The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-10-24
CHAPTER I.

YeSsePs sdeck.
It fioated down, in overwhelming ripples.
round the great black hull and over the
tossing waters. 1t was caught by the
waves as they dashed from the vessels
PROV, and raced past her tall sides, and
foamed, and splashed, and eddied in her
wake. 1t was caught up and thrown back,
and carried on again, and swept out into
the night-out into the night, and the
shrouding mist, and the rolling waves of
the Atlantic; and there the ripples OF its
sound quivered for the last time and died
away.
It noated down, already muffled by the
mist, over the long, wet decks, to the
ears Of a man who paced to and fro in
the after part Of the vessel. 1t Heated
down and struck upon his ears, and
vibrated in them like the ringing Of
bell
And the man turned in his restless walk
and paced back again, with the cry still
ecohing in his ears: "AlPs well!
He even repeated it 70 himself. softly,
slowly, Ike one trying to reassure him
self Of some good news, too good to be
as yet believed He murmured IL 10
himself with half-closed lips each time
ing to and fro. His footsteps fell upon
the deck and beat out the rythm OF the
same two words. And each time that he
rnurmured them, each time that his us
tening brain caught that sound IN the
rushing OF the wind. or the whistnng OF
the ropes, or the steady tramp or his
own footballs, there was a smile upon ms
face that was not good 10 see.
His fellow passengers on board the ship
knew him as the silent Man. No doubt
he had some other name; no DOUBT the
captain knew IT, and the ships books
held it written down in full; but TO all
the passengers who knew him he was
known only as the Silent Man. And
there were few on board who knew him
not; few who had not noticed the tan,
gaunt figure that strobe necessarily 10
and fro and up and down upon the deck;
few who had not shrunk insensib4y from
that haggard face, and the lips that muir
INJURED forever 20 themselves, but could
hardly BE- brought TO frame an answer
TO another: few who had not wondered
who this man was, with his murmurlng
Inns. and his taCimrnity, and his ceaseless
tramp ON the ships deck-who had not
speculated on the business that brought
him on that voyage Of the Amsterdam
across the broad Atlantic.
once more the bell sounded, and the
voice rang out through the darkness. And
the silent Man still paced, with bowed
and fro. in the gathering mist
once again the bell was almost due TO
sound-but the cry that broke then 1rom
one of the two motiOnless figures on the
lookout bridge was not the same-a cry
of sudden fear. of wild a-arm-With
waving arms and frantic gestures, and
hands pointing out into the darkness;
pointing into the darkness no longer now;
pointing at something vast and shapeless,
like a cloud rising from the water; some
thing that came swiftly noise.essly'
lOoming,y OGt Of the fog. ever nearer
and nearer, or towering high above the
vessels masts, lit with strange g.im-
mering light; something that moment
later. with noise Of cracking ice, with
a horrible. rending. grinding jar. with a
blow that made the great ship culver Ike
a compass needle, crashed into the bows
OF The Amsterdam.
For an instant she remained reared up
against the iceberg, held fast in the
jagged cleft tina, her PROV had cut-then
slowly. with a rushing swirl of water,
sid back into the waves.
she was sinking in mid-Atlantic!
one Of the first boats that We're
launched contained the Silent Man. He
had taken mis- pace quietly, almost me-
chemically. He was rowing now; and the
beat OF his oar in the rowlock seemed
to him, as he gazed back at the misty
outline Of the sinking ship. to be stiA
grimly darkly, ominously echoing those
words: "All's weEr'
All that night they rowed, menaced in
cessant,y by masses Of detached ice. by
floating wreckage. by foam-topped surf
that broke over the open bOat-al that
night, and the next day. and for many
days after
Who can tell the horror OF those days?
or days when the shroudng mist robbed
them Of all hope Of rescue; when the sun
beat down through the damp-laden at
4
uncovered heads. when no cloud In the
sky came to screen them for an instant
from It's scorching. dazzling rays when
they dlifted they knew scarcely whittier,
and heard afar Off the fog-signals Of yes
sells that passed them Unheeded in the
mist; when arms ached, and strength
was falling, and hunger and thirst were
doing their fell work. and courage and
hope together were Mcknight spent.
OF nights when the rising breeze blew
through their saturated clothes and
chilled the very life within them when
other boats. the companions of their fate,
were missed and lost sight of; when the
great rolling swell threatened in the dark
ness TO overwhelm them. and each giant
wave as IL passed, seemed only 10 delay
the death that The next must surely bring;
when the misery. and anguish. and de-
spair were made deeper. and blacler. and
more intolerable by the darkness.
OF days and nights later on. when the
heat and thirst and weakness had done
their work, and men began TO rave. and
sing aloud. and say wild unmeaning
things; when fever and death came
among them when It was no longer a
strange sight to see dead men-their
bodies stripped. that their clothing might
afford protection TO the living-cast over
into the gray waves without a prayer, al
most without a thought; when the num-
Der Of the living souls on board that little
boat shrank awfully from day to day.
When there were at last but six alive
but hve-and then, one dim, gray morn
Ing, only three!
The Silent Man still lived. Through all
those days he llVed-silent unmoVed I'M
complaining working at his oar like
. tireles5 machine, possessed, as il We're
with a very greed for life. Through al
those days he hved-untouched by hun
or exposure or despair; through All those
days-unheeding everything around him,
living ia sort Of dream.
He had dreamt the same waking dream
that night when ne paced to and fro on
dreamt the same dream-figures, sleeping
and waking, for twelve months past; but
nOw-in his weakness and the horror Of
his daily life. with madness. and delirium
and death all around him-the dream
figures gathered color and vividness and
substantially; they became to his disor-
dered brain living comrades. living
and moving with him in a different
world.
The scenes OF the vision always re-
CURED in the same order
A cottage lying at the end Of a long
shaded garden The SIM shining m the