Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-04-20
ICE BoUN D.
By ~. oI.AnK HUBs1lI.
AusAor Of "1As wreca Of fAs 0rosveHsNs .
io1, TTAs Lady Iasd 1ta
too VII auBr j

The vessel lay along, rolling % as to brins
her starboard rail 70 alevel with the - beS
main dock was full Of water. and the froth
a ~ combined with the Ice that elased bsr.
nade her look Nike fabric Of marbIe ss shs
swung On the black fold ere Il broke into
snow about hsr. I seizsd Tire tiller ana ran
ieover hard stArboard, and had not held
u IN that posture half minute when. to nv
insxprssstble delight, observed that she was
paying on. Her head fell slowly from the
-; she hrched drunkenly, and some tons
of black water rolled over the bulwarks; shs
reeled consumedly to larboard, and rose
equArelv and ponderoualy 10 ths height Of
TIE surge that was now abaft the beam. In
fsw moments she was dsad before IL, the
helm arnidships, the wind blowing Sheer over
ths seern With half its weight sssmingly eous,
through the vessel running, the tall seas
cAastng her high stern and floating II up
ward, till looking forward was like gazing
down the slope Of hill
Ny heart was never fuller than then.
was half crazy With the passion OF 10Y that
possessed me.
However, was still in q situation that
made prodigious demands upon my GOODNESS
and wits. The wind blew southwest. the
schooner was running northeast the bulk of
The icsbergs lay on the larboard bow, but
there were others right ahead, and to star.
board, where also lay the extremity Of the
island, though did not fear that II I could
escape the rest It was dark night; me-
thinks there should have been q young moon
curled somewhere among the stars, but she
was not to be seen.
couldsjust make out the dim, pallid loom
Of the coast Of ice upon the starboard beam,
and blob or two Of faintness-most elusive
and not to be axed by the eye staring straight
ct them--on the larboard bow But IL was
not long before these blobs, as I term them.
grew palmer, and half score swan into the
dusk over the bowsprit end, and resembled
dull small visionary openings in the dark
sky theres or like stars magnihed and dimmed
into the nnerest spectral light by mist. I
passed the first at distance Of quarter Of
mile; IL slid by phantasmally, and another
stole out right ahead.
This could have gone widely clear Of by
little shift Of the helm; but while was in
the act OF starboarding three or four berRs
suddenly showed on the larboard bow, and
saw that unless I had mind to bring the
ship into the trough again I must keep
straight on. So steered to bring the berg
that was right ahead little on the bow, with
prayer In my soul that there might bs no
low lying block in the road for tho schooner
to split upon. 1t went by within pistol shot
I was very much accustomed to the sight Of
Ice by this time, yet found myself glancing
At this mass with pretty near As much won
der and awe as il had never seen such
thing before. It was not above thirty feet
high, but its shape was exactly that of q
horses head-the lips slipping the sea, the
ears cooked, the neck arching to the water.
You would have said IL was some vast
coufser rising out Of the deep. The peculiar
radiance Of Ice trembled of It like . luminous
mist into the dusk. The water boiled about
il nose, and suggested frothing caused by
the monster steed's expelled breath. Let q
fire have been kindled to glow red where you
looked for the eye, and the illusion would
have been frightfully grand. Half this ice
came from the island; the rest Of IL was
formed Of bergs too tall to havo ever be-
longed to the north end Of that great stretch.
II took three hours to pass clear of them, and
then had to 60 on clinging to the tiller and
steering In most melancholy, famishsd con-
dition for another long half hour before
could satisfy myself that the sea was free.
But now I was nearly dead with the cold.
had stood for five hours at the helm, during
al which time my mind had been wound up
to the hercest tension Of anxiety, and my
eyes felt as II they were strained out Of their
sochoes W tueu SenfCulnB VI tuo BioOm unoaus
and nature, having done her best, gave out
suddenly, and not to have saved my life could
I have stood at the tiller for another ten
minutes.
The gear along the rail was 20 iron hard
that could not secure the helm with It, 90
softened some lashings by holding them b.
fore the fire; and finding the schooner on my
return to be coming round to starboard,
helped her by putting the tller hard a-port
md securing 1t. / then went below, built up
the fire, lighted my pips and sat down 70,
warmth and rest.