Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-28

Who had this man been in lifc' low had
be fallen into this PAST How long had he
| been dead there, seated as | saw hint
These were speculations not to be resolved
| by conjecture On looking at the rock against
which he leaned, and observing its curvature,
It seemed to me that it had formed part of a
cave, or of some large deep hole of ice; and
this, was sure, must have been the case-for
it is certain that, had this body remained
long unsheltered it must have been hidden
by the snow.
Iconcluded thon that the unhappy man
had been cast away upon this ice while it
was under bleaker heights than these paral-
lels, and that ho had crawled into a hollow
and persisted in that melanchoiic sitting post
ure.
Thinking | might find something on his
person TO acquaint me with his story, or that
would furnish me with some idea of the date
Of his being cast away, | pulled his cloak
aside and searched his pockets. His legs were
thickly cased in two or three pairs of brooches,
the outer pair being of a dark green cloth.
He also wore a handsome red waistcoat,
laced, and a stout coat of kind of frieze. In
his coat pocket found a silver tobacco box,
n small glass flask fitted with silver band
and half full of an amber colored liquor,
hard froze; and in his waistcoat pocket n
gold watch shaped like an apple, the back
curiodsly chased and inlaid with jewels Of
several kinds, forming a small letter NJ Tha
hands pointed to twenty minutes after three
A key of a strange shape and a number of
seals, trinkets, and the like were attached to
the watch
These Things, together with n knife Il key,
thick plain silver ring, and some Spanish
pieces in gold and silver were what found
on this man. There was nothing to tell me
who he was, nor how long he had been on the
island.
The searching him was tho most disagree
able job ever undertook in my life His
ron-ko rightly made him seem to resist
me- aad tho swa wing ol his back against the
rock to the motions Of my hand was 50 full
of life that twice quilted him, frightened
by it. On touching lIis naked hand by acct
dent discovered that the flesh Of it moved
upon the bones as you pull glove oil and
on | had had enough of him, and walked
away feeling sick.
pushed onward, stepping warily and
probing cautiously at every step, and earn
estIy peering about me, for after such sight
as that dead man was never to know what
new wonder might stumble upon. About
quarter of mile on my left-that is, on
my left while | kept my face to the slope
there was the appearance of n raVine not dis
cernbe from where the boat lay When |
was within twenty feet Of the summit of the
cliff, the acclvity continuing gentle to the
very brow, but much broken, as l have said
noticed this hollow, and more particularly
a small collection of ice forms, not nearly SO
large as the other groups of this kind, but
most dainty and lovely, nevertheless. They
showed as tho heads of trees might to my
ascent, and when | had got little higher l
II
hither side of the hollow, as though the con-
vulsion which had wrought that chasm had
tossed up those exquisite caprices Of ice.
However, was too eager to view the pros
pect from the top of the cliff to suffer my
admiration to detain me; in few minutes
l had gained the brow, and, clambering on
to Il mass of rock, sent my gaze around.