Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-12-13

began to call out in a cheerful voic,
that the gale was abatipg, and that VIC
were all right. Howe OILY looked at III,
in cunning, crafty way, as If he medi'
tated some trick. got out the pro-
visions, reused up the women, and forced
them to sip the wine and eat little. The
gentleman refused to partake with us,
and by and by the women began to no.
tice his strange actions. This brought
about climax. | saw him looking stead
fastly at his wife, and / carefully moved
nearer to her. One Of the girls changed
her position further aft, fearing that
struggle was about to take place, and
turned and extended my hand to steady
her. A | did so Howe uttered a sort Of
scream, sprang upon and seized his wife,
and, though | clutched her skirts, the
fabric tore, and both went overheard and
out of sight in an instant. Neither one
rose to the surface, or, if they did, they
were far beyond reach. The sudden and
awful tragedy deeply affected us all, and
the girls flung themselves down and
could not be reused up again until after
noon. Ben didn't realize it so deeply,
but it was like dagger at my heart to
sec him sitting with closed eyes and
white face, and his lips framing the
words of the Lords Prayer now and
then.
At noon the wind and sea began to go
down and the sky to clear up. The gale
had blown itself out, and now consid.
cred it only question of time when we
should sight the coast. The better state
Of affairs brought new life to the girls,
and l was glad to have them rouse up
and show some signs of life. A rough
man like me is no real comfort to one in
distress, but did the best | could, and fin.
ally got them interested in the question of
saving themselves. BY ) o'clock got in
the drag shook one reef out of the sail,
and stood off on southwest tack, but
before | had made five miles the wind
died out entirely and we were left tum.
bling on the last of the sea. Night came
on as mild and balmy as you please, the
ocean grew quiet, and every one of us
lay down and slept the whole night
through without a break. was the first
up, and the minute l saw the sky |
groaned in despair. 1t portended hot
day and dead calm, and both followed.
Even before breakfast l had to make a
shift to get some shelter from the blazing
sun, and when | came to overhaul the
provisions my face so betrayed my feel.
ings that the younger girl cried out:
"Oh! Jack, but what has happened
now?"
| could have eaten and drank all we
had in five minutes. had not filled the
water keg to its capacity, and even some
that l did put in had leaked out by way
of the bung had to tell them that we
must put ourselves on allowance, and
hardly more than crumb at that, but
they cheerfully accepted the situation. [
am not going into the details of the next
week For seven successive days we
had dead calm or contrary breeze,
which was of little use to
help us beat up. We spun the water
and provisions out for four days, and
then we had nothing left. BY resorting
to those expedients known to sailors we
kept hunger and thirst in abeyance until
the evening of the sixth day. Then the
three walled and wept, and l took off my
cowhide shoes and cut one into strips for
us to chew at. There was some Slight
relief, and the three only called out in
their troubled sleep few times. We had
only the leather all day of the seventh,
and on the morning of the eighth, al.
though a favorable breeze was blowing,
and we all felt in better spirits, had 20
cut up the other shoe. Little Ben was now
reduced to bundle of bones, and he had
the CLASSY eyes which go with fever,
while the girls were burned and freckled
and starved until could not bear to look
at them. Both were looking ahead in a
vacant, uncanny way, and Ben was rest
ing in my arms while steered, when we
ran straight across the course of trader
coming up from New leland, and were
picked up.
Being young man, and a tough one,
it wasn't fortnight before was my old
self again, but the girls and the boy were
down with fever for month or more,
and were a whole year in being restored
to health. .-Neao York SaR.
A man in Sinner County, CAL, who
killed his neighbor's steer to save his own
family from starving, declined counsel,
pleaded guilty and was sentenced TO one