The times., 1897-05-16

| liuef, ih the ol tie htHUpDtf
He seemed 20 be staring at me, but with
| iaekius'er eyes and in an abseRt-fsinde'i
| manner | hallooed to him repeatedly;
bat he gave no answer, and acted alto
gether as though he We're deaf. Finally,
however, he reached down and picked UP
| a coil of small sized rope and threw it to
me. l Immediately let go Of the boom and
seized it, and in mtnent, found myself
| in tow of the schooner, about twenty-five
feet astern, on the port side.
| was very glad OF this change of po-
sition. My boat rose and fell With very
agreeable and regular motion, and l felt
quite safe and comfortable. l made sew
erai attempts TO colyerse with this sin gular
and silent mariner, but without avail.
His CLASSY eyes Were fixed upon the spot
where he had first beheld them, a NIL doubt
If he Were any longer conscious Of my
presence. lie was steering, as l judged,
due north, and we were making certainly
five or six miles an hour. 1t was then
about half past Q, and il tie wiaI he'd we
would reach New York at l or = o'clock
in the morning.
Feeling quite satisfied with the situation,
l made the rope fast to ring in thebO ",
and, taking up comfortable position in
the bottom Of the boat, gaZed upward at
the shifting clouds and the few stars W hich
were visible The regular downward AID
upward sweep of the boat had soothing
effect upon my nerves, and began to fe cl
exceedingly drowsy / remember that /
looked st my watch and found that it
was o o'clock and then-it must have
been shortly after that fell asleep
l was awakened by the violent tossing
and rocking of the boat, and, starting up,
| looked around me. The wind and sea
had got up very considerably Not a
star was visible, and the darkness was so
complete that | could scarcely make out
the ghostly white of the schooners sails
ahead of me. Either the silent mariner
bad altered his course or the wind had
changed, and also the run OF the sea, for
we seemed To be exactly in the trough Cf
it,
Where are we bound TO nowe" I shout
ed out with all the power of my lungs
After my experience with him, scarcely
expected ar answer | was therefore the
more surprised aud startled, when a hoarse
and sepulchrai voice called back:
ITO the devil"
IL seemed to me altogether likely that
he spoke the truth, and this being SO, and
the objective point OF my voyage not lying
in that direction, | decided that it was
time for us t. part company. Taking out my
knife and crawling forward, | severed the
rope, and in an instant the schooner swept
ahead of IuC and vanished in the darkness
/ now got out the oars and brought the
boat before the wind, and none too soon
either, for it had already taken in a lot
of water, and it was wonder that it had
not filled and gone under long before
now struck d match and looked at my
watch, and was very much surprised TO
find that II was quarter of four in the
morning. 1 had slept for almost six hours.
The schooner meanwhile had sailed twenty
fiveor thirty miles, aldHeavcn alone knows
where that mailman had taken me Co
Whether tie had sailed in a straight line
or had ziGZaGGed back and forth was also
matter OF pure conjecture There were
few lights scattered at wide intervals
around the horizon; but, of course, they
could tell me nothing, aud wisely concluCi-
ed that my best in fact, my only, course
was TO rest upon my oars until daylight.
% This was not long III coming In few
minutes the biackncss OF the sky changed
70 a dull gray, ana asabo1t quarter pa sta
L
outlines of a steep and'rCcky coast. i'm
mediately Towed a way toward it. and as
/ appFoa ched { took shape and ds.iuctness
and developed finally into a rocky range Of
bills, which sloped down to the sea and
ended III a cliff some hundreds oil feet
in length and twenty feet in height
Against its base the breakers dashed with
low, monotonous rurnbling, and the whole
Looking for q place to land l finally saw
10 the left an opening in the cliff fifteen
or twcnt yfeetin width-a sort Of .ecevasse
or nssrre, into which the sea flowed This
seemed to he my only chance, and by
dexterous twist of the paddles / ran the
boat into it. 1t took Il slight turn to the
right . few feet from the entrance ard
in lengthit was rot over thirty feet almost
At the farther end / ran up alongside
large flatrock, and with very little trouble
succeeded in landing uEon it.
l met, however, with a ianghabe ac-
cident in doing 50. 1 was not careful
enough about hanging TO the boat while
scrambiing upon the rock, and had the
modification of seeing the Mary Ann
slowly floating out to sea- andT vas power
less to prevent it 7 did not think of
swimming after it, until it was TOP late
Had realized, as I did later, how inn
possible for us to scale the cliff without
assistance, and how completely I was
prisoner upon that four feet by six rock. l
would certainly have made the plunge
Shortly after l had landed, or rather,
after I had been cast away, the sun rose
The clouds now thinned out and floated
away, the sky took ON the delightful blue
of a J une morning, and altogether it gave
promise OF a warm andpleasant day. From
the place where stood. owing to the bend
in the fissure, could see but limited
portion Of the sea line. In that small eX-
tent OF horizon there was no land visible.
Tits. however, was not important; rs there
night be land lying all about me in other
directions. The top of the cliff above my
head and Us far as | could see to the right
and left. was thickly fringed with dwarf
hcmlocks and fir trees; SO that view, in
this direction also, was effect ually closed
at about O'Clock in the morning, 1
was wondering for the twentieth time
where 1 was, and whether ii was possible
for HE Co scale the cliff when my atten-
ton was called to a rustling in the trees
above me, and, looking up. saw small
hand parting the branches There then
appeared the face OF a very handsome
girl, who looked down at me and called
out:
How did you. get here, sir? and where
fore have you Gomez
There was lively sparkle in her gray
eyes and the suggestion OF frown upon
her oval face She was evidently not
pleased at findingme
II came by the Mary Ann,''' said I;
.shu. xrberaforc is moro fhan oan foil }.