The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-01-21
CHAPTER XII,

CHAPTER XII.
Sebastiano looked like q wreck when
he appeared that morning. He ac-
counted for this upon the ground of
illness to which he was occasionally
subject, and said that he would be
obliged to rest for several days--that
he had been working too hard upon
his book. But in some mysterious
way the story of his night experience
leaked out. The disappearance of
Miguel's proa started the inquiries;
then another islander, who had him
self received bad scare, testified to
having been Weakened by blood-curd-
ling scream in time to see Padre Sc
bastiano running before Miguel's
ghost, which subsequently embarkedin
his own boat and put to sea. This
yarn was ridiculed by Bartolomeo
until he investigated his figure-cham-
Der and found the gruesome company
one apparition short; then he told Sc
bastiano about it and partook of his
uncomfortable feelings. Their COM
mon sense told them that wax fig
ure couldn't transport itself without
help; malicious human help; but their
conviction that every door had been
locked, and Sebastiano's positive as
sertion that the thing had certainly
chased him OF Its own accord and alb
solutely without assistance or visible
mechanism, simply couldn't be ex-
planned away. At first the churchmen
were at a loss whether to feel COM
plimented or alarmed by the various
and peculiar manifesto tions with
which they had been favored; but the
more they failed to account for them
on natural or scientific grounds the
more they became impressed with
sense of unworthiness. AS for Miguel,
the native who had been at such ex-
pense to import suitable effigy of
himself, he thought his time had come.
But after rejecting upon his ghosts
departure from the island, which
could be interpreted in no other light
than as a solemn warning, he moved
his entire family to saipan, where, hav-
ing no barangay to live upon, they
were occasionally forced to work.
Judging that it would now be safe to
leave Guajan for few days, told Dor
otea of my intention. At first the at
tempt to reach zap in an open boat
seemed little short Of madness to her,
but after explaining that was able to
find my position from the sun, as she
had seen officers do aboard ship, she re-
luctantly admitted that it might be
done. We were beginning to UNDER
stand each other pretty well by this
time. Making me look straight into
her beautiful eyes, she let me see why
the thought OF my possible danger tor
mented her.
Miguers ghost had sailed away on
Tuesday morning, the 14th, and, ac-
cording to our previous calculations,
Halstead would arrive in Tomil bay
about daybreak of the following SUM-
day. Figuring that, before the wind,
my proa would cover the 1852 miles
between Guajan and zap in 90 hours
at the outside, and not wishing to hang
about Tomil among strangers who
might ask dangerous questions con-
corning my strange appearance, post
poned the start until Saturday MORN
ing. There was, of course, an element
of risk in this-a possibility that I
might fail to reach the island on time;
but l had good deal of confidence
both in my ability as navigator and
in the proa itself.
His nerves being completely upset,
the padre was resting in good earnest;
so, with Dorotea, made two more
F.. trips TO the wreck, bringing back heavy
loads Of silver ingots, which we slowed
in the assure. Then, early Saturday
morning, after telling the gobernador
OF my intention to sail among the is
lands for day or TWO and being most
Hospitality provisioned for the cruise,
headed the proa out to sea.
All day long the boat sailed like
witch, holding beautifully to her
course, and it was not until after dark
that n realization of my position i'm
pressed me. had then made, accord
ing to my log, over $50 miles, and was
consequently over 300 miles from the
nearest land-a mere pin-point upon
the open sea, with nothing but n hol-
low trce-trunk and few sticks be-
tween me and eternity. It was a pc
culiar feeling, yet there was nothing
of fear in it; the sense Of exclamation
was too great for that. My chief dam
ger lay in the possibility Of falling
asleep. This 1 provided against by
drinking half bottle of wine and
pint of cold, strong coffee; besides
which, I smoked inccssantly; cigars
were good company about that time,
and stimulated the Imagination. My
eyelids were pretty heavy toward day
break, in spite of these precautions;
but, lowering the sail for few mo-
ments, I undressed and jumped over
board, rolling and floating in the cool
water until thoroughly refreshed.
Pretty soon it began to get gray in
the east, and when the sun poked its
rim above the horizon ] drew a great
breath of relief; for there, 20 miles to
the southwark. was the peak of zap,
rising over thousand feet from the
sea-levcl. 1t was impossible to mistake
it. With the exception OF one or two
reefs which scarcely showed above
their surf. there were no other islands
within hundred miles.
But still another stroke of good for
time was in store for me that morn