Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-03-27


hiy senses presently returning, got up,
and the rock upon which stood being level,
l fell TO pacing 1t, with my hands locked be.
hind me, my head sunk, lost in thought.
By this time the boat was out Of sight. /
looked and looked, but she was gone. Then
came my good angel TO my help, and put
some courage into me. "After all, y thought /,
"what do drcadl 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. Were he
babe resting upon his mothers breast he
could not sleep moro soundly, bo moro ten
derly lulled, nor DO freer from such anguish
as now afflicts me, who clings to life as il this
this" cried, looking around me, "wcro
paradise Of warmth and beauty. must be
man, ask God for courage to meet whatever
may betidc, and stoutly endure what cannot
he evaded."
My mind went to tho schooner, yet felt
an extraordinary rcceil within me when
thought Of seeking an asylum in her. had
the figure Of her before my fancy, viewed tho
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 me.
1t must be done, nevertheless, thought /; l
shall certainly perish from exposure If linger
here; besides, how do know but that may
discover some means of escaping from that
shipl Assuredly there was plenty Of material
In her for tho building of a boat, IL could
meet with tools Or, possibly, might find
boat under matches, for it was common for
vessels of her class and in her time TO stow
ba; In, thn hpl mi xh,,
necessity for using them arose to hoist them
out and tow them astern. These reflections
somewhat beartened me, and l turned my
back upon the clamorous ocean and started
to ascend tho slope once more.
Ihelped myself along with the oar, and
presently arrived ut tho brink of tho SLOPE in
whose hollow lay the ship as in a cup. Tho
wind made a noisy bowling in her rigging;
but tho tackling was frozen SO iron hard that
not rope stirred, and the vanc at tho mast
head was as motionless as any Of the adjacent
steeples Or pillars of ice. My heart was dis
mayed again by tho figure of man. He was
more dreadful than the other because of tho
sizo 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, l supposed, and no doubt rightly,
that he had been seized with 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
of
My heart as have said, sank in mo again
at the sight Of him. and fear, and awe, and
superstition SO worked Upon my spirits that
stood irrcsolutc, and would have gone back
had there been any place to return to. l
plucked up after little, and, gripping the
oar, started on the descent.
The depth was not great, nor the declivity
sharp; but tho surface was formed of blocks
Of ice, like the collections Of big stones you
sometimes encounter on tho sides of moun-
tains near the base; and I had again and
again to fetch compass SO as to gain a
smaller block down which to drop, till l was
close to the vessel, and here tho snow had
piled and frozen into a smooth face.
The ship lay with 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
perceived that to get aboard must seek an
entrance on the larboard hand. This was not
hard to arrive at; indeed, l had but to walk
round her under her bows She was SO coated
with hard snow / could SEQ nothing of her
timbers, and was therefore unable to guess at
the condition Of tho hull She had something
of tho look Of the barco-longos of half a CEN
tury ago-that is, half a century ago from
the date Of my adventure; but that which, in
sober truth, man would have taken her to
be was 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 tho
mocking illusion, had fashioned the figure OF
man to stand on deck with human face
toughened into On idle, eternal contempla-
ton.
climbed without difficulty into tho fore
chains, tho snow being SO hard that my feet
and hands made not the least impression on
it, and somewhat warily-fceling the govern
ment Of a peculiar awe, mounting into n sort
of terror, indeed-stood awhile peering over
the rail of the bulwarks; then entered the
ship l ran my eyes swiftly here aud there,
for indeed did not know what might steal
or leap into yiew Let it be remembered
that l 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 felt as
il did-partcularly upon the deck Of this
silent ship, rendered spirit like by the grave
Of ice in which she lay, and by tho long years
| las could not doubt during which she had
thus rested. Hence, when slipped of the
bulwark on to the deck and viewed tho
ghastly, white, lonely scene, felt for the
moment as if this strange discovery Of mino
was not to be exhausted Of its wonders and
terrors by tho mere existence Of the ship-iu
| other words, that must expect something Of
the supernatural to enter into this icy sepul-
cher, and bc 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.
| ITO BIZ CosTIsrKpl