The times., 1897-05-30

times there were dozen about her. and
yet none OF the monsters seemed inclined
| to do her harm.
Nobody Could make out Just what sort
of a woman it was Until one of the MEN
| finally caught her by the hair and pulled
her into the boat. She fought him wi tn
savage ferocity, biting one Of his fingers
! TO Uie ttne, and we had to tie her hand
and foot to keep her She appeared to be
| woman Of about forty, and though her
| face was roughened and Drowned by
/ exposure, we felt sure that she was English
| or American. She had made her pea-
| Jacket from q piece OF sailcloth using
thorn for needle and grass for thread,
! but had been withouther shoes untilher feet
| were in bad condition. During the chase
| she had not uttered a word, but when
| hauled into the boat she cried out in good
| English: II will fight for my life--I VIII
! never go wayl" We took her aboard the
ship and the captain talked to her In a
| gentle way and tried to satisfy her that
we were friends. When she grew quiet he
| cast off her bonds, but as soon as she was
free she attacked him so fjercely that he
had 10 call for help. She was then locked
in statefCofn, her things wele sent
for, and we sailed away on our cruise
There vas rot an hour during the next
two weeks in which the captain did rot
wish he had left her on the Island For
she refused food and water. When COM
PEELED by hunger and thirst she partook
sparingly and was salky and obstinate
Now and then her moods were savage,
and sometimes at night she would scream
out like wild beast. As we did not in
tend to make port for several months he
idea was to transfer her to some other
craft. We spoke half dozen in sue
cession, but not one OF them would receive
her. From one, how ever, where the cap
tain had his Wife aboard, an outfit was
procured, and no sooner was it handed over
TO the woman than great change took
place in her. She quieted down, dressed
herself from head to heel, and spent a whole
day in brushing and couibng her hair
one morning she electrified the steward
by saying she would eat breakfast in the
cabin, and when she walked out nobody
could credit the change. She was now a
fairly gooc-loOking woman, uld-eyed and
shy, and her voice was low and gentle As
she entered the cabin she looked about her
in a wondering way, and queried of the cap
tain:
''Sir, will you please tell me how / came
aboard Of this ship, and what has become
of my own wardrobe?''
When he explained to her that she
had been taken from Lighthouse Island.
where she had been living for months
or years, her astonishment was beyond
Inference. She had woke up that MORN
ing to find herself in d strange berth. She
had no recollection of the island or iier
capture. She had found the Inusty gar
ments we brought from the hut, and had
an indisttnct recollection that they had
once been worn by her, but the past Lad
gone from ier memory a IS If there had been
no past. There have been other cases like
1T, and they have been written OF at length,
and so there is nothing singular in that
part of the story. AS matter of fact, the
woman could not tell her own name could
not tell whether she was married or single,
where she hailed from, nor how she came
TO be on the island. She dated life from
the hour she woke up and heard the stew
ard knocking en- her door. The captain first
set to work TO Judge how long she had been
on the island and finally set the time as
year and a half In scrapbook he
had pasted mp numerous accounts OF wrecks
and disasters, and among them was the
loss of the English bark, Fordhanl, which
had been lost with all hands on voyage
from the Cape to India
She had put in at the Mauritius to repair
damages, and soon after leaving d fierce
gale had swept the seas for several days.
1t was taken for granted that she had heen
lost in this gale. 1t was figured by the
captain that the FOrdham ha~ run
off before the gale to the westward and
and that she was within a few miles
OF Lighthouse Island when she went down
The account said there We're six passen-
gers on hoard, and this woman must have
iieen one OF them, and she must have been
driven to the island while cIinging to a
piece of wreckage. She could give no light
upon the matter. She simply remembered
nothing. 1t was a pitiful case and ex-
cited every mans sympathy. and none
of us, so far as | know, ever knew the
ending of it. week after she came to
herself we sent her to England on hoard
steamer. and as she was penniess every
man of our crew contributed to a purse
amounting to S150 and she left us with
haudshake and God bless you all around
l heard OF her but once more That was
six months after she had reached England
and she had not yet recovered her memory
nor been identified
CHARLES B. LEWIS