Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1890-02-26
ing, steering those unhappy creatures
TO a CHASTITY death.

TO a CHASTITY death.
"The child died at first, and then
one by one, Of the women, with the
exception of the countess, from in
anition, and we flung them overheard.
Zone Of the sailors, maddened by
hunger, sprang into the sea under the
delusion that we had reached the
land. The remaining sailor, at the
end of the same day, caught sight of
the package in the stern, the brass
bound corner Of the countess jewel
box. and l saw him, with gloating
eyes, creeping toward it. l felled
him in the boat with broken oar
and by this time there was no one to
fling him overheard, and he lay there
rotting before my very eyes. had
only looked in the direction of my
coveted store once, just before the
storm, and had hastily crammed into
my pockets few handfuls Of dried
raisins. These had now almost eat
en-, and | was beginning myself to
feel that terrible sinking which pre-
cedes death by starvation. had
only been kept up by the knowledge
of my hoard and my dreams of what
/ should do in the future with my
boundless wealth.
"As l was carrying the last raisin
to my mouth, the countess, opening
her dying eyes, saw me, and nerved
suddenly with feverish spark of life
by the sight of a morsel of food, flung
herself upon me to drag it from me,
| strangled the dying woman as she
lay across my knees, and | was alone
in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic
ocean with the corpses of the man and
woman had murdered, provisions
enough to last me three or four days
and jewels worth ten million of francs.
At last, thought |, the end is in
sight, aud turned round and realized
the horrible truth, | must have become
insensible, for when | recovered con-
seriousness l was tossing about in a
rising gale, lying at the bottom of the
boat. The waves that had broken
over us during the storm had washed
out the last atom of provisions | had
concealed. The jewel case alone, by
reason of its greater weight, remained
where / put it.
"Madly, furiously, rfed the peck
cts of the dead women at my feet for
the key. l found it at last suspended
by little gold chain around her neck.
l flung open the lid of the box, and
in my rage cast the shining devilries
as far as could from me into the sea-
Handful after handful of diamonds, of
sapphires, / threw into the waves, and
at last sank to the bottom of the boat
to die the CHASTITY death by which
had seen so many die before my eyes
without stretching out hand to help
them when | might have done it,.
"As morning broke next day flor |
never lost consciousness suddenly the
mir became filled with strange IN.
earthly brightness ; balmy exquisite
breeze seemed to battle my temples,
such as | have felt in the bay of Ma
Piles or off the coast of Greece.
said, This is death = and the voice of
one who seemed quite close to me
seemed to say in accents as distinct as
they were severe:
Thou iend For this CHASTITY
crime that thou hast committed thou
shalt remain in this boat throughout
eternity, shalt follow wherever plank
of it remains whole, until, under cir
cumstances like these, thou shalt be
permitted to steer some other ship
wrecked crew into safety Then
every sense seemed suddenly to be ex-
tinguished. / knew that | was dead.
"a few days afterward the boat was
picked up by ship. for it had drifted
back into the track of vessels crossing
the Atlantic. The sailors who came
down to examine the floating craft
flung overheard the decomposing
bodies of the sailor and of the count
ess and her empty jewel case, but
they meyer noticed. me. They carried
the boat into harbor, where she was
reftted and reprinted. After a long
time new name, Etruria was painted
upon her, but all these years nobody
ever noticed me sitting in the stern,
waiting throughout eternity for the
expiration of my crime. And no one
until your voice aroused me, has ever
disturbed my everlasting watch"
As he said these last words, the
corpse, the spector (call it what you
will) sank back into its old listless
attitude and once more moved toward |
the sea, made half movement for.
ward to touch it, but the sickening
sense of repulsion returned so strong
ly that l could not do it.
/ climbed down from the boat, and
below il / found a man who greeted
me with the information that he had