Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1896-05-23
THE SHIP BUCEPHALUS.


with lighted lantern on his arm, his
souwester buttoned close up to his
throat and the peak Of his oilskin cap
pulled far down over his weatherbeaten
face and passed out into the night.
AS he opened the door gust of wind
swept the knob from his grasp, dashed
the framework against the wall of the
chamber and extinguished the flicker
ing oil lamp that made shift to render
visible the darkness of the room.
Clarence Baxter hastily fastened the
door after the retreating figure, re-
lighted the lamp and sat down on the
sea chest which served as chair and
bed. A strange place it, was, this beach
comber's cabin. Timbers from every
ship that had come ashore ON Coffin
beach these so years were woven into
its heterogeneous framework. Here
part of a steamships deckhouse, there
a stanchion from the sturdy hull of some
long-forgotten merchantmen, yonder
the patched wainscoting of a clipper
ships once gorgeous cabin-cheel1-b
jcwl these relics Of departed pride
in some strange nautical cemetery.
Outside the gale ragged with increas-
ing fury. Low though it sat between
the sand dunes, the solid walls of the
howell trembled and rocked under the
impact of the blast like ship in a
heavy sea. Such spring storm had not
been seen on the coast for years-not
since the night las veteran told after
ward) when the clipper ship Bucephalus
came ashore way back in the sos. In
the angle over there the prov of this
vessel formed sort of cornerstone for
the strange structure, and the horse in
the fgurehead stared at BaXton with
the sightless eyes of an emblem of death.
lie would have been puzzled to explain
why he felt so strangely, left alone in
this cozy cabin. Baxton was not
superstitious man, nor one given to
sentimental vagaries or emotional weak
nesses, and yet, as the door swung to
after the officer, he felt for moment
strange and unaccountable thrill-a
chilling of the blood-a consciousness
of something outside of his sphere of
influence, superior to his power of con-
troll, that was gradually but surely
working its will around and about him.
the feeling was not one of fear. What,
indeed, was he to be afraid of? Surely
not of the storm, for he was cozily
housed. Not the thieves or marauders,
for he and the coast guardsmen were
the only human beings OH that strip of
beach. OF what, then, was he fearful?
1t was all nonsense, he said-he was not
afraid at all.
Baxton shivered as he threw another.
piece of driftwood on the fire and drew
closer to the green-blue blaze OF the
copper-stained timber that cast fan
tastic, many-hued shadows on the
rough walls. mo going back to the
mainland tonight" he thought, as the
picture of the storm-lashed bay rose
before his mind, and he silently 90.
jurgated the secretary of the treasury
who had promulgated the order for
bidding the life-saving men to entertain
guests in their coy stations
The tea chest was filled with old
newspapers, the officer had said, with
which he might, perhaps, while away an
hour. He lifted the lid. Yes-so n
was-prints running back for many
wears, tied up and labeled in a cramped
handwriting-that of Calamity Dicks
nrobablv. the fisherman who until b;s
death last year, had occupied this cabin
since no man remembered when. Turn
ing them over, Baxton saw that the
packets contained clippirps descrip.
five of the wrecks on this same stretch
of sand. called Coffin -"Cemeterv
beach would be bettern Baxton thought
as he surveyed the yellow bundled
"Rarl, Excels;or .June 1s4o - road ono.
"ao drowned two savcd.n "Sbin Andre.
nache Januarv 1s4a % dro,yned nono
saved read another "sb;n Harold -
10 drowned. four saved: "CIipper Van
guard. s6 drowned. Is saved y and So nm
tbrougb n nile Of noclsages that reached
Knee 6igb as he laid them ON the floor
Near tho bottom waa n Iarger bundla
labeled "Clinner pucenbaLus Marcc
1875. 100 drowned four saved. Wbcrs
Ind he heard Of that sbin9 "Rncenh-
-Rucenbalus . he reneated reflect
,,oI,, 20 binseIf "Ob vss a. sh;,, AZ
o,d fgurebead came fror, and h.
began 10 unite the dusty nac,,age
Ri s,ovIv - ooyn. h.a,, ~ s,,, A..
10 MI heord tbe na,ns haso ~ In ~ as ma
80 Conn beach "WhsrsS" AZ ha as,.na
~ question ! newsnarer haar;nn 49, Az
Ja t 1sss iav snrsod het,r s III. '''1
IT, ovas rsstad op ~ hoa5,,s... .,r" M"
30. Shin pucenha,ns I;ua.noa1 NJ
ynrt Ashore On Corn peooh Au NV
% Ths ;Il.t.tad vossa1 49,, Ap.n
o,vnsd bv TT n pax+or q ~ ru We
otrset tI,s citv missed ,ts ,.olan .Uns
snd ran ashore IN Con- ho.aS
.hrse o,c,oclr IN the morn,no 80 r.
dav last and becana tosoI ,rnoe,'
The i;fe.sayinc crew A. tb;s Mac. s az"
- Az ,nost donnero,,s na;u t'es' ono