Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1899-12-23
CHAPTER III.
Useless Regrets.

/ must have lain long thus. On re-
covering, l rose more stin and more
benumbed than ever, and with feeble
steps assembled the companion ladder,
and then cry Of despair escaped me.
The sky was clear and sunny, but
whether with the light of a rising or
setting sun, / could not at first deter
mine, morning and evening on the
ocean being so much alike to an I'M
practiced eye. Not vestige of land
was visiblel
Sea and sky were around me; not
sail was in sight, and nothing living
was near. save few petrels tripping
over the water, alongside of the fatal
schooner
Had / slept all night, and was this
The dawn of new day? Had | silent
all day, and was this the approach of
another night? / devoutly hoped MOI,
as / most dreaded night upon the
ocean; but the gradual sinking Of the
sun, and the increasing redness of the
Eky, ere long informed me that the
time was evening. / now knew the
west. and turned my haggard eyes to
the south, for there the land and nv
home lay; but still the envious wind,
though lighter now, seemed to blow
from that quarter.
Oh. how deeply and earnestly, by
thoughts unuttered, / prayed in my
heart that it would change and blow
toward the shore-any shore-or any
part OF the coast of England, and
bring me so near that I might have a
chance of escape of life and preserva-
tion, by swimming putting to the
test that skill and those powers of ae-
tivity / had acquired at Eton, in tie
waters of the Thames.
The sea was comparatively smooth.
but still the empty schooner rolled and
lurched fearfully; the more so that the
fore and aft foresaiI was hanging so
loosely in the brails.
A hundred years seemed to have
elapsed since | had heard the dear
voices and seen the loved faces Of those
] had left at home-of my father. my
mother, OF Dot and of Sybil: while the
events of my early schoolboy days
seemed to have occurred but yesterday.
All time was chaos and confusionl
In my sorrow and despair | never
thought, unless with anger, of Jan van
Eeervogel. the poor Dutch skipper.
whose interests were so much involved
with the loss or safety of his little
schooner, with which the food tide had
made so free. | thought only of NV
own danger, and my mothers sorrow
1a+
my fate.
Now hunger assailed me, creating a
new terror lest should perish by want
of food; and all had read or heard of
wrecks, RATS and castaways crowded
on my memory to aggravate the real
perils which surrounded me.
Once more / sought the cabin. and
on finding an ak broke open what an
peared to be press or locker. There
In were several cups, bottles and drink
ing glasses, placed In perforated
shelves but nothing eatable save a sin
gle hard and moldy biscuit, which the
rats abandoned on my approach, and
nothing drinkabe save the remains of
the brandy in which the peaches had
been preserved-and / viewed the lar
with horror, as the primary cause of all
my sufferings and dangers-I say the
remains, for it had fallen from the ia
BILE and been broken to pieces; SO moth
ing remained Of its contents, except
about q gill In fragment, and the
peaches which lay In the lee or lower
aide OF the cabin.
What would not have given for
Single drop of pure cold water, to allie
vis&s that choking thirst which is ever
the sequel to sickness, excitement and
sorrow! But there was not q drop on
Deas1, - the scuttle-butt had broken
H. laGhings n one Of the lurchss Of the