Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-08-23
LOST AT SEA.

There he lay in the sunshine, grea
black, noble animal, with his work il
this world done. was standing at hi!
side looking at him when my FRIEND
came up and joined me.
''Are you trying to make friends will
our old Brutus?'' he said to me. "Ah
he doesn't care much for making new
friends now. He would only like to fine
the old friends again that he buried long
ago i'll that mysterious past Of his"
My friend stopped as he spoke ant
stroked the great, soft head. "Pool
Brutusp' he said. ''Poor, old faithful
dog!"
It was not much of q story, yet it was
rather curious. About five years ago my
friend and his family were staying dur
ing the summer at little seaside town
OH the north coast Of France. 1t was a
quiet and rather dull place, except that
its harbor was always lively with the
coming and going of fisher boats and
collier briggs and such like craft, the
watching of which was quite an endless
delight to the children, who, indeed,
spent every moment they could steal
from morning to night down at the
quay, staring with all their might, and
as often as they could doing more than
staring, at all that went on there.
1t was a fine, great open sea, that
even in summer was pretty rough at
times, coming tumbling often i'll great
II L. oil
the pier with showers Of spray. Charlie
and Willie were always in q state OF
huge delight whenever those big waves
came rolling landward. They used ev-
cry morning, as soon as they went out
of bed, to run to their bedroom window,
with little shoeless feet and bare legs,
to see whether the white crests were
there.
OF course they never thought Of any
thing-for they were very small crea-
fures-but of the fun that it was to see
the leaping and rolling water, and OF
the delight of being sent scampering up
the beach when some bigger wave than
all the rest would run after them as it
broke upon the sands, as if it We're re-
solved TO catch them and wet their
stockings and shoes at least, let their
little legs fly as fast as they would. ut
must be rough at sea" their father and
mother used to say sometimes i'll their
hearing, especially during one week
when the north wind blew with a
strange, wild roaring and down about
the pier the fishermen stood looking
through their glasses out to sea, anxious
Iy shaking their heads now and then,
but Willie and Charlie only grew mer-
rier as the wind blew stronger. They
thought that to be out upon the beach
when they could not keep their footing,
and when the very air was white with
spray, was the finest fun that they ever
had in all their lives.
~ wish it would blow like this for
ever,' Charlie would say.
And then Willie, who was the youn-
gest, and who never liked to be outdone
would cap Charities speech and cry with
enthusiasm, ~ wish it would blow ten
times harder.'
One bright, warm summer morning;
with just wind enough to make little
curl upon the waves and to fill the sails
as the fisher boats put out, there were
vessels coming i'll this morning rs well
as leaving the harbor. Several briggs
that had been expected for some days,
and that the storm had delayed, got
into port today. But there was one espe-
eially that among all the rest attracted
the boys attention. 1t was an English
collier, standing Oh whose deck, as she
came near, they saw a great, black,
noble Newfoundland dog The creature
was standing upon his four feet, taking
no notice of any one, but slowly moved
his head from side to side, as if he We're
yainly looking for something that he
could not understanding quite still, SO
passive that even when the boat touched
the quay, and people came up and
stroked and spoke to him, he merely let
them do it and never moved SO much as
the tip of his tail in answer to them.
The children had caught sight Of him,
with a shout Of delight. ooh, see what
a big dogr' Willie had cried, and clap
ping their joyful little hands they start
ed forward to get as near to the brig as
they could. They saw several people
gather round the creature presently, and
,lpon that they pushed their way into
the boat, too. squeezing i'll cleverly be-
tween the sailors legs, till they got quite
close to where the dog was, with the
master Of the brig standing by his side
and telling this sad little story:
In the gray Of the summer morning
he was saying, almost as the French
coast was coming into sight, one of the
CREW Of the brig had seen little black
SpecS dancing on the water far away.
They could not tell what it vast was
foo indistinct for that-but they knew
it might be drowning man, so they
lowered their little boat at once and
made for him as hard as they could
pull. But it was no man. When they
came near, they found nothing but this
poor lost dog, floating on a bit of wreck,
the spar Of some vessel that had prob
ably fOupIered i'll the storm and gone
silently down with her crew. They took
llim into their boat and brought him
pack with them. This was all his story.
AIJl1 9IS Hi1JtJtl hON, htLSAs, ll+b- T
starved, bewildered, looking with
strange eyes at each strange face about
him, dumb through it all AS the mas
ger of the collier told the little story
more than one plying hand was put
forward to stroke the big, black head,
put the creature took no notice Of any
one Of thera, only stood quite still,
piercing through the little group with
those sad. eager, human eyes of his:
"Poor fellow! Poor dogl' they said:
The children stood little from him
with grave, touched faces, They were
gazing SO earnestly at him that they did
not see their father, who had come
aown to the aray-as he came often
10 give a momentary eye TO his young
moniteys and see that they We're not
drowning themselves or getting into any
other hopeless mischief, and who was
standing nosy behind them and had peel,
listening while the master told his tails.
They only knew he was there when they
suddenly heard his voice
'fWhat are yon going to do with him:
Will you part with hiin3i he called on,