The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-06-30
A LULLABY.
How a Dying Mother and Her Child Were
Found at Sea.

southeast coast of Naples, and heading uI
for the AdriatiC sea, when at sunset one
evening the last vestige Of a breeze died
away, and no sailor ever saw a more glori-
Gus night come down. The heavens seemed
to blaze with stars, and so quiet was the
ship after the 8 O'Clock watch got settled
down on deck tina the silence made one
really lonesome. There was only a light
ground swell, and he ship heaved with
scarcely the creak Of a bulkhead below or
the cheeD Of a block aloft. At 10 o'clock
a light fog settled down to n axe the stu
alton still more lonely. One standing at
the wheel could just make out the fore
mast rising from the deck, but nothing
forward of that. 1t was in summer, and
the sailors were without shoes. Now and
then | could hear them moving about, and
their soft footballs reminded me of cats adj
vancing upon their prey. From 8 to IL
o'clock the ship was like a grave. There
was not even the splash of a fish jumping
out of water. At IL or soon after the
man on lookout hailed me in a voice scarce
ly above a whisper, and as l went forward
he said:
I've heard something very queer of
the starboard bow for the last 10 minutes.
It's not me alone, sir, but here are two of
the men who will tell you the same"
What sort of a sOund is it?' l asked.
"Well, it's the next thing to singing, |
should say. At least there's a sort of June
to it-something like one of our old nurs-
cry songs"
1T can't be a craft out there, for moth
ing was within 10 miles Of us when the
wind died out. Keep quiet now, and
we'll all listen!"
One-tWO-three minutes passed away,
ard then all got the sound together. 1t
certainly sounded like a human voice, but
a weak one, and it also seemed to follow
the air of a nursery song.
But it can't be that" l said to the
men, who instinctively drew closer to-
gether and betrayed their superstitious
fears. THE noise may be caused by a
sea fowl or even q fish. At any rate, it's
nothing we need loo into"
walked aft, and for Is minutes all was
quiet. Then | suddenly caught the sound
again, and this time it was so much near
er or louder that [ was startled. At the
same moment the lookout hailed again,
and as I went forward l found the whole
watch bending over the starboard bow in
the attitude Of listening.
81 heard it, " l said as l halted. IAN
listen now, and see if it comes again"
1t was fully five minutes before the ST
lence was broken, and when the sound
came again no one could doubt what it
was. 1t was a weak and rasping human
voice crying out in q strange fashion in
an effort to sing. If you have ever heard
a very old person try to sing, you can get
a fair idea of what this voice was like. 1t
was faint and quavery, and yet there was
a rasp to it which instinctively reminded
me of thirst. 1t struck at least one OF
the men that way also, for he turned and
whispered:
If that isn't a spirit, sir, it'll be some
castaway on a bit of wreckage whose throat
is so parched that he can't send Us a hail!'
l went for my night glass, and after a
long look l thought l could makeo out an
object resembling d boat. l couldn't be
certain, however, but waited for the sound
to come again. When it came, l called the
captain, and two minute after he reached
the deck we could make out a boat to the
east of us, and he ordered a boat lowered
and sent me off in charge to investigate.
We did not have q cables length to GO.
We not only found it to be a boat, but
there was a human being in 1t sitting on
the bottom amidships. The queer singing
began again as we reached the boat, and
while we were making her fast the figure
moved its shoulders and arms, but not Its
position. The motions reminded me OF q
mother soothing a child, and yet had no
doubt the figure would turn out to be
some poor devil of a fisherman blown off
shore in a gale. When we reached the
ship, one of the men entered the strange
boat to assist the castaway on deck, but he
had not yet laid hands on the sitting figure
when he started bach and shouted:
BLESS my eyes, Captain Cook, but 1t 5
a woman instead of a sailor, and shes
holding something l take to be q baby
l went down to inspect, and, sure
enough, it was a woman and a baby. She
had been bending over it and did not look