The times., 1897-05-23

days. l also took this occasion to tell ner
that her dear face would be ever present
I'm ily mind till again saw her. placed
these lines in spot where knew that
she would at once enotiecthemupon ava < en-
ing, and l was now ready to depart.
l paused a moment in admiration Of the
captivating picture which she made IN
sluiHbeg Her head, with its great masses
OF iustrous brown hair, which she had now
undoae, was supported upon her rounded
arm, and there was pleased and inno-
cent smile upon her countenance, I could
not help but bead over and kiss lightly her
rosy aud slightly parted lips This act, at
least, was no dream.
When | had embarked in the Mary Ann
and had paddledihef out of the co ve like
tissue or inlet into the open sea beyond,
noticed that there was quite iittie log
resting upon the water. 1t was i'm
possible to see more than a quarter or a
half mile III any direction, ana / was
thus Just about as much in the dark as
ever regarding my whereabouts l found
great danger from the sunken rocks, which
Miranda had spoken of. was not sur
prIsed that fishetrnen, on this account,
gaze the place a wide berth, and / Won
aerad now how / had not happened to rGn
foul Of one OF them Oh the preceding morn
ing.
When was little distance out paused
aud contemplated the coast which / had
left. ] could see nothing but the sea
wall, the long line OF evergreen thicket
upon It's top and the great cliff in the back
ground No one would have supposed that
between This palisaue of frs ana hemlocks
and the mountain back of them there eX-
tended the miniature and rerdanJ oasis,
which | had quilted but a few moments
before.
Win the rising of the sun the fog did net
seem to lift, but grew momentariiy thicker,
with the result that. at the distance Of a half
mile from the shore, there was not the
slightest sign CT 1t visible, While trying
to imagine the direction in which | had
come, while in tow of the schooner, l al
tered my course twice or thrice, and IL
nally became so mixed in my ideas, that
was no longer capable of saying in what
noiut OF the compass Miranda s island lay.
| now saw how foolish a thing had done,
in leaving the coast. during this heavy iog.
1t not only made it impossible Tor me 10 lay
my course for New York, but 1t aIso placed
IL =
upon my return from the city that secluded
aud foiry ike spot, which ] had Just left.
When man commences to make an
idiot OF himself lie is Bot likely to do
things by halves. II / had only rested
uron nay oars until the fog lifted, even
though l had 10 wait for hours, all would
have been well. / was, however, possessed
with an eager desire to get somewhere,
no matter where, and / set To work and
rowed and rowed and rowed, with never
q bit OF land coming into sight for eight
mortal hours A dozen times there might
have been, and probably was, land within
half q mile of me, without my seeing II,
and it was not till about 2 O'Clock :; t
noon that | finally ran the boat, while
least expecting 1t, half way out or the
water, upon fiat and barren shore.
got out OF the Mary Ann and stared around
me. and Immediately saw that I had e.
turned unoonsciously 10 tie place whence
| had started out the day before. l was,
in fact, once more, al Sandy Hook. l hal
rowed. without doubt, fully thirty miles,
but whether in straight direction or in Il
circle, or whetherI had zigzagged back and
forth, is more than / can tell
LOCK the next steamer 10 the city, and
in two days succeeded in settling up all
my affairs At the end OF the second day
property, consisting mostly of real estate
III New York remained unsoldto the amount
of something over soc. 900. This l gave
away. dividing it at haphazard among a
score or more or individuals. The conse-
quence of this was that, upon the morning
OF the third day, I was besieged with a
. .-s~ss hot . In.
trance To my apartments, as we'll as the
Sidewalk outside, for almost a block either
way, was completely blocked and obstruct-
ed by them.
At noon of tbs same day 1 embarked
upon my steam yacht, the Ariel, together
with my former ciassrnate, the Rev Stephen
Postlethwaite, and set out upon my return
to the desert island Of Miranda Roy.
To make long story short, we cruised
for two long months, without getting s.
resemblance to that well-Temembered and
glimpse of anything which had the least
resemblance to that weIl-remembered and
peculiar shore There was not, i'll fact
nook or corner Of the lower hay, the
upper bay, the Hudson, the East River
on the entrance to Long Island Sound
which l cid not, with great care and
painstaking, investigate. So that the rev
erend gentleman finally looked upon me
as macman, and openly expressed his
doubts as to the existence, not only OF the
island, but of that beautiful girl herself
AS last resort, I caused to be in
serted In several of the leading journal:
of the metropolis, an advertisement, in
which 1 offered $50, 600 reward for the
al hn ic1a ud md
more, if, at the time of this discovery
Miranda Roy was still living upon it.
One thing more, and 1 have done. When
first got back to New York, after my
singular meeting with the fair savage.
1 found that my watch, instead OF being
hours and o6 minutes slow, was only
hours and So minutes slow. AS l said be-
fore, this timepiece was an exceedingly
accurate one, varying but three or Touf
seconds in the course OF whole year
From this, it seems to me altogether like
ly, that the spot where Miranda Roy took
the observation must have been three
minutes east of the 18th meridian Three
minutes, of course, being equal TO three
fonrths of a degree, or about nfty-two
miles. As to the latitude OF 39 degrees
40 minutes, ? seconds, which she figured
out: no dependence at all can be placed
upon it, as it was based upon a longitude
in which there was the trifling error of
forty-four degrees. / give these data,
thinking that they may be of some use to
any one undertaking to obtain the reward,
by rediscovering the island
This is all that have to say about the
matter at the present time.
(THE END.)