Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-02
What is he sayingf" | cried.

" nat 10 u0 edy my C1iCds
"Sh!" said Ned with his head on one
side, listening. The man was saying
something to Iny father at the hall door.
He says he found the bait box on the
rock, but no rod, and that Jack is not
| there, and that he shouted for him ev-
| erywhcre and got no answer Get up.
Sam; we must go search. -
Sam sprang at once with a bound up
on the floor and dressed i'll haste.
perhaps he .ft Dhu-Corrig, he
said, I'm one of the boats going out for
night fishing.
Then why did he leave the box of
hait behind him. retortcd Ned.
Forgot it, answered Sam, dressing
furiously. The house was by this time
in confusion. with servants rushing to
and fro. ordinations, interrogations
and my father voice raised. Then
heard somewhere the sound of horn.
The countryside was being called out
to search. | was alone now. Ned and
Sam were far away in the night From
the window | could see many torches
moving swiftly southwest III the direc
ton of DhuCorrig. | heard the faint
est words and most distant noises ow-
ing to the extreme stiffness of the night
Fear, | suppose, too, made my hearing
preternaturally acute. | remained at
the open window long time till l was
discovered there by my mother, SILVER
ing and coughing, and compelled to re-
turn to bed. She was in tears, though.
perhaps to comfort me, she said: Go
to sleep, darling. Jack will be here
when you wake IN the morning. OF
course he has gone out in one of the
deep sea fishing boats. 1t was discCV
cred however, ere long that none of the
boats which used to go out far from
land had gone out that night owing to
stress of haymaking.
At last | fell asleep. When | woke
in the morning and sat up, | found
my two brothers lying on the bed
outside the bedclOthes fast asleep, but
not undressed. knew from this that
Jack had not been found. | dressed and
went into Jack S room. 1t was empty.
| then went down stairs. There were
voices in my fathers study. The door
was open. saw my father standing
and my mother sitting down, both very
pale and my mother weeping.
1t was still the gray dawn of the day.
My parents not having noticed me, set
out for Dhu- CoTrig and IAN all the way.
The place was crowded with fishermen
and country people, am,slg whom were
several policemen and coast guards in
blue Jackets and white trousers. There
were boats off the rock which We're be-
ing slowly rowed along. The men Iii
them We're dragging the sea bottom here
with graphing irons. Just then a po-
lice orderly rode up on toaning horse.
He received some fresh directions from
Mr.. Watkins, the cOnstabulary officer
of the district, and galloped off again.
Every one indeed WAS 1T his wits ends
for it was quite impossible to frame any
then"v of the disappearance which
wound square with known facts. One
boat had gone Dream fishing the pre-
viOus afternoon. The people in it said
that they had seen my brother on the
rock, and that he had hailed them as they
rOwed past in Il cheerful and friendly
manner. That waS the last seen or heard
Of him. That he had been drowned no
one in the ncighborhood could believe,
though the coast guards tor want of
sea bottom. There were other boats out,
too, boats that went miles to the north
and miles to the south searching and at
intervals crying out, hoping against
nope that there might be some response,
Presently my elder brothers, Ned and
Sam, came down to the rock and rough
ly had me go home. They Joined Mr..
Watkins, who questioned them for a
long time. The last hope was that in
obedience to a sudden impulse he bad
walked off to visit some Of oar distant
friends, for 30 or 30 mile walk was
nothing to him. But no tidings of any
kind reached us as day followed day.
No one had heard Of him or seen him
anywhere since the Dream fishers passed
him on the rock when he hailed them
as | have already described