The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07
CHAPTER XVI.

SweetwaterS one thought as he sank
was, Now, Mr.. Sutherland need fear
me no longer"
| But the instinct of life is strong in
every heart, and when he found him.
| self breathing the air again he threw
out his arms wildly and grasped a spar
1t was life to him. hope, Eeconnection
with his kind. He clutched, chung, and.
feeling himself floating, uttered a shout
or mingled JOY and appeal that unhap-
PLY was Smothered in the noise of the
waters and the now rapidly rising wind.
Whence had come this spar in his
desperate need? He never knew, but
somewhere in his remote consciousness
an impression remained of a shock to
the waves following his own plunge
into the water, which might mean that
this spar had been thrown out after
him, perhaps by the already repentant
hands OF the wretches who had tossed
him 10 his death. However it came, or
from whatever source, it had at least
given him an opportunity to measure
his doom and realize the agonies of
hope when ii alternates with despair.
The darkness was lmpenetrable. 1t
was nc longer that os heaven, but that
of hell, and so it seemed to this daZed
soul, plunged SuddcIi. from dreams of
exile into the valley Of the shadow of
death. And such a death, As he real
night and the oncoming storm strike it's
piercing fangs into mis- marrow, and
knew that his existence and the hope of
ever again seeing the dear old face at
the fireside rested upon the strength of
his will and the tenacity of his life
clutch, he felt his heart fail, and the
breath that was his life cease in CUR
gle of terror. But he chung on, and
though no comfort came, still chung,
while vague memories of iong-ago ship
wrecks and stories told in his youth of
men, mowen and children tossing for
hours on a drifting plank, flashed
through his benumbed brain and lent
their horror to his own SENSATIONS of
apprehension and despair.
Ee wanted to live. Now that the
dread spectre had risen out of the
waters and had his clutch on his hair,
he realized that the world held much
for him, and that even in exile he might
work and love and enjoy Gods heaven
and earth, the green fields and the blue
sky. not such skies as were above
him now. No, this was not sky that
over-arched him, but horrible vault
in which the clouds. rushing in torn
masses, had the aspect of demons ready
to contend for him with those other de-
mons that with long arms and ire
SiStible grip We're dragging at him from
below. He was alone on a whirling
spar i'll the midst of a midnight ocean,
but horror and a pitiiess imagination |
made this conflict more than that of |
the elements and his position an isola- |
ton beyond that of man removed from |
his fellows. He was almost mad. Yet |
he olung.
Suddenly a better frame of mind pre- |
waved. The sky was no lighter, save |
as the lightning came to relieve the |
overwhelming darkness by a still more |
1elr inc er1o
waves less importunate or his hold on |
the spar more secure; but the horror |
seemed to have lifted, and the practical |
nature of the man reasSerted itself If |
only for passing moment. Other men
had gone through worse dangers than |
these and survived to tell the tale, as
he might survive to tell his. The will
was all: will and an indciuitable cour-
age, and he had Will and he had cour-
age, or why had he left his home to
dare hard and threatening future
purely from a sentiment of gratitude
Could he hold on long enough, daylight
would come; and if, as in his calmer
he realized he had been
thrown into the sea within twenty
then they must be not far from
Cape Cod, and in the direct line
Of travel from New York to
Boston. Rescue would come. and if the
storm which was breaking over his
head more and more furiously made it
difficult for him to retain his hold. it
would not wreck his spar or
french him more than he was already
irenched, while every blast would drive
him shoreward. The clinging was all,
md filial love would make him do that,
wen in the semi-unconsciousness
which now and then swept over him
Only would it not be better for Mr..
if he should fall and drop
lway into the yawning chasms of the
world beneath. There were
when he thought SO, and then
lis clutch perceptibly weakened; but
'nly once did he come near