Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-11-24

mise. lie was elllleI S6lLSu WIFI tlio
dread epidemic and wandered about and
fell overheard or the strain on his mind
was SO great that he deliberately COM
mitted suicide He had not wakened mo
or left q message Of any sort behind
When I fully realized that l Twas alone
aboard of the ship, ! was so terrified
that | hid away in the cabin for several
hours. 1t was not until noon that l re
membered the men who had pulled
away the day before and went on deck
to look for them, By the aid of the cap
tain's glass I soon had the boat under
my eye She had drifted down to with
in mile of the ship, and by going aloit
I could make out that there was no one
in her. l was not absolutely certain on
this point, however, until about ,
O'Clock. By that time she had drifted
down to within 100 feet of the bark,
and the only relics of the men to be seen
were a coat and hat. For two hours the
gig remained so close that could have
reached her by swimming, but then a
current took her and she drifted slowly
away to the north. Aside from the boat
| remember very little OF what occurred
that day or the next. The epidemic had
taken away lS strong and healthy men,
and why should l be spared? A dozen
times over l felt the first symptoms, or
so imagined, and my troubled sleep was
full Of the most terrible dreams. Things
are not at all clear to me until the morn
ing of the eleventh day of the calm.
Then awoke to find myself as well as
ever in my life and ran on deck to find
signs of a change in the weather. / was
ravenously hungry and, having often
assisted the cook, l knew how to get u
fire alight in the caboose and prepare
food. The nauseating, deathlike smell
which had hitherto prevailed over the
ship had entirely disappeared, and when
my hunger had been satisfied | readily
made myself believe that the fever had
gone for good
Although only lad and my expert
ence as a sailor limited to months, l
yet had wit enough to look at the cap
tain's charts and find our position as he
had pricked it off. | could tell nothing
of distances but | knew the bark was
on the great highway between the
South American ports and the cape of
Good Hope J. knew how to make sig
nal of distress of the English flag, and
although there was no wind, | ran the
bunting aloft as soon as thought or.
During the afternoon / was busy about
the decks picking up apd coiling down
and seeing that everything was secure,
and at noon prepared another meal.
1t was o'clock in the afternoon be-
fore the first catspaws began playing
over the CLASSY surface of the sea, but
in the course of half an hour steady
breeze set in from the north, and the
bark went drifting away before it. I
marked her drift by compass as east by
south. had heard sailors talk much OF
wreck and disaster, and before night
came on got out some pieces OF sheet
iron to lay on the deck and prepared
materials for beacon fire. remained
on deck till half past 10 o o'clock, ready
to light my beacon i'll case l saw the
light of a craft, and then went to my
berth and slept soundly till an hour aft
er sunrise. When l gained the deck, l
saw sail to the south about eight
miles away, which must have passed
| close to me early in the morning. |
have aways felt certain that this craft
had daylight in which to see my signal,
and the fact Of the bark having all sails
furled and being adrift was clearly no.
ticed, but she kept her way without
making an investigation. Six times dur
ing the long day I went aloft with the
| glass and swept the sea. but no other
sail greeted my vision. When night
came, remained awake until midnight
and then lay down on deck, but nothing
happened except that the wind changed
| about to the west and grew somewhat
| stronger.
Morning came and brought clear
horizon, nor was anything sighted for
the next five days and nights. During
this interval the breeze blew from every
point of the compass except the east,
but did not rise to gale or create q
heavy sea. I had little to do except to
cook my meals and go aloft to look for
sails, but made as much work for my
self as l could and did not permit my
mind to dwell on the present or future
On the seventh or eighth day of my lone
illness, at / o'clock in the afternoon,
and while the bark was drifting to the
east under light breeze, went aloft
and made out sail to the north, Sec
ond to the south and third to the west
The two first were too far away to hope
| for assistance The third was coming
up and must pass me close. She was but
speck on the horizon when made her
| out, but two hours later had her in
| plain view, and at 5 o'clock she was up
with me. She proved to be the ship
| Amazon Of Liverpool, bound for the
Cape with soldiers and emigTants, and a
crew was put aboard of the derelict and
| she was headed for that port i'll COM
| pany. Ship and cargo were worth big
| sum of money, but was not, entitled to
| dollar Of salvage. There were those
who even said l ought to be thankful
for my escape from the epidemic, let
alone the question of a reward. I had to
tell the story over and over again, make
affidavits go into court and sign papers,
and I may tell you that before I got
through playing the hero I was disgust
ed with the whole business and hoping
soothing of the sort would ever occur
again. G. B. LEWIS.