Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-04-05

AftfflOT
 ducks Costats1afp," ''My Watch Be-
 lo4, - The Lady Maud Etc.
 was in so deep sleep that after pulling him a little without awakening him 1 let him lie, nothing but the sound of his breathing per- suading me that he had not lapsed into his old frozen state again.
 Of all long nights this was the longest ever passed through I did truly believe that the day was never to break again over the ocean.
 All night kept the fire going, and on sev- eral occasions visited the Frenchman, but found him motionloss in sleep.
 At last the day broke, 1 went on deck and found the dawn frightening into morning. The wind had fallen and with it the sea; but there still ran middling strong surge. and the breeze was such as, in sailors language, you would have shown your topgallantsails to. l could now take measure Of our situa- tion, and was not little astonished and tie- lighted to observe the island to be at least q mile distant from us, and the northeast end lying very plain, the ocean showing beyond it, though ill the southwest the ice died out upon the sea line. That we had been set away from the main by some current was very certain. There a westerly ten- dency in all the bergs which broke from the island the small ones moving more quickly 
 west was dotted with at least fifty of these white masses, great and little. On the other hand, the wind and seas were answerable fol the progress we had made to the north.
 The wall of ice, as call it, that had stood over against the larboard bow, was gone, and the seas tu1nbled, with much heaviness of froth and much noise, over the ice, past the bows, and washed past the bends on either side in froth, rising as high as the channels 1 noticed great quantity of broken ice sinking and rising in the dark green curls Of the pillows, and big blocks would be hurled on to the schoone1's bed and then be swept off, sometimes fetching the bnge such a tAump as seemed to swing bel low through her frame It was only at in- tervals however, that water fell upon the decks, for the ice broke the beat of the mod erdting surge, and forced it to expend its weight in spume, which there was not strength of wind enough to raise and heave. Since the vessel continued to lie head to sea, my passionate hope was that these repeated washings of the waves would in time loosen the ice about her keel, in which case it would not need much of a pillow, smiting her full bows fair, to slide her clean down and off her bed, and SO launch her. There were many clouds in the heavens, but the blue was very pure between. The morning frightening with the rising of the sun, directed an earnest gaze along the horizon, but there was nothing to see but ice Some of the bergs, however, and more par ticularly the distant one, stole out of the blue atmosphere to the sunshine with so complete a resemblance to the lifting canvas of ships that would catch myself staring fixedly, my heart beating fast. But there was no de- jection ill these disappointments; the ecstasy that filled me on beholding the terrible island the hideous frozen prison, whose crystal bars had again and again believed were never to be broken-now lying at a distance with it's northern cape inperceptibly open inc to our subtle movement, was so violent tlaU could not have found my voice for the tears in my heart
 This, then, was the result of my scheme; it was no failure, as Tassard had said; he owed his life to me, so now did he owe mo his liberty. Nay, ny transports were SO great that 1 would not suffer myself to feel an instants anxiety touching the condition of the s>;llooner-I mean whether she would leak or prove sound when she foated-and how we two men were to Inanage to navigate so larGe a craft, that was still as much spell bound s,loft ill her frozen canvas and tackle as ever. sllc had been Ill the sepulcher in which l discovered her.
 J went below, and put the provisions we ncal@l fer breakfast into the oven, and entered I>sss..'',]'s cabin. On bringing the Iarit rn to hi., face as he lay under half a score of coats upon the deck, I perceived that he was awake and my heart being full l cried out chCe1'iiy, "Good news! good news the g,i1pont!cr did it's work! The ice is rupturel, and we are afoat, MT. Tassard- ahoat, and progressing north"
 He looked nt me Vacant1v and pivincr his head shake, exclaimed, "How can crawl from this mound? My strength is gone" | If was amazed that the joyful intelligence had delivered produced no other response than this Querulous inquiry, I was far more astonished by the sound of his voice. It was the most cracked and venerable pipe that l ever ticl1led the throat of old age-a min. l gling of wailing falsettos and of hollow, gasp l ing growls the whole very weak. threw the clothes off him, and said, Do you wish to rise? l will bring you your breakfast here if you wish"
 He looked at me, but made no answer bawled again, and observed, by the dim Ian tern light, that he watched my lips with al air of attention; and while waited for E reply le said, "I don't hear you"
 Anxious to ascertain to what extent hi hcaring was impaired, kneeled on the deck and, putting my lips to his ear, said, not very loud, "Wil you come to the cook house? which he did not hear; and then louder 1 "Nill you come to the cook house!" which h' did not hear either. I believed him stone dea till, on roaring with all the power of m1 lungs, he answered, 'Yes."
 I took him by the hands and hauled hin gently on to his feet, and had to continu holding him, or he must have fallen. Tim
 was beginning with him when he had gone t.
 bed, and the remorseless old soldier had com
 pletely finished his work while his victim
 slept. I viewed the Frenchman while grasped his hands, and there stood before m
 a shrunk tottering, deaf, bowed, feeble ol
 man. What was yesterday polished hea, was now a shriveled pate-as though tn
 very skull had shrunk and left the skin to rir
 pie into wrinkles, al.d sit loose and puckered
 His hands trembled excessively. But hi lower jaw was held in it's place by his teeth and this perpetuated in the aged, dwindle
 countenance something of the likeness of tn
 fierce and sinister visage that had confronte
 me yesterday. l was tAunderstruck by tn
 alteration, and stood overwhelmed with awe