Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-06

TIVE.
So Won will see that we suffered a
very sore disappointment. We seemed
/ on tire verge of solution of this mystery,
+ and now we We're as far away from it
/ as ever. This | may observe was the
sixty-fourth pigeon shot. For two days
the boys had shot none. The pigeons
were virtually exterminated or Danish
ed. and l had deprived the brothers Free
man of what was apparently their sole
means Of communicating with the
world ont of their mysterious prison,
and that was not pleasant reflection
to mC-that Is to say | and my neph-
ews, for in the meantime Joseph had
come in, empty handed. as usual of late,
and sat there dumb and stupid for long
time. At last Harry said: 1t is no use,
| uncle, going after these pigeons for a
good while now. We must give them
time to como hack. Lend us your rifle;
Ia like 10 have Il shot at a seal. There
are three or four of them always NOV
ing about between your cove and Dhu-
| Corrig. | used to see an odd one there
| last summer. but there seems to be quite
a colony of them there now"
"All right, lads, )" | said. Take the
rifle You will find the boat in the
COOS. She's small. remember, and easily
capsized. SO take care of yourselves.
was anxious now to be by myself in
order to mediate and recover from the
state OF excitement into which | had
been thrown by the events of the day.
The fact was that my mind, now for so
many months absorbed by and Concen-
trated upon this extraordinary, increas-
ing and expanding mystery, was begin
ming TO be somewhat unhinged. l
thought of the lost lads all day and
dreamed of them perhaps all night, for
certainly l never awoke without being
conscious that l had been dreaming
about them. | am haunted, too, by
poor Mrs. Freeman wan, sorrow
stricken face. Mr.. Freeman, when last
l saw him, was bowed in the shoulders,
he who used to I've as straight as drill
cd soldier. and his look was that of an
Rged man. |, as head of the police of
this district, have of course been blamed
for not doing mo1c. though confess no
word Of censurc has reached my ears.
But, To- resume, l now come to some
thing that will startle and amaze even
Your philosophical soul.
The boys returned that evening i'll
til" dusk. They had seen several seals
AMI had got shot at one, but without
doing any execution. | was rather sur
pTis 4 at the number of seals seen by
the boys, for. though seals are not I'M
common ON this coast, such a number
as my nerhews had seen in the same
place was something quite unusual. AS
We sat at the tea table, while the boys
were talking in an animated manner
about the events of the afternoon. and
while l could hardly for a single in
slant keep my thoughts off the lost
brothers. heard Harry say TO my wife,
And there WAS one seal, Aunt Mary,
and every time he came up there was a
ball bubbing in the water behind him.
and when he went down ii disappeared. "
Instantancuusly the thought sprang in
TO my mind Gould it be that John
Freeman. or John and Edward, were
signaling TO us by means of that seal:'
The suppositiun was of course absurd
and farfetched. How could they catch
a seal in the first instance: Neverthe
less the appearance of a seal swimming
about with something attached to it
was in itself startling enough.
L will 30 out with you in the morn
ing l said That seal we must
shoot
Early next day, though the wind had
risen and the sea was rough, my neph
ews and l took the boat together at the
shady Goes and rowed out. Between the
COOS and Dhu COrrig we saw some half
dozen seals. Several times [ had good
opportunity of shooting one of them,
hut did not shoot. The seal l wanted
was not visible. We came home for
early dinner and went out again imme-
diatelv after. The boys, who now knew
what l wanted and vino were not short
sighted like myself, kept sharp look
out for the seal of which l was in quest.
AS we rowed slowly along Joseph said:
There is seal lying ON the COIrig-
a-skame rock. That may be it, for l re-
member it was a small one. Do you see
anything behind him, Harry
No, said Harry, >" but it is hard to
see anything in the place where he is
lying. When he begins to move, we can
see the ball better. for it will hop and
jump somewhere behind him.
Row on very slowly, lads, said l.
We We're coming from the east. and
the seal was lying on the rock with his
| head to the west. The wind, too, was
/ blowing from that direction. Corrig-a-
SHAME was long black rock covered,
literally all over, with little mussels
growing as thick as grass. 1t was in
visible at high water, but at low tide
stood out pretty we'll and resembled the
L,
the Rock of the Leap. Some active
wight in old times had sprung from
the corrig to the cliff or from the cliff
to the cOrrig. is a common name for
such rocks on the west coast. Almost
every league of the coast exhibits some
where a coIrig- SHAME or a rock called
after somebody's leap-Lem-con or
Lem cathal, etc.
had the boys wrap their handker-
| chiefs round the leather of the oars to
deaden the sound of the rowing and
went to the bow with my rifle. The
boys, sitting sternward of their oars so
as to keep their eyes on the seal, rowed
gently forward.
81 am sure it is he same" whis-
pered Harry, who was just behind me,
land think | see the ball too. Yes, it
is" he. added, and l see the ball.
Fire at him now, uncle"
While was trying to get steady
aim, which was difficult, owing to the
rocking of the boat, the creature sud-
denly turned its head, saw us and COM
menced bounding and Topping forward
along the length of the rock, while be-
hind IL as If moved swiftlv ALONG a
round ball jumped too. l fred and
missed. The creature sent forth loud
mewing sort of cry and splashed into
the water on the farther side.
1T has left the ball behind" cried
the two boys both together, in great ex-
citement.