The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1899-06-22
"yya crawl -, - whispered Bob, glce.

| ~,
fully, without anybody knowing Peari
was frightened, and | didn't want 10
come, till made her. But then Pearl 5
girl, and I'm little man-so mother
says"
The whole OF that day no figure put
| the figure of Bob was in my nina, anu
INDUCED in the maddest speculatiohs.
If my boy lived, he would be Oh the
same age as this little fellow; ana
Robert was my fathers name. l should
have asked Bob further questions ABOUT
his mother. but that | was afraid 10
shatter the unreasoning hope which a
wild fancy had engendered. / saw no
more of him or Pearl during that day.
and when next saw him An me-
let me not think of it, must tell my
story straight
The weather got worse instead or Del-
| ter. and at night-it was four bells in
| the first watch-"Land" was called.
| was in the watch below az the time,
and we were summoned on deck at
once. The course We were steering was
| east by north, wind being northwest.
1
Orders were at once given to square
away the yards, to clear the vessel for
the land, and then for about half an
hour we hove away southeast, and after
that hauled up again TO the eastward
In less than forty minutes, however,
We beheld the treacherous rocks
straight ahead of us. LAS | saw the
| white waves-whiter because OF the
darkness which surrounded us-dash-
ing against them. l had no shadow Of
doubt that we were lost. Pitch dark it
it was, but sailor can see rocks with
out light to guide him-for the matter
of that, | believe he can smell them
and it does not need a sailors eye TO
see the white foam from a raging sea
dashed from an iron bound shore back
into the black waters Many's the time
/ have seen the spotless spray leaping
UP the sides of the rocks that line the
foreign shores, and, curling back again
in beautiful showers. Laughing in the
sun-sparkles that filled them with light,
and made them look like millions Of
living silver stars; but then the days
were fine, and the sun was shining. 1t
was different now. There was no sun
and no moon, and the swell of the sea
toward the shore came to my ears like
the sound of muffled drums.
The task we had before us now was
to prevent The Rising Sun from set
ting bodily toward the land; but the
task was too much for us, and though
We worked with a will We could not
avoid our fate. The vessel hardly had
steerage-way, and the heavy southwest
swell was driving her nearer and near
er to the black rocks. BY midnight
she had become perfectly unmanage-
able; and all the passengers, being now
alarmed and aware of their peril, were
on deck, keeping their feet as well as
they could. 1 looked out on the lee
beam, and saw the land, like a fog
bank, creeping nearer and nearer to us.
In the midst of my duties had striven
hard, but without success, to discover
Bob and Pear, and it was while l was
thinking of the land with a feeling of
agony that a .woman's voice, falling on
my ear sent shock through me which
curdled my blood.
Hush, my child-hushw were the
spoken words; and it was my wife who
uttered them 10 my boy
Dumb with fearful joy and amaze
ment l turned toward the voice, when
The Rising Sun came crash
against a sharp, jutting rock,
and, if You will believe it,
carried part of it away. In the midst
of the cries of despair that accompanied
the crash, | myself called OUT INA
bel! Mabel! give me my boy! But my
voice only added to the general terror
and confusion and before we had time
to recover ourselves, the ship lurched
on to another point of rock, which
carried away her spanker- boom and
rudder. And now, dark as it was be-
fore. 1t grew darker. Ay, it was like
the Egyptian darkness, for it could al
most be felt, and The Rising Sun
seemed to be slowly cutting her way
through 1t, as il 1t were a substance.
The two points of rock which the YES
sci had struck formed the entrance to
huge water cave, and into this cave
we were now fatally working our way.
This accounted for the increasing dark
ness, for above us and before us were
savage rocks, from the walls of which
the thick slime was crawling down to
the sea. This much know, and this
much l saw, but | was mercifully
spared from the conscious knowledge
of great deal OF the agony and terror
of that awful night. The mizzen-top-
gallant mast coming down with tre-,
mendous force, was struck prone te
the deck by it. and for a time | partial
ly lost my senses. :
rToAs aoyrtsuya,