Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-12-29
Out of the Waters.

Hank hear the wind shrIeklng oveI
the rocks and round about the cabin
and the sea; just listen to its roar.
The waves are rising fast. It's go
ing to be bad night along the coast.
1 hope no ship is close inshore to-
night, unless it is sure of making a
good harbor.'
These words were spoken by fish
erman of middle age, who, with two
or three others, had made a call upon
old Tom Greggs, who on account of
age and stiff joints had been laid up
for year or two; stranded like any
other hulk upon the sands and rocks,
as he expressed it, and waiting for
some high sea to set him afloat again,
or to bury him close to the spot where
the cabin stood which had sheltered
HIM for so many nights in the years
which had gone so swiftly past.
Old Tom had for some years dwelt
alone. He had been married, but
his wife had long slept in the old
moss-grown graveyard inland beyond
the cliff. To cheer his solitude and
listen TO the yarns he could spin often
brought his neighbors to his cabin.
On such occasions, the old mans face
would light up, showing plainly that
he was glad to see those who climbed
the rocks to his humble abode.
The old man shook his head in a
deprecatory sort of a way.
81 don't know anything worth tell
ing tonight, Ben. You've heard
about all the stories l can remember,
good and bad"
''But you must tell us one," his
visitors all clamored in a chorus. "Do
you think that we have clambered up
here on such a night as this, and are
going back with our labor for our
pains
81 thought you came up here to
make me friendly call; | didn't
know that you expected to pay for it. .
''But we do" said another, Seth
Wyman by name. "Hear the tenn
pest outside! 1t is blowing perfect
gale. Come, spin us yarn or we
will be scurrying down the cliffs in
less than two seconds
I'm not afraid of your doing that,
boys. You would not leave an old
hulk like me all alone in such a gale
as this. | know you too we'll for that.
1t is almost as bad night as the one
when old Sim Rogers found his treas
ure on the sands"
s'His treasure What was that ?
Did he find a chest of gold left by
Captain Kidd, or was it a casket of
diamonds?"
sit wasn't neither, youngster.
Draw your benches up little closer
to the fire, and l will tell you what it
was"
They complied with his request
cheerfully, for through the chinks in
the wall the tempest found its way
in and sent cold SILVER down their
backs. They were satisfied: for they
had got old Tom started, and they
were sure of the story which they had
come through the darkness and storm
to hear.
Old Tom gazed for moment or
two into the fire which blazed cheeri-
ly upon the heart, as though trying
to gather his wits together, and then
he began:
"Old Sim Rogers, when he got to
be along in years, land had sailed most
of his voyages, was not like me, cast
on a shore where there was not sail
in sight. He had a clipper little craft
which kept him well in sight, to see
that lie did not run on to the rocks OF
J get buried in the quicksands. She
was his cousins daughter, and he be-
ing long dead, and there being no
one to take care of her, she had come
: to live with him and be his house
keeper, land for dozen years she had
made good one. There was not q
y cabin anywhere along the coast that
e was kept so neat and trim, and prais-
es of her as a housekeeper were Oh
the tongue of every good dame along
the coast who knew her good points
'sOld Sim had son two or three
years older than the girl, and every
3 body said they would make a mattel
r of it some day when Nellie should be
s little older. A good pair they
would have been, and there was nc
+ doubt but that they were fond of eacl
: other; but one day the young char
:. and his father quarreled. What i
was about l don't remember now
n The old man had will of his own
. and the boy Dick was as high-tem
: pered as he. SO what did he do Blu
e 60 off to the next port and ship 70
three years on board a merchantmen
e bound for the East Indies.
: s'When the three years were up, h
=. did not come home, and in all thi
1t time they had not had single wore
from him and did not know whethe
u he was living or dead.
u ''Old Sim had long since repente'
his hasty words, and would have Civ
en- all that he had in the world t
have him back again. This he ha'
r. said over and over to Nellie, ant
l. more frequently of late, now that th
|: three years for which the boy ha'
d shipped were gone past by severa