The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-07-18

it let fall with splash great blob Of
what the skipper had called sap, but
what we could not but think was more
like blood. at this peculiar thing.
which, however, at the moment struck
me as nothing SO very terrible. though
Jobs face was blanched with fear, he
made as though he would up with his
gun and fire at that branch, but / put
my hand on his arm and checked him.
{" Stop, says I; there may be more
curiosities to be seen. Let's wait and
see Mateys, there was more to be
seen, as will tell you.
ssWhen that blob Of what called
blood had fallen plashing as it fell
some of the men who were nearest to it
the part that had opened closed again.
But it only closed for moment, for
directly afterward it once more parted
and from it fell something white
something about as big as a duck egg.
And then, once more, it closed up. Job
was by now almost beside himself with
terror, but I was calmer, and in my
calmness I advanced to that white
thing a-lying there in the moonlight
and picked it up. while Job looked over
my elbow at it,
ssShipmates all, in this here town, do
you know what that thing were9 It
were bone Of some sort--alas, we
feared it were bone Of poor Will Win
ter's, crushed and bruised into pulp.
ssSlowly let my hand fall, and I
knowed now that my face must be as
horror struck as the face of the man be-
fore me, and, slowly followed by him,
walked away from under the branches
Of that accursed tree. And, as we
moved off, think it done us good to see
| the light glimmering on the fo' castle Of
the Loving Friend and to know that
in that brave ship there was something
apart from the terrors by which we
were surrounded
So The skipper was right, says I, as
we gazed on the ship, both on us most
afear'd to cast our eyes to the tree.
I'VE are in the hands of God. But still
there is something here no mortal man
can fathom. Mate, let us wake them
though our watch is not yet run out,
Il
far that they wake and come away
from that tree than remain there-bet-
| ter
''But here was stopped with yell
so awful that the other words ] was go
ing to utter died on my lips. In mo-
ment we had faced round once mora to
that tree, and there we see what might
have frozen man to death with fear.
"All the sleepers were now on their
feet, shouting and yelling-that is to
say, all but one, Mark Deacon, and he
he, shipmates, was Arranging by
one arm to one Of the lower branches
Of that tree, his feet being some dis
lance from the ground, and the branch
itself was shaking violently. But It
was not even this that was so hor-
rible as it was for us to perceive
that he was not holding on to the
branch, but that the branch itself
was opening and shutting like vast
mouth-though never dropping him
and that, already, it had swallowed his
hand and arm up to the forearm, and
that it was gradually drawing the whole
of his body into itself So have seen a
snake draw in the body of an animal,
for to nothing else can compare this
hellish sight.
"sHold on to his legs, 1 bawled, as 1
ran up to him. and some on you-you
with axes and knives up the
tree and lopof that branch. Lop it off,
break it off, do anything, but stop what
it is about.
"But to lop off branch from tree
that is as thick round as an ordinary
mans body is no easy task, work as
hard as one may, and, though two men
had already got up the tree by the help
! of the others shoulders, and were hack
ing and slashing away at the branch
with good win, they made but little
progress, and, as they hacked and slash
ed, with every blow they made, the
blood poured from the vast cuts until.
at last the sand below was deluged with
it and looked more like a quarter deck
after three hours fight with gang
of Sallee rovers than the shore Of
desert island. But at least one good adj
vantage did occur from their afforka