The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-11
H STRIPED CHEST
Or, the Power Of a Hand
Long Dead.
BY N DOYLE.


~ w. heN N"o AtAhAhA pNohNO AN
upon the poop. with his short. thick legs
astretch, for the gale had left a considerable
swell behind II, and our two quarter boats near.
" touched the water with every roll. He
steadied his glass against tho mizzen shrouds
and no looked long and hard at this disconso-
late stranger every time she camo Keeling up on
TO the crest of a roller and hung balanced for n
few seconds before swooping down the othe-
side. She lay so low In the water that / could
only catch an occasional glimpse of a pea
green line OF bulwark. She was a brig, but
her mainmast had been snapped short off some
ten feet above the deck and no effort seemed to
have been made to cut away the wreckage,
which foatod. sails and yards, like the broken
wing of a wounded gull. upon tho water beside
her. The foremost was still standing. but the
foretopsail was flying loose, and tho headsailn
were streaming out In long pennons in front Of
her. Mover have 1 soon n vessel which appeared
to have gone through rougher handling.
But We could not be surprised at that, for
there had been times during the last three
days when 1t was a question whether our own
bark would ever SEQ land again. For thirty.
six hours we had kept her nose to 1t, and II tho
Mary Sinclair had not been as good n seabcat
rs over left tho Clyde we could not have come
through. And yet hero we werc ut the end Of
1t with tho loss only Of our gig and of part of
the starboard bulwark. 1t did not astonish
us, however, when tho smother had cleared
away to find that others had been less lucky.
and that this mutlated brig, staggering about
upon n blue sea and under II cloudless sky, had
been left, like n blinded man after n lightning
flash, to tell of the terror which is past.
Allardyce, who was n slow and methodical
s~cotchnian, stared long and hard at the little
craft while our seamen lined the buIwark or
clustered upon the foro shrouds to have a view
- Aho 400 To- IA ~
which wcre about our bearings. ono becomes ,
little curious as to whom one meets. for one has
left the main lines of Atlantic comuerco N ,bo
north. For ten days we had been sailing ovcr
q solitary sea.
shes derelict, I'm thinking snid the sec.
ond mate.
had come to the same conclusion for 7
could see no sign of life upon her deck. and
there was no answer to tho friendly waving,
from our seamen. Her crew had probab,v do.
serted her under tho impression that abe was
about to founder.
'.She can't last long, continued Allerdvoe
in his measured way. "sbo NAV mt her nos.
down and her tar IN INV ,ninute Tho water
ia Inning nm to the edge Of her rail"
''Wbat's her aae,' I asked.
.I'm irving to make ont. TIA on, nj, twist.
cd and tangled with the bolvarda yes ~.
got it now. clear enough. It's the brazilian
flag. but it's wrong side m"
She had hoisted a signal NJ d;stresa than
before her peoplo had abandoned ber Per.
hans they had only lust gone. I took the
mates glass and looked round ovcr the t,,mr,.
tuous fnce of tho deen-blpe Atlantic still vcined
and starred with white lines md snoptinos q,
| foam. But nowhere could I sea ANYTHING
human beyond ourselves.
..Tbcre NAV he living man aboard " s.,d
..rherc NAV be salvage muttered tbo aa,-
ond mate.
.aThen we will rim down unon her Lee e,do
and liz IN"
We were not moro than , bpndred vo,d.
from her when we swung orr forerard ,hoct
and there VIC were. the bark and tho br,,
duckine and bowling like two clowns in n
dance.
"Drop one of the Quarter boats" said 7
Take four men Mr.. Allardvce and sse what
YOU can learn of her"
nut inst n. that mor,.n+ INV arst o@,or NJ
Armstrong. came on deck for seven bells had
struck. and it was but n few minntes nj, his
watch. II would interest mc IN 800 myself m
| this abandoned vessel and 10 sec what thcrc
mioht bo oho,rd ~ hcr Go wiz, a uord ~ 49,,
strong l swung myself over the side, slipped
down the falls. and took my place in the sheets
1t was but a little distarue, but 1t took some
time 10 ira yarsp and IN an " u tho roll chat
Inv ~ i"'.i'o NV sU''o",s - ~ VII lha'
oiten "hen we were IN the trough OF the seas we
| could not see either the bark which we had left
nor the brig which we were approaching The
NV ~ Jig "n'" w VIZ inc
sinking sun ana not penetrate down there, and
it was cold and dark in the hollows of the
,v,vcs but e,cb n,ss,ng biloyv hon vod no I'm into
,ho nn,,b ~ tha Snna aiT oaoo us - u
inc warmth ana the sunshlhc once more. At
each OF these moments, as we hung upon a
vbito.c,nnod r;1,,o hot ,r.on tho two al ,,I
"n'''pp"% f'ueo Doa"e'n ,no IVY u"rk val
leys' caught a glimpse OF the long pea-grccn
line and the nodding foremost OF the brig, and I
steercd an as n CONS ro,nd nv her storn an th.t
800" ~ az ~ on' u'"' =! ', - u ="
we might determine which was the best way of
boarding her. AZ we passed her we saw the
ran,o Sos.o Sorbo-, do Victoria noir,.1 ooroo,
name NosS" 9ohhor" IL" ''c'oria painted across
hcr dripping counter.
THE weather side, SIR said the second mate.
"stand nv with the ho,t hool c,rnontor,, An
$50. 80 80
instant later we mad jumped over the bulwarks.
which were hardly higher than our boat. and
r,rrd o,,reo,vcs mon The doct NJ tho oho ndonad
iou", ' 'p'" ~ VI '"' Auo
vessel
Our first thought was to provide for our own
s,,e,v In asc-a. seo,pc5 worry nrobs hIo N,
uAtll III Nhto az Nllt' u iii