Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-03-31

the center thwart, held herself as straight
as an arrow, though her head was slightly
bent as in intense listening. Fears of her be-
coming an incubus had long since vanished,
and if her heart beat thickly at our dubious
| adventure, it did not show in the quiet and
confident smile with which she had adopted
every suggestion and obeyed every order
| with as little hesitation as though she had
been a disciplined soldier In her hand she
held pistol which was huddled closely in
her cloak to keep the damp from its printing,
and in an emergency fully believed she
would use it without qualm.
had given orders that no shot should be
fired save in extremity, determining that in
reference should be met by cold steel only.
AT the onset l feared nothing beyond blum
derlng into patrol, and in that case the use
OF firearms might alarm the enemy ashore.
In the above fashion, then, we drifted
along for perhaps 20 minutes, the wet drip
ping from my brows and lashes like tears. /
had no means of getting at our definite
whereabouts save by guessing by our speed,
that making me think we should be abreast
of the highlands below Turtle bay. Turning
the boats head inshore, / ran close to tie
rocks, and then slid along (more slowly for
being hard by the bank just beyond what
thought to be the loom of the land. BY
this had gotten into the swing of the stu
alton and had less fear of interruption
than of missing the Phantom 'Twould be
an easy matter to slip by her, and even could
l once mark the height of Corlears Hook,
with its alarm beacon always ready for the
touch of a torch, l would then be an I'M
usual sailor if l could make a straight
course for the schooner, though she still lay
q har IL, 10, r. ~
beacon and heights would be beyond
vision, and was approaching what was
very like real worry when my fears were re-
lieved and our present situation indicated
by the sound of eight bells struck in true
man-o'-wars-man's style that came floating
! over the river about off our larboard BEAM
gave fair guess that the measured beats
came from the Bellerophon striking the
| hour OF midnight, that ship being the only
vessel of size which had been anchored
+, above the Jersey prison hulk to dispute a
possible passage Of the Sound river from
above. was sure of this when, after in
tently listening, ! heard no other striking,
for had the fleet been near there would
have been harmony of bells in quick sue
! cession.
My mind being thus relieved, turned
the tubs head into the stream again, and for
awhile we floated rapidly and silently along,
boat with three figures that might have
been carved from stone, SO rigid We're our at
titudes of watchfulness and expectancy.
fear am none too strong believer in
the doctrine of special providences, though
have seemed to see its workings in my own
| behalf, as instanced in the breeze that
saved me from the knife of the negro; but
if ever the Almighty carried three human
beings in the hollow OF His hand, and point
ed out the way of deliverance from press
ing danger, He did it this night, and that
| without the working of miracle. Sud-
| denly, and without the intervention of a
breeze, we were floating in clear water. Be
| fore us rose white, impenetrable cloud Of
| q dull luminosity, while behind us lay the
moist veil from which we had just drifted.
Its height was clearly marked, and showed
the mist extended not more than 20
feet above the rivers surface. We had
struck chasm in the fog, and once when
on the high seas had marked the like, then,
as now, there being no wind to mix or drive
the vapor.
The rift was but few hundred feet
across, though it apparently extended from
shore to shore, like the waters rolled back
Tor the passage of the children of Israel
| Not boat was in sight. On either hand
the water lay black and fiat, only SHIN
mered here and there by the light of the
stars that shone clearly overhead. This
incident must not be considered forced.
The writer saw these exact conditions while
on ferry boat from New York to Brook
J lyn during foggy night in the summer Of
1898. The phenomenon is probably due to a
warm and comparatively dry streak of slow
| ly moving air, and lasts but few moments. ]
1t was wonderful. an awe.inspiring
sight, but the quick exclamation inyolun-
tarily made-the first sound from the boat
aimee ii leis Turtle hay-was followed BY