The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-02-27

off. I slept fairly we'll, and my second
breakfast was again made CT fruits.
When got my fill determined to make
fire. The novelist of to-day will have
a cast.away youth rub two dry sticks to-
gether for few minutes and start a
blaze, but got the dryest sticks could
find and rubbed until l was completely
tired out, and l could not even blackeu
them. got some dry moss and struck
stones together. but the 8; arks would
not ignite it. Three. quarters of the day
was spent in efforts to get a fire, and
then l had to give it up. A smoke
would have been the best signal TO q
passing craft, but I could not get fire,
and as had no clothes to spare, being
in my shirt sleeves when | went over.
board, 1 had TO abandon the idea aud
hope that some native craft would touch
the shore.
had landed midway of the island, on
the eastern shore, and the spot was as
pleasant as any other locality. There
fole on the third day I built me a com.
Portable shelter under the trees, and
settled it with myself that was in for it
for some time to come. Twice that day
I saw sailing vessels to the east, but
miles away, I also went to the south,
west and north sides of the island, and
piled up shells on the beach above tide
mark and placed sticks on top of them
poiLting my way. Whoever landed
wou d be apt to see them aud understand
that some one had been cast away.
A week passed, and no craft came near.
At the end of five or six days was
thoroughly tired of my feed, but there
was no change, unless wanted raw fish
or flesh. could have made net out OF
vines and caught some fish, or could
easily have killed some OF the birds with
club, but tho absence of a fire was
the drawback. Few men get less sound
sleep than sailor. Many time have
promised myself slumber OF week at
the end of voyage. ought to have
slept like stone on my island as there
was nothing tv make me afraid, but
was more wakeful than on shipboard.
About the middle of the second week
I had an adventure which quite broke
me up for the next day or two. Having
seen no sharks inside the reef, had
taken a swim in the clear, still waters
every morning. On this morning, soon
after getting out of bed, I stripped OF
and jumped in with great splash and
began flouudering about. was about
to strike out for the reef when | saw the
! dorsal lin of shark between me and 1t,
and turned and landed without loss of
time. AS I looked ba:k something
struck at me and fell short by only
foot, and leaped away just in time to
avoid another feeler of monstrous
devil fish. I could plainly make him
out on the bottom, and he came within
IN ace of getting hold of me. The shark,
which wa, fully sixteen feet long, ad-
vanced toward the beach, and as ne
reached the spot where the devil fish lay
row began. The shark was seize by
at least two of the fcclers, and in the first
moment he was rolled over and over.
Then he pulled himself together, and for
the next five minutes the water was
churned to fury. l think the shark got
the best of the fight, as he made of after
a while seemingly unhurt, while pieces
of one of the feelers came ashore to prove
that it had been severed from the body
by the sharks teeth.
The second week passed, and third
and fourth. During the time sighted
many sails, but they were always afar OFT.
had become so sick of my fare that l
scarcely ate anything, and the lazy life
became positive disgust. At the end
of the fourth week would have agreed
to work one year at ditch digging with
out pay for passage TO civilization. On
the second duy of the fifth week there
Was a gale and heavy sea from the east.
At about noon on the third day ships
yawl nearly full of water, but containing
q woman, drove ashore almost at my
feet. There was heavy surf, notw.th-
standing the coral reef, and had l not
been on hand the boat would have been
pulled back by the undertow and carried
out among the rocks and smashed. The
woman had lased herself to one of the
thwarts, and was nearly exhausted with
hunger and exposure. 1t was little l
could do for her except to give her
water and food, and it was sundown be-
fore she could tell her story. She was
the wife of Captain BradburG of another
English tea brig, the Constellation. l
was coming down the Pacific when
washed overheard. She was going up.
A gust or squa'l hee!ed the Coustellat on
over, and she was boarded by q sea
which swept Mrs. Bradburn and two
men away, and took with it the boat
and a lot of deck rafe. The men she
saw struggling as she got hold of the
boat, but they were doubtless drowned.
1t was almost dalk, as in my case, and
she also dro to the west. How she got
into the boat she could no. remember
nor was she clear as to how long she had
tloated. She thought it must have been
a great deal longer than l figu ed.
1t was three days before the woman
picked up her strength and courage, and
by that time I was ready to leave the
island. The mast and sail belonging to
the boat had been slowed under the
thwarts and were safe, and all l had to
do was to fill number Of big shells
with fresh water, of which, as have for
gotten to state, there was o supply on
the island. We left in the morning
heading to the south, and at 8 o'clock in
the afternoon We were picked up by an
American ship called Happy Home. She
was bound up for japanese teas, but
that same day we signaled an English
ship coming out of Shanghai and bound
home, and Mrs. Bradburn was trans
fe,red. That was the last ever saw or
heard of her, though 1 know the ship
reached England safely. was rowing
sailor, with no home or address, and no
matter how badly her husband wanted
to thank me he knew not where was to
he found Nso Yrk Sun.