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

not perish tho quicker for contemp ng his
end with stout heart He that SO spoke Is
dead. The worst is over for him Were he
babe resting upon his mothers breast no
could not sleep moro soundly, DO moro ten
DERBY lulled, nor be freer frorn such anguish
as now aillicts me, who ciings to life as { this
this ! cried, looking around me- "were a
paradise Of warmth ana beauty. | must be a
man, ask God for courage to meet whatever
may betidc, and stoutly endure what cannot
be cvaded.n
My mind went to tho schooner, yet l felt
an extraordinary rccoil within me when !
thought of seeking an asylum in her. [ had
the figure of her before MY fancy,viewcd the
form of the man on her deck, and the idea of
penetrating her dark Interior and seeking
shelter in facric that time and frost and
death had wrought into a black mystery, was
dreadful to me.
II must be done, nevertheless, thought ];
shall certainly perish from cxposurcir linmor
! here; besides, how do know but that may
discover some means Of escaping from that
shipf As5urcdly there was plenty OF material
i'll her for the building of boat, if ] could
meet with tools Or, possibly, might find
/ boat under matches, for it was common for
| vessels Of her class and in her time to stow
! their plnnaces in the hold, and when the
necessity for using them arose to hoist them
! out and tow them astcrn. These reflections
somewhat heartened me, and l turned my
| back upon the clamorous ocean and started
l. TO ascend the slope once moro.
Ihclped myself along with tho oar, and
presently arrived at the brink of the slope, in
whose hollow lay the ship as in cup. The
wind made a noisy bowling in her rigging
but the tacsling was frozen SO iron hard that
4 81
head was rs motionlces as any of the ad iaccnt
stcoplcs or pillars of ice. My heart was dis
mayed ogan b. the figure of Il man. He was
more dreadful than the other because Of the
! size to which the frozen snow upon bis head,
trunl, and limbs had swecd him; and the
half rise of his face was particularly start
| ling, as if he were in the worry act of running
his gaze softly upward. That ne should have
died in that easy leaning posture was strange;
however, | supposed, and no doubt rightly,
| that he had been seized with sudden faint
ness and had leaned upon the rail and 50 cx-
PRED. The cold would quickly make him
rigid and likewise preserve him, and thus he
might have been leaning, contemplating the
ice of tho cliffs for years and years.
A wild and dreadful thing for one in my
condition to light ON, and be forced to think
Of!
My heart, as l have said, sank In me again
at the sight of him, and fear, and awe, and
superstition so worked upon my spirits that
stood irresolute, and would have gone bacl;
had there been any place to return to.
plucked up after a little, and, gripping the
car started on the descent
The depth was not great, nor the dcclivity
sharp; but the surface was formed OF blockl
of ice like the collections of big stones you
sometimes encounter on tho sides of noun
tains near the base; and | had again anG
again to fetch a compass so as to gain @
smaller block down which to drop, till | was
close to the vessel, and here the snow hac
piled and frozen into a smooth face
The ship lay with e list OF inclination tC
larboard | had come down to her on hel
starboard side. She had small channels with
long plates; but her list ON my side hove
them somewhat high, beyond my reach, anc
perceived that to get aboard must seek al
entrance on the larboard hand. This was not
hard to arrive at; indeed, had but to wall
round her under her bows. She was so coated
with hard snow | could see nothing of hei
timbers, and was therefore unable to guess at
the condition of the hull. She had something
of the look Of the barco-iongos of half a cen
fury ago-that is, half a century ago from
the date of my adventure: but that which, il
sober truth man would have taken her tC
be was a vessel formed OF snow, spared ant
rugged with glasslIie, frosted ice-tae artistic
caprice of the genius or spirit of this Whit
and melancholy scene, who, to complete thC
hooking illusion, had fashioned the figure o
man to stand on deck with a human fac,
tOughcned into an idle, eternal contempla
ton.
climbed without difficulty into the fore
chains, the snow being 50 hard that my fee
and hands made not the least impression OF
it, and somewhat warily-feeling the govern
ment Of peculiar awe, mounting into a sor
of terror, indeod-stood awhile pecring owe
the rail of the bulwarks; then entered tn
ship. ran my eyes swiftly here and there
for indeed did not know what might stea
y or leap into view Let it be remembered
= that | was a sailor, with the superstition
feelings of my calling in me- and though d
not know that actually believed il ghost
and apparitions and specters, yet l felt a
if ALPHABETICALLY upon the deck Of thi
silent ship rendered spirit like by the gray
of ice in which she lay, and by the long year
las | could not doubt during which she ha
thus rested. Hence, when l slipped Off tn
bulwark on to tho deck and viewed tn
gLastly, white, lonely scene, / felt for III
r moment as if this strange discovery of min
} WAS not TO be exhausted of its wonders an
= tclrors by the mere existence OF the ship
9 other words, that must expect something G
/ the supernatural to enter into this icy sepu
l cher, and be prepared for sights more MAI
@ vicious and terrifying than frozen corpses,
= Presently, getting the better of my pertlu
; baton, | walked aft, and stepping on to th
I poop deck, fell to an examination OF the con
@ panlon or covering Of the after hatch, whicl
i as | have elsewhere said, was covered wit
snow.
| CHAPTER Y.
ANOTHER STARTLING DISCOVERY.
This hatch formed the entranca 70 Ii