The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-02-12

10 The rigging. captain 6eudder shouted
the warning 81 the doom Of he Warrior
above tho sound Of the sea
Nothing under heaven can change
her courser
Yet be and his crew strove neyerthe-
less to the last Every one on board
knew that the vessel was drifting rapid
", that soon she must strike and be
dashed to pieces.
The sea swept her deck and broke
over her masts. Seven men hung to the
rigging for life. They looked ashore.
Only $50 yards away stood group Of
islanders, as helpless to succer those in
peril as the latter were to save them
selves
Now the position Of the vessel was
this: Where Sandy point drops beneath
the sea 1t does not end, but It is pro
longed under the water, making thus
perilous sandbar Out upon this bar
was the Warrior. The island tide from
the east and from the. west meet here.
There Is no more terrible place in gale
than that where two seas collide
The storm grew. Such was the work
Of wind and sea that times were when
the sandbar from the shore to the vessel
was swept naked. But its nudity was
speedily buried under heavier seas
Passengers and crew, fatigued with
labor and loss Of sleep, assailed by d
biting wind, at last succumbed to chill
and numbness, and made no more effort,
Then arose one of their number, a
tall, gaunt fellow, whom the captain
had called coward in harbor, and he
proceeded to belabor them and to keep
them active, that they might not perish
from the cold.
There's hope yetlv he cried Keep
alive, menls
And one after another did he awaken
by rude shaking and warm by his
rough chafngs.
Some caught his spirit, and by the
labors of their weary muscles they set
their frozen blood in quicker motion.
"But what useT' cried one. "The end
must come
AYE, but there's one chance" shouted
the coward, who now doomed up large
and resolute. "Lookl the sea has rolled
back and left the bar uncovered. A
man could run ashore on that, maybe.
while the sea held back"
Two men laughed madly.
AYE, maybel Look nowr' said one,
with savage sarcasm.
The coward looked. The sea had
swelled up and hidden the bar far be-
meath its foaming waters.
"Yet one may tryI" cried the coward.
"Try you them shouted the other.
Now it is hard to meet death half way.
It is against mans nature to walk to
destruction. Even though he knows it
be coming he has the hope or the COW
ardice to shrink from it to the last.
Therefore no sailor Of them would leap
into that sea or dare the deed suggested
by the coward.
If succeed, will you follow at the
next fall OF the sea? he asked.
What one man can do another can,
was the reply.
The coward looked ashore. Sullenly
the waters rolled apart The sand bar
was naked. The man jumped from the
gunwale and ran.
The people ON the vessel watched him
with waking hope and cessation OF
breath. The hundreds Of islanders on
shore stood silent, thrilled, eager. No
word was said; only the sea spoke.
The man ran shoreward, with shout
ders and head bent forward and eyes
set. The sea rose on both sides of him.
The huge waves walled his roadway.
The roadway began to narrow. A
turbulent high sea moved in pursuit Of
him. He heightened and quickened his
steps. It was race between SO small q
thing as q man and SO great thing as
the storm impelled ocean.
The ocean won. With great roar it
came down upon the man. But he
would not be taken in flank, with his
back to his enemy. He turned and
faced the sea. He leaped into it head
foremost. Afterward his body was cast
upon the beach. The ocean had toyed
with it, and had then thrown it back to
its own kind.
Those on the island saw that when the
man turned to meet death a smile was
on his face. He had discovered he was
not afraid to die.-True Flag.
A Riddle Making Epoch.