Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-07-12
ICE BOUN
BY w. CLARK RUSSELL,
author Of "Thc Wreck Of The Grosrexor,n
"Jach's Comrtslfp," MY Watch Be-
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SCHOONER FREES HERSELF.

small berg, though large compared with most
of the others; yet such mighty volume of
foam boiled up as gave me startling idea
of the prodigious weight of the mass. The
sight made me very anxious about my own
state; and to satisfy my mind got upon the
ice and walked round the vessel, and to get
true view of her posture went to the ex-
IRENE end of the rocks beyond her bows; and
finally came to the conclusion that, suppos-
ing the ice should crumble away from her
sides SO as to cause the weight of the schooner
to render it top heavy, her buoyancy, on
touching the water, would certainly tear her
keel out of its frosty setting and leave her
floating. Indeed, so sure was / of this that
/ saw, next to the ice splitting and freeing
her in that way, the best thing that could
happen would be its capsizal.
Iregained the ship, and had paused an in
slant to look over the side, when perceived
the very block of ice on which had come
to a halt break from the bed with q smart
clap of noise, and completely roll over Only
minute before had 1 been standing on it.,
and thus had sixty seconds stood between me
and death; for most certainly must have
been drowned or killed by being beaten
against the ice by the swell! fell upon my
knees and lifted up my hands in gratitude to
God, feeling extraordinarily comforted by
this further mark of His care of me, and very
strongly persuaded that he designed should
come off with my life after all, since his
providence would not work so many miracles
for my preservation if l was to perish by
this adventure.
These thoughts did more for my spirits
than l can well express; and the intolerable
sense of loneliness was mitigated by the
knowledge that was watched and therefore
not alone
The day passed l know not how The
shadow as of a tempest hung in the air, but
never a cat's-paw did see to blur the rolling
mirror of the ocean. The hidden sun sank
out of the breathless sky, tingeing the atmos-
phere with a faint hectic, which quickly
yielded to the deepest shade of blackness
The mysterious, desperate silence, however,
that on deck weighed oppressively on every
sense, as something false, menacing, and ma
ignant in these seas, was qualified below by
peculiar straining noises in the schooner's
hold, caused by the swinging of the ice upon
the swell. l was very uneasy; l dreaded a
gale. 1t was impossible but that the vessel
must quickly go to pieces in q heavy sea upon
the ice if she did not liberate herself. But
though this excited depression melancholy
enough, nothing else that / can recollect
contributed to it. When / reviewed the APP
prehenSion the Frenchman had raised, and
reflected how insupportable a burden he
must have become, was very well satisfied
to be alone Pine had fortified me; had
passed through experiences so surprising,
encountered wonders so preternatural, that
superstition lay asleep in my soul, and
found nothing to occasion in me the least
uneasiness in thinking of the lifeless, shriv
eled figure of what was just now a fierce.
cowardly, untamed villain lying in the fore
castle
made good supper, built up large fire,
and mixed myself hearty bowl of punch,
not with the view of drowning my anxeties
God forbid l was too grateful for the
past, too expectant of the future, to be capa-
BILE of SO british folly-but that l might
keep myself in a cheerful posture of mind;
when l was terrified by an extraordinary
loud explosion, that burst so near and rang
with such prodigious clear note of thunder
through the schooner that VOW to God 1
believed the gunpowder below had blown up.
And in this suspicion l honestly supposed
myself right for a moment-for on running
into the cabin was dazzled by crimson
flame that clothed the whole interior with
wondrous gush of fire; but this being in
stantly followed by such another clap as the
other, l understood a thunder storm had
broken over the schooner
1t was exactly overhead, and that &C
counted for the violence of the crashes,
which were indeed so extreme that they
1n1 "a
bodies of leo close to than the flight of cleo
trio bolts. The hatch lay open; 1 ran on
deck; but scarce had passed my head through
the companion when down came a storm of
hail, every stone as big as pigeons egg;
and in all my time never heard a more hell
ish clamor There was not breath of air.
The hail fell in straight lines, which the
fierce near lightning flashed up into the ap-
pearance of giant harpstrings, on which the
black hand of the night was playing those
heavy notes of thunder. l sat in the shelter
of the companion, very anxious and alarmed,
for there was powder enough in the hold to
blow the ship into atoms; and the lightning
played so continuously and piercingly that it
was like hundred darts of fire, violet, GRIM
SOD, and sun colored, in the grasp of spirits
who thrust at the sea, all over its face, with
searching for the schooner to spear her.
The hail storm ceased as suddenly as it had
burst stepped ON to the deck, and observed
that the storm was settling into the north
east, whence concluded that what draught
that might be up there sat in the southwest.
Nor was / mistaken, for half an hour after
the first of the outburst, by which time the
lightning played weak and at long intervals
low down and tho Thunder. ba6 oaacoI I foIf
a crawling of dir coming out of the south
west, which presently briskened into a small,
steady blowing, but not for long. 1t fresh
ened yet and yet; the wrinkles crisped into
whiteness on the black heavings; they grew
into small surges, with sharp, cubbish snarl-
ings, preludious of the lions voice, and by 10
o'clock it was blowing in strong squalls, the
sea rising, and the clouds sailing swiftly in
smoke colored rags under the stars.
The posture of the ice inclined the schoon-
er's starboard bow to the pillows, and in q
very short time she was trembling in every
bono to the blows of the surges which rolled
boiling over the ice there and struck her,
linging dim clouds of spume in the air, which
soon set the scuppers gushing My case was
that of a stranded ship, with this difference
only: that vessel ashore lies solid to the
beating of the waves, whereas the ice was
buoyant; it rose and fell, sluggishly, it is true,
and so somewhat mitigated the severity of
the shocks of water. But, spite of this, / was
perfectly sure that unless the bed broke I'M
der her or she slipped off it, she would be in
pieces before the morning. 1t was not in any
hull put together by human hands to resist
the pounding of those seas. The weight of
the mighty ocean, along whose breast they
raced, was in them, and though the wind was
no more than brisk gale, each billow by its
stature showed itself the child of giantess.
The ice bed was like whirlpool with the
leap and flash and play of the froth upon it.
The black air of the night was whitened by
the storms of foam flakes which flew over the
vessel The roaring of the broken waters in
creased the horrors of the scene l firmly
believed my time was come. God had been
merciful, but l was to die now As to max
ing any shift to keep myself alive after the
ship should be broken up, the thought never
entered my head. What could l dol There
was no boat / might have contrived some
arrangement of booms and casks to serve as a