Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-03-22

His eyes were fixed; they rcsembled glass
painted as eyes tho colOrS faded lie had II
broad belt round his waist, and the hilt of a
kind of cutlass peepcd from under his cloak;
otherwise he was unarmcd. / thought he
brcathcd and seemed to sec n movement in
his breast, and | took him by the shoulder,
but i'll the hurry of my feelings | cXcrted
moro strength thon I was sensible OF. I
pushed him with tine violence of sudden
trcpidation; my hand slipped Off his shoulder,
and he fell on his side, exactly as u statue
would preserving his posture as though, like
u statue, he had been chiseled out of marble
or stone.
started back frightened by his fall, in
which my fears found sort of life; but it
was soon clear to mo his rigdity was that OF
a man frozen to death. His very hair and
beard stood stiff, as before, as though they
were some exquisite counterfeit in ebony.
Perfectly satisfied that he was dead, stepped
round to the other side of him and set him
up as had found him. He was as heavy as
if he had been alive, and when put his back
to the rock his posture was eXactly as it had
becn-that of one deeply meditating.
Who had this man been in life? How had
he fallen into this pass! How long had he
been dead there, seated MS | saw himf
These were speculations not to be resolved
by conjecture. On looking at the rock against
which he leaned, and Observing its curvature,
Il seemed - Inc that it had formed part OF q
| cave, or of some large deep hole Of ice; and
| this, was sure, must have been the case-for
| it is ceTc-l that, had this body remained
/ long u.shetered, it must have been hidden
/ by the snow.
| concluded then that the unhappy man
/ he'd been cast away upon this ice while it
was under bleahor heights than these paral-
! lels, and that he had crawled into a hollow
and persisted in that melonclolic sitting post
urc.
Thinking l 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 breeches,
the outer pair being of dark green cloth.
He also wore a handsome red waistcoat,
laced and stout coat of u kind Of trezc In
his coat pocket found silver tobacco box,
a small glass flask fitted with a silver band
and half full OF an amber colorcd liquor,
hard froze; and in lis waistcoat pocket a
gold watch, shaped like an apple, the back
curiouslv chased and inlaid with jewels of
several kinds, forming a small letter N. Tha
hands pointed to twenty minutes after three.
A key of a strange shape and q number OF
seals, trinkets, and the like were attached &c
the watch.
ThAe things, together with knife, a key
a thick plain silver ring, and some Spanish
pieces in gold and silver We're what l found
on vhis man. There was nothing to tell me
who he was, nor how long he had been on the
island
Tho searching him was the most disagree
able Job ever undertook in my life. His
iron-likc rigidity made him seem to resist
me, and the swaying OF his back against The
rock To the motions of my hand was so full
OF life that twice | quilted him, frightened
by it. On touching his naked hand by acci
dent, | discovered that the flesh of it moved
upon tho bones as you pull glove off anc
on | had had enough of him, and walked
away feeling sick.
/ pushed onward, stepping warily ant
0robing cautiously at every step, and earn
estly peering about me, for after such Sigh
that dead man l was never to know VIVA
new wonder | might stumble upon. About
quarter o. a. mile en- my eft-that is, OF
my left while kept my face to the slope
there the appearance of ravine not dis
cernible from where the boat lay. When
was within twenty feet Of the summit Of tn
cliff the ACTIVITY continuing gentle to th
very brow but much broken, as have said
noticed this hollow, and moro particular,
a small collection Of ice forms, not nearly 81
largo as tho other groups of this kind, bu
most dainty and lovely, nevertheless. The,
showed as the heads of trees might to IN.
ascent, and when | had got a little higher
observed that they were formed upon tn
hther side of the hollow, as though the con
vulsion which had wrought that chasm hat
tossed UP those exquisite caprices of ice
However, | was too eager to view the pros
, poet from the top of the cliff to suffer IN
admiration TO detain me- il few minute
| had gained the brow, and, clamboriug OF
! to mass of rock, I sent my gaze around.