Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-11-25

the masting, either from having been
cut away at sea, or from having been
put TO some use on shore after the
laundering of the vessel
"Let us set to work" cried Capt.
I Willis, land perhaps we may find some
name, some letter, some mark which
will fix the nationality of this craft"
"Yes," replied Zach French, ''and
may Heaven grant that it will not turn
out to be Capt. Johns ship that was re
duced to this awful plight"
The examination produced no definite
/ result While il was true that articles
| picked up on the beach were undoubt-
/ edly of American manufacture, yet was
| there no ground to affirm that they had
/ once belonged to the Inflated Dread
naught One of the seamen soon came
upon the cave which had been utilized
/ by the castaways- 1t penetrated into
an enormous mass of granite at the
angle formed by the plateau and the
beach. Capt. Willis and Zach made
haste to join the man who was halloo-
| ing TO them 1t might be that within
this cave would be solved the secret of
the wreck, that in this dark chamber
would be revealed the name of the yes
/
| through narrow, arched pasSageway
near which opening lay the ashes Of an
exterior fireplace, the smoke of which
| had blackened the walls. The cave
| proved to be about twenty by fifteen
| feet in size with ten-foot ceiling
| quite large enough to accommodate
dozen people. The place was quite bare
excepting the presence of a rude bed of
| dried grass covered with bits and shreds
of an old sail, bench made of pieces of
plank, two stools fashioned in the
same style, a rickety table from the
! wreck, possibly from the ships cabin
| In the way of utensils, there were a
| few plates, few iron dishes, three
| forks, two spoons, a knife and three
metal drinking cups all eaten by rust.
Poor wretchesi'' murmured Zach
French, what destitution they must
have suffered during their stay on this
island"
"They don't seem to have saved scarce
ly anything of the ships material" re-
piled Capt Willis, land that proves the
violence with which she must have run
on these rocks and reefs. As every
| thing went to pieces, how were these
unfortunate beings able to procure food?
No doubt they had little grain which
| they sowed, some salt meat, some
canned provisions which they gradually
| exhausted But what an existence!
And how they must have sufferedr
Yes, with this slender store el5ed out
with such fish as they might be able to
catch, such were the only means they
had to keep body and soul together.
There no longer seemed TO be any posi-
bility that they could still be upon the
island. And yet If they had been forced
to lay their bones here it was very prob
| able that the remains of the one who
had died last would be found some
where. But in spite of all the patient
| searching done inside and out of this
cave, no trace of their bodies could be
| found
This leads me to think" observed
Zach French, that these castaways
were taken off the island"
But how?" asked Capt. Willis.
Gould they have possibly with the
debris of the wreck built n raft large
enough to put to sea9"
mo, captain, they didn't have enough
to build canoe with. incline to the
been seen by a passing vessel"
But, Zach, I can't bring myself to
think it."
why not, captain?"
Because, il a passing ship had seen
them and taken them off, the whole
world would have heard of il, unless that
ship itself had gone down with every
soul on board, which is hardly suppose
BILE. | therefore can't accept the theory
that the castaways Of Browse island
were rescued in any such way"
you may be right, captain" said
Zach, sadly, but IL II was impossible
for them to build a raft still there's no
proof that all the ships boats perished
in the wreck"
Even So" replied Willis, but since
there has been no report in the past few
years of n ships crew being rescued in
the latitude of western Australia, it's
my opinion that this vessel must have
foundered during its passage from the
Australian coast TO this island"
Zach saw that he would have little
show of overcoming this theory; but
still being unwilling 20 leave undons
anything which might aid them in
learning what had become of the cast
aways, he added: But captain, you
surely intend to visit the other parts OF
the island?"
"Yes, to keep my conscience quiet"
replied Willis; but first let's go and
and remove that signal 50 that vessels
will not be influenced to leave their
course TO save people who don't exist"
-
now made a last examination of the
beach, then. having gained the plateau
by passing through the gorge, they
turned their steps toward the Promon-
tory.
They found 1t necessary 10 pass
around deep excavation, sort OF
stony pond fed by the rains and cloud
bursts, in order to keep on their way.
Suddenly Willis came to n halt and
pointed at four mounds parallel with
each other. Possibly they would have
escaped his attention had they not been
marked by small wooden crosses now
partially decayed. They were graves
1t was the cemetery of the castaways
"At last" cried Willis, were in n
position to learn"
The two sailors set to work making
use of their knives to loosen the dirt,
but many years must have elapsed since
the burial, for the graves contained
nothing but bones. Willis ordered
them TO be closed again and the crosses |
to be replaced. The truth concerning
the wreck on Browse island had again
escaped Willis and his companions. IL |
four human beings had been buried on
this spot, what had become of him who |
had rendered them this last service? |
And he, too, when death struck him
down, where had he fallen2 Would |
they not find his bones on some other |
part of the island? Capt Willis could /
not bring himself to think so.
"Why shouldn't this wreck be the /,
Dreadnaught3" asked one of the sea-
men.
But why should it?" replied Zach.
The fact Is that there was nothing /
to show that il was the Dreadnaught 4
that had gone 10 pieces on the reefs OF /
Browse island, and the outlook was I
that this second cruise Of the Molly's 4
Hope was fated 70 end rs fruitlessly as I
the first.
Capt. Willis stood with his gaze riv- I
eted upon the spot where these poor ]
castaways were now sleeping that last 4