The Press., 1898-03-10

=
 taken away IS strong and healthy men, and why should 1 be spared: A dozen times over l felt the first symptoms. or so lmaglned. 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 awoke to find myself as well as ever m my life and ran on deck to find s1gns of change ID the weather 1 was ravenously hungry. and, having often assisted the cook l knew how to get a fire allght Tn the cabOOSe and prepare food The nauseatlng deathlike smell which had hitherto prevailed over the ship had entirely disappeared, and when my hunger had been satisfied l readily made myself believe thar the fever had gone for good
 Although only a lad and my expert ence a sailor limited to months, l yet had wit enough to look at the cap tain charts and find our position as he had prIcked II otf could tell nothing of distances but 1 knew the bark was on the great highway between the South American ports and the cape of Good Hope 1 knew how to make a sig nal of distress of the English flag and although there was no wind, l ran the bunting aIOft soon as thought of During the afternoon 1 was busy about the decks picking up and colllnR down and seeing that everything was secure and at noon prepared another meal 1t was 5 o clock Ill the afternoon be- fore the first catspaws began playing over the glaSSy surface ot the sea, but in the course ot halt all hour d steady breeze set Ill from the north. and the bark went drifting away before It marked her drift by compass as east by | south had heard sailors talk much of wreck and disaster. and before night came on 1 got out some pieces ot sheet | iron to lay on the deck and prepared materials for a beacon fire 1 remained on deck till half past 10 O clock. ready to light my beacon ID case l saw the light of a craft, and then went to my berth and slept soundly till an hour aft CT sunrise When l gained the deck saw sail to the south about eight | miles away which must have passed close to me early Ill the morning have aways felt certain that thls craft had daylight m which to see my signal. I | furIed and being adrlft was clearly no ticed but she kept her way without making an investigation SIX times dur ing the long day l went alott with the glass and swept the sea. but no other | sail greeted my vision When night came, 1 remained awake until midnight and then lay down on deck. but nothing happened except that the wind changed | about to the west and grew sOmeWha | stronger
 Morning came and brought a clear | horlZon nor was anything sighted for the next five days and nights During | thls interval the breeze blew from every point of the compass except the east. | but did not rise to gale or create 8 heavy sea 1 had little to do except tC cook my meals and go aloft to look for sails. but made as much work tor my
 self as 1 could and dld not permit my l mlnd to dwell on the present or future, On the seventh or eighth day of my lone | Illness, at 0 clock Ill the afternoon and while the bark was drifting to the | east under a light breeze, 1 went aIOft | and made out d sail to the north. a sec | ond to the south and thlrd to the west The two first were too far away to hope for assistance The rhlrd was coming up and must pass me close. She was but a speck on the horizon when 1 made hel out but two hours later had her III plain view and at o clock she was uI with me She proved to be the shlI Amazon of Liverpool. bound for the Cape with soldiers and emlgrants and 8 crew was put aboard ot the dereIlct and she was headed for that port ln com
 pany Ship ;aId cargo were worth a big sum of money. but 1 was not entitled tc a dollar of salvage There were those | who even sad l ought to be thankful
 for my escape from the epidemic, lei alone the question ot d reward 1 had tC tell the story over and over again. make affidavlts, go into court and sign papers and l may tell you that before 1 got through playing the hero | was disgust ed with the whole business and hoping nothing of the sort would ever occul again C B LEWIS