Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-07-30
her maid stole softly down the dark

lock. They stepped forth into the
cloudy, windy night and crossed the
moat and the drawbridSe. Then the
lady paused an instant and took n last
look at the battlements Of her fathers
| Use. AZ that moment a dismal owl
o.. n turret gave n m%ournful boot, like
the note of u fatefui doom. The lady
shuddered, dashed n tear from her
eyes, drew the mantle about her and
fed forever from her home.
Roger Machim was waiting I'm the
wood with his attendants. Lightly she
sprang on her horse, and then the cry
was, ITO spur and away
Bristol was the nearest port. The
record does not say whether Machim
chartered a ship expressly for this voy.
age, or engaged passage OIL n that
was about to sail. At any rate, the
ship was there waiting, and set sail rs
soon as the lovers arrived. She was
very different from the ships We now
use, and was what they called a galley.
She had a very high bow and stern,
towering far above the water and
tapering toward the top. This made
the galley look top heavy; but she was
very broad at the water line and was
deep qualities which made her sea
worthy.
The cabin was a small, stufry apart
ment. without staterooms or berths.
The beds were spread On the deck. The
entire ship rocked with the smell of tar
and pitch and Of moldy biscuit and
salt fish ami spirits. But perhaps PEG.
pie who went To sea in those days had
stronger stolnachs than they lave now;
at any rate this was the only way they
had of taking "A voyage; the ships
slow and the comforts none. 1t was
little consolation 10 those who were
tossed in such a tub as that 10 know
that the stern was p~rofusely decorated
with gilded carvings or that a rank tai
low taper was ever burning before the
picture of the Virgin Mary at n end
of the cabin.
The galley lad three short masts
and three sails on yards hoisted from
the deck and she had an abundance of
long streamers. The captain and crew
were coarse but picturesque figures,
heavily bearded and brown with fight.
ing the rough sea. They knew the
way to France or Holland or Spain,
although rarely sailing as far us Spain
but of aught south Of 1t they knew Lit.
tie IL anything. and absolutely nothing
of what was e tward. America had
not yet been discovered and the At
lantic was to them n vast. vague mys-
terry.
To the poor lady, flying from home
and now for the first time on the sea,
everything was SO sad and strange and
wild. Although they told her that in
three or four days at farthest they
hoped to land in sunny France, yet her
heart was fun of fears. and many a
time she longed to be once more safe
in the home she had left behind. But
the die was cast. Even Il they had
been willing to return for her sake the
winds were o ontrary, and there
was nothing to do b It to keep on
But it soon became . question wheth.
er they should be able even to reach
France. Ii was now the season of
storms. the wild month OF October
verging on winter, and the clumsy little
galley was but i'll fitted to battle with
head winds and storms. II needed no
barometer to tell the crew and passen-
gers of the galley that heavy weather
had set in for good. The white gulls
darted swiftly round the ship over the
foarning crests, the stormy petrels fol.
lowed in the wake. and hour 10y hour
the surges and angry green swelled
higher and higher and tossed the little
ship like an egg shell, now toward the
leaden sky and now with a swift rush
into the watery abyss.
Yes, il began to be a question at last
not whether they should reach France,
but whether they would ever again see
land or make "A port.
Day after day the galley scudded un.
der a rag Of canvass before the furious,
bowling nortbeaster, rolling her gun
wales under and shipping tons of water
that threatened 10 send her to the bot
tom. Every timber creaked and groan-
ed, and every man on board vowed
candles TO the virgin or promised to do
penance at the first shrine to which
he should come IL only heaven would
bring him safe TO land. They had no
charts of the regions toward which they
were healing.
One day through the mist the high
coast Of Spain wa e of Cape FINS
terre. Then they knew they were
across the Bay Of Biscay, and began to
hope the fury Of the storm might
slacken. Never in all their experience
had the bold captain and his pilots IN
countered such weather. But the
storm continued, and still the galley
sped southwark, the winds grew warm.
er and the skies more blue, but the
wind held and the surgcs seemed high
er than ever. One Uf these surges