The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1896-06-19

representations had counted for little,
there was the remaining and awful fact
that on New Years eve Bridget Kisseck
had raked the fire on going to bed, and
spread the ashes on the floor with the
tongs, and next morning had found that
print of foot pointing toward the door
which was the certain forewarning of death
in the household within year
They were doubling the point of Ayre,
with no clear purpose before them and
with some misgiyings as to whether they
had done wisely in setting out to sea at all
when the wind fell to dead calm. Then
through the silence and darkness they
heard large drops of rain fall on the deck
Presently there came a torrent, which last
ed nearly an hour. The men turned in
Only Danny and the body remained on
deck Still the lad could see the glow of
the fire on the cliff, which was now miles
away. When the rain ceased, the darkness,
which had been all but palpable, lifted
away, and the stars came out. Toward 3
in the morning the moon rose, but it was
soon concealed by dense black turret
cloud that reared itself upward from the
horizon All this time the fishing boat lay
mOtionlcss, with only the lap of the waters
heard about her.
The stars died off. The darkness came
| again, and then, far on in the night the
first gray stroaks stretching along the east
foretold the dawn Over the confines of
another night the soft daylight was break
| ing, but more utterly lonely, more void
more full Of dread and foreboding was the
| great waste of waters now that the strid-
ing light was chasing the curling mists
than when the night was dead and dark
ness covered the sea- On one side of them
no other object on the waters was visible
until sky and ocean met in that great half
circle far away On the other side was the
land which they called home, from which
they had fled, to which they dare not re-
! turn.
Still not breath of wind The boat
was drifting south, The men came up
from below. The cold white face on the
deck looked up at them and at heaven.
"We must put it away" said one in a low
murmur AYE" said another Not a
second word was spoken. A man went be-
low and brought up an old sail Two
heavy iron weights, used for holding down
the nets, were fetched up from the hold
There was no singing out. They took up
what lay there cold and stiff and wrapped
1t in the canvas, putting one of the
weights at the head and another at the feet,
Silently one man sat down with sail
makers needle and string and began to
stitch it up.
"Will the string holdS" asked another.
SIS it strong enough?"
lit will last him this voyage outfits a
short one, poor fellow"
Awe and silence sat on the crew.
Danny, his eyes suffused with an un.
earthly light, watched their movements
from the bow When he was lifted aboard
last night, a dull, dense aching at his heart
was all the consciousness he had and then
the world was dead to him. Later on a
fluttering within him preceded the return
of an agonizing sense. Had he not sent
his uncle to pcrditionY That he had taken
warm human life; that Kisseck, who
had been alive lay dead few feet away
from him-this was as nothing to the hor
rible thought that his uncle hard man.
brutal man, a sinful man, had been sent
by his hand, hot and unprepared, to ar
everlasting hell. "Oh, can this have hap
pened?' his bewildered mind asked itself &
thousand times MS it awoke as often from
the half dream of a stunned and paralyZeC
consciousness Yet it was true that such
thing had occurred No, 1t was not &
nightmare. He would never, never awake
in the morning sunlight and smile to
know that it was not true. No, no-true,
true. True it was even until the day OF
| L.,
more face to face.
Danny watched the old man when he
whispered into the dead ear the words OF
the mystic charm He turned his eyes tc
the sinuous trail of light behind him. AL
night long he lay on deck with only the
dead for company. He saw the other men
but did not speak to them. 1t was as
though he himself were already being Of
another world and could hold no com
merce with his kind.
He thought of Mona, and then his hear
was near to breaking. With dumb long
ing his eyes turned through the darkness
toward the land The boat that was sail
ing before the wind was carrying hin
away from her forever. To his spiritual
lied sense the water that divided them wa,
as the river that would flow for all eternit!
between the blessed and the damned.
The last ray Of hope was flying away
1t had once visited him, like a CLEAN o
sunlight, that though he might never clasl
her hand on earth, in heaven she would
yet be his, to love forever and ever. Blu
, now between them the great gulf wa
fixed.
When the gray dawn came in the east
Danny still lay in the bow, haggard ant
pale. The uncarthly light that now fret
his eyes was the first word of fearful
tale A witch's Sabbath, devils revel
ry had begun in his distracted brain. II
state of wild hallucination he saw hi
, own specter, 1t had gone into the bod.
of Kisseck, ana it was no longer his uncle
bat himself, who lay there dead. He wa
, cold His face was white, and it stareC
straight up at the sky. He watched wit
quick eyes the movements of the crew
, He saw them bring up the canvas and tn
weights He knew what they were goinI
to do They were going to bury him II
the sea.
: Silently the men brought from below
the bankboard used in shooting the nets
They lifted the body onto it, and thel
r with the scudding pole they raised one en
Of the board onto the gunwale,
The boat had drifted many miles. Sh
was now almost due west off Peel TIL
, heavy clouds of night still rolled befor
the dawn a gentle breeze was rising il
I tba S,,,,tb,,-net