, 1897-11-12

my eye. She had dritted down to with
III IA mile e the ship, and ly going aloft
l could make out that there was no one
i'll her. was net absolutely certain on
this point, however, until about 2
O'Clock Ely that time she had drifted
down to within 100 feet of the bark,
and the only relics of the men to be seen
We're Il coat and hat. For two hours the
gig remained so close that l 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 IL 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 l awokc to find myself as well as
ever III my life and ran on deck to find
signs of Il change in the weather. l was
~ravenously hungry, and. having often
assisted the cook, l knew how to get Il
fire alight i'll the caboose and prepare
food. The nauseating, deathlike sm'
which had hitherto prevailed owe the
ship had entirely disappeared, and when
my hunger had been satisfied l readily
made myself believe that the fever had
gone for good.
Although only IL lad and my expert
ence as Il 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. l could tell nothing
of distances. but I knew the bark was
OH the great highway between the
South American ports and the cape of
Good Hope. | know how to make u sig
nal of distress Of the English flag, and,
although there was no wind. l ran the
bunting aloft as soon as thought of.
During the afternoon | was busy about
the decks picking up and coiling down
and seeing that everything was secure,
and at noon l prepared another meal.
1t was 3 o'clock in the afternoon be-
fore the first catsraws began playing
over the CLASSY surface of the sea, but
i'll the course of half an hOur il stead,
breeze set in from the north. and TIE
bark went drifting away before it. l
marked her drift by compass as east by
south. | had heard sailors talk much of
wreck and disaster. and before night
came on l got out some pieces of sheet
iron to lay on the deck and prepared
materials for Il beacon fire. l remained
on deck till half past 10 O'Clock, ready
to light my beacon i'll case 1 saw the
light of u c"aft, and then went to my
berth and slept soundly till an hour aft
er sunrise. When l gained the deck, l
saw II sail to the south about eight
miles away. which must have passed
close to me early i'll the morning. l
have Always 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 l went aloft with the
glass and swept the sea. but no other
sail greeted my vision. When night
came, l 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 a clear
horizon, nor was anything sighted for
the ncxt five days and nights. During
this interval the breeze blew from every
but did not rise to Il gale or create n
heavy sea. l had little to do except to
cook my meals and go aloft to look for
sails, but l 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 II light breeze, l went aloft
and made out II sail to the north, u Sec
ond to the south and a 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
Il speck on the horizon when l made her
out, hut two hours later l had her in
plain view, and at 8 o'clock she was up
with me. She proved to be the ship
Amazon Of Liverpool, bound for the
Cape with soldiers and emigrants, and u
crew was put aboard Of the derelict and
she was headed for that port in COM
pany. Ship and cargo We're worth a big
sum of money, but l was not entitled to
II 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. l had to
tell the story over and over again, make
afiidavits, 90 into court and sign papers.
and l may tell you that before l got
through playing the hero I was disgust
ed with the whole business and hoping
nothing Of the sort would ever occur
again. g. b. LEWIS.
NarIes Il