The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-05-04

the ice hardly a hundred feet from
where l stood.
Apparently they were so much ex.
hausted as not to mind the presence of
a human being; and in fact. I don't
know but they felt glad TO find any liv-
ing shape so far from land. The sight
of those geese, with their constant
"honk. honk, honk," as TREY sat hud-
died together, stretching up their long,
black necks, gave me a certain sense of
relief. They represented some kind of
life, at all events.
Another day passed, and towards
night, the wind having changed, my
feathered companions flew away,
"honking" out their farewell as they
rose up in a great tapping mass from
the ice. n is needless to say that en-
We'd them the possession of those broad
wings. They were bound for the near
est land, and I felt doubly lonesome
when they were gone.
The next day ship passed me. and
I made all possible signals to her, but
In vain. Stripping off the heavy jacket
that I wore. | waved il above my head
at the same time running azlti leaping
about: but no one on board discovered
me. This was a dreadful disappoint-
ment, and after few minutes of dis
traction | settled into sullen despair.
1t seemed as if the nfen ought to have
seen me, and | half hated them for not
doing so.
Still another day, and ! was getting
dreadfully hungry and thirsty; but
luckily the June weather, after the last
blow, had become very warm, so that
even the ice under foot did not chill me
to any great extent. BY good luck,
while walking about my ocean prison,
| found a small live fish which some
wave must have been deposited in hol-
low of the ice; and this was the only fish
that ] ever ate raw.
| had hardly finished my scaDty meal,
when ii whale, 60 or 70 feet long, sud
denly rose up close to the edge of the
ice, shooting his immense head out of
the water with force that sent the
waves swashing off on all sides. The
to me was at first quite startling. Then
he lay motionless, blowing with 4 loud
noise, and sending up sheets of fine
mist. After awhile he turned fukes,"
as the whalemen express it, and, throw
ing his broad tail in the air, once more
sought the ocean depths. But what a
picture he had made!
A flock of Mother Carey's chickens
circled about the spot where he went
down, but / could not perceive that
they found anything to eat. How l
longed to knock over some of them, Cor
l was still hungry, in spite of the fish |
had eaten.
However, l felt better for my limited
meal and soon after fell asleep; for ]
had slept but very little thus far
and nature now stepped in to help me,
aided, no doubt, by that friendly little
fish.
/ awoke with a start, thinking that
big shark had Topped up on the ice and
got me by the shoulder. Bnt instead
of shark | looked upon the shape of
sturdy sailor. who was shaking me
briskly upon finding me asleep and not
dead.
! started to my feet with wide-open
eyes; then gazed with astonshment
upon the young fellow who had reused
me from my nap. | really feared that |
was stiiI dreaming.
Sam Stanley" | cried. "Oh. Sam,
Sam! is it certainly you?"
"Yes," he replied, II am the same old
Sam that | used to be; but how under
the sun came you to be here on this
piece of drift ice?''
"Ill tell you ali about it as soon as
possible" l said; ''but how did You get
here? That's what I want to know"
BY this time | was surrounded by
circle of wondering sailors, while Sam
went on to tell in few words how her
cargo of iron had caused their ship to
spring a leak, so that they had been
forced to abandon her: and they were
making for Cape Race in their boats,
when. passing close to this floating ice,
they had discovered me lying near its
edge. Sam, it appeared, had been the
iSt ~ StidublN Lp'Il IL, thouSn ne III
tie dreamed of finding his old chum in
the person of the supposed dead man.
What a strange thing it ISL re-
marked the stout young sailor, while
was devouring a piece of ship bread on
board one of the boats as we started off
1--WE have chased each other all over the
ocean to meet at last on a bit of drift
ice, away out TO seal"
We reached Cape Race without acci-
dent, and another week saw us safe in
the home of our childhood, the first
time that we had been there together
for three long years. Happy New Eng
gland-how delightful it seemed to me,
after what | had suffered! And / was
also glad to learn that the Robert
Burns, from which | had pitched over
board, had, after all, arrived safely in
port, in spite of the rude shock she had
Days.
"CIean Whistle"
The origin of the saying AS clean as
n ,,I;ct1a . e accrihp1 IN fhe tsrhiStlp