Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-08-24

clothes were dried a good deal; truly,
was III better case than ever before
since [ had landed on the isle; and SO |
got 20 sleep at last, with a thought Of
gratitude
The rext day (Which was the fourth
of this horrible life of mine) | found NY
bodily strength run very low. But the
sun shone, the air was sweet, and what
| managed to eat of the shellfsh agreed
well with me and revived my courage.
l YVES scarce back on my rock (where
went always the first thing after
had eaten) before | observed a boat COM
ing down the sound and with her head,
as | thought, IL my direction.
began at once to hope and fear eX-
ceedingly; for | thought these men might
have thought better of their cruelty and
lie coming back 10 my assistance. But
another disappointment, such as yeSter-
d?v's, was more than | could bear. L
tIIned my back, accordingly upon the
sec, and cid not look again till | had
cCvntea many hundreds. The boat was
still heading for the island. The next
time | counted the full thousand, as
SLOWLY as I could, my heart beating so
rs &c kurt ne. And then it was out of
al question. Size was coming straight to
Fa.raid!
could 70 longer hold myself back,
EuC ran 20 ne SedSiue anu Out, llOHi
ole rock 70 another, as far as L could
go Il is 8 marvel | was not drowned;
for when | was brought to stand at
last, my legs shook under me, and my
mouth was SO dry, | must wet it with
the sea wafer before | was able tc
skout
Al lis tiE-e tie boat was coming on;
AID nc-y [ was able to perceive it was
the same beat and the same two men
as yesterday. This | knew by their
hair, which the one had of bright vel
low and the other black. But now there
was third man along with them, who
looked to be Of better class.
AS soon as they were come within
easy speech. they let down their sail and
lay quiet. In spite of my supplicat tons,
they drew no nearer in, and what fright
ened me most of all, the new man tee
heed with laughter as he talked and
locked at NE.
Then he stood up in the boat and adj
dressed NE a long while. speaking fast
and with many wayings Of his hand.
told him I had no Gaelic; and at this
suspect he thought he was talking Eng
fish, Listening very close, caught the
word ''Whateffer,' several times; but
all the rest was Gaelic. and might have
been Greek and Hebrew for me.
whatever said |, to show him l
had caught word.
Yes, yes-yes, yes" says he, and then
he looked at the other men. as much as
to say, II told you | spoke English" and
began again as hard as ever in the
Gaelic
This time I picked out another word.
eide" Then [ had a flash of hope, l
remembered he was always waving his
hand toward the mainland of the Ross.
do you mean when the tide is out
-r I cried and cOuI1 not finish.
Eyes. yes" said he. Tide"
At that | turned tail upon their boat
(where my adviser had once more begun
to tee-hee with laughter), -leaped back
the way [ had come, from one stone to
another, and set off running across the
half an hour [ came out upon the shores
of the creek; and, sure enough, it was
shrunk into a little trickle of water
through which | dashed, not above my
knees and landed with a shout on the
main island
A sea-bred boy would not have
stayed day on Earraid; which is only |
what they call tidal islet, and except in
the bottom of the neapS, can be entered |
and left twice in every twenty-four |
hours, either dry-shod, or at the most by /
wading Even [, who had the tide go
ing out and in before me in the bay,
and even watched for the GIBBS, the bet
ter to get my she'll fsh-even | q say, |
if l had sat down to think. instead of |
raging at my fate must have soon
guessed the secret and got free. It was
no wonder the fishers had not understood
me. The wonder was rather that they
had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and
taken the trouble to come back. I had
starved with cold and hunger on that
island for close upon 100 hours But
for the fishers. l might have left my
bones there, in pure folly. And even as
it was, | had paid for it pretty dear,
not only in past sufferings, but in my
Dresetn cae; being clothed like beggar-
man, scarce able to walk. and in great
pain of my sore throat.
| have seen wicked men and fools,
great many of both; and l believe they
both get paid in the end; but the fools
first.