Connecticut western news., 1892-10-06
THE MISSING MAN.

| ton was finished, and l was cOmpll- | menting the captain upon the efficiency of his crew when it suddenly occurred to me that one of them, whom I had es- pecially remarked at my last visit, was missing.
 "What has become of the man you used to call Harry?" inquired "He was the strongest and handsomest fel- low 1 ever saw-quiclS as cat and light on his feet as feather. Has he left you"
 The captain looked at me aghast.
 "Whatl Haven't you heard about it?'' he faltered. "No? Well, it's quite a story. If you've plenty of time I'll tell you about it." .. had plenty of time and wanted to hear the story, so we sat down near the door, and the captain began:
 'I suppose you recollect that long, fierce southeast gale we had last winter, don't you? Well, it blew from the south east for two days, with heavy squalls of snow. It was bitter cold. Everything was covered with ice and snow, and the worst sea that have heard of began tumbling up on the rocks.
 
 clouds began to break away and the wind died down to light gale. Almost all of the schooners in the roads got un- der way and started for Harchy harbor Some of the smaller ones had to put back, the sea being too heavy, but the larger ones kept on, and suppose they made good run of it, as the wind was fair.
 "That night it started in to blow as if it was possessed to blow the earth off it's foundation. At 10 o'clock it began showing. The flakes were about as big as 8 fifty cent piece, making it impossi- ble to recognize anything over five feet away. The snow fell until about 12, think. After that it slowly began to clear up and the wind came in gusts of diminished strength. At daylight it was blowing a moderate southerly breeze and the sky was clear. We searched the shore and sea for signs of a wreck, but could not find any.
 "I was just going to put the glass away when my eye caught the waving of something on Daming's island. As soon as the glass was brought to bear saw three or four men running around there. I suppose they were trying to keep themsalves from freezing There's the island off there-the one that is al- most round.
 "The island rises about twenty feet, out of the water. The cliffs are almost straight up and down, with twenty -one fathoms of water at their base. But on the southern side there is a small beach, ,n1, so Io, of1 @l~s beach are projected two reefs that are awash at low tide. They form natural jetties, and they are about fifteen feet apart and parallel to each oSher. They extend out from the beach in a south ern direction for about two hundred feet.
 q had the crew called, and every thing was soon ready for starting. We decided that the only safe way for us to get the men off from the island would be for us to go as close as possible and, lying there, shoot the life line to them and haul them through the surf to the boat. It was rough way, but as there was no other feasible plan we made our preparations for its execution. The only place on which boat puld land on the island was on that small beach, and to get there we would have to go between those jetties, and even in fine weather it was risky job with such a large boat. With the sea then running it was not to be thought of. Y "As soon as had seen every arrange ment completed and the gear in place. we ran the boat out of the house and succeeded in launching her without taking drop of water on board. We had 8 long, tedious pull. It was like walking in deep, loose sand. When we arrived at the island we pulled around | it once, looking for the most favorable | position for us to work from. We de- cided that the mouth of the jetties would be the best place. So taking our l station there we boated the two bow | oars, and Harry uncovered the gun and | got her ready for use, while Bill looked out for the line.
 "The noise was simply deafening, and the sea was a mass of froth and foam, as the waves dashed themselves on the | reefs. Seeing big wave coming, and | looking as if it was about to break, sung out, Stern allr but owing to the | noise they did not hear me, and seeing me working as if for dear life at the steering oar, they gave stroke ahead so that the wave would break astern | of us.
 | "That stroke carried us between the ~reefs, and in the next instant the wave was upon us. Its light green and semi transparent sides lowered high above us, while the foam on it's crest overhung the boat, threatening to swamp us. The spectacle was so awe inspiring that we were unable to move, but sat in our places with our eyes fixed on this al- most irresistible mass. Each second was like an age. Would the boat never rise? She started to rise so suddenly that she was almost perpendicular be- fore we could realize it, and we were thrown in confused heap against the forward bulkhead. We were now afraid that she would be thrown end over end and for few seconds we hung in that awful position, hurried along at an in credible speed. Then slowly the wave began to pass under us, and as soon as could I grasped the steering oar and tried to steady her. When the wave had passed us we found ourselves about two-thirds of the distance toward the
 beach and between the two reefs.
 "Our oars, except the steering one
 were broken. Before we could get tn,
 spare set out the next wave was close
 astern. We were forced to drop every
 thing and hold on for life. had my
 feet jammed in the straps and laid hel
 fair SO that the wave would be broken ol
 the stern. It broke, however, just be