsewhere said, was covered with
snow.
fro M