The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-10-12

taching it from the rock and lowering
1t down. What remained of the cloth
ing proved that the man had either
been a fisherman or a sailor but his
nationality could only be guessed at.
AT some time or other" said the pro-
fessor as he looked about, this ravine
has been o creek of considerable size
flowing down TO the sea. This man
came up the creek from the beach, but
we now find a wall of Ice blocking 1t
up. The ice has formed since he
came. There should be a boat frozen
up in the wall between us and the
sea-"
We had nothing to make torch Of,
and, retracing our steps to q point
where we could climb out of the ra-
vine, we left the mystery to be solved
another day. There was much discus
sion around the campfires that even
ing, and early next morning we set out
to see if the ravine had once upon a
time opened to the sea. We soon
found that it had. Its mouth had been
In small bay, but a storm had filled
1t with powders and damned back the
waters flowing down. Between the
sea and the spot where we found the
body the ice was from 80 to 10 feet
thick. If the sun melted it for few
feet in the summer, the rains and
SHOWS of winter speedily replaced
what had been lost. We found this
ice as clear as glass and as hard as
iron, but powder was brought from
the brig, and holes were drilled, and in
a couple of days we had blasted out
a great rift to half its depth.
Everybody had Il suspicion of what
was frozen in down there, but yet the
discovery gave us a shock. When but
80 feet of ice lay between us and the
bottom of the rayine we could see
through it well enough to make out
the hull of ship standing on an even
keel 1t was the hull of a brig, with
masts gone, but otherwise intact. We
could even make out the ropes which
had been frozen stiff as iron while
they streamed along her decks, but
there were no bodies of dead men in
sight. TO blast out the remaining
depths Of lee and clear the ravine was
Il task requiring more aid than we
could spare and more powder than we
had aboard We had to be content
with what We could see.
Years beforc-perhaps half century
"a merchant vessel had made that
little bay in distress. Wave and tide
had carried her up to the creek, and
wave and tide had blocked her exit.
Then she began to freeze in. No man
can say how long it took for the ice to
bury her until it was a solid mass 90
feet above her decks, but decades must
have passed. If one Of her crew got
away up TO the ravine why not all OF
them? And yet no other body or re-
mains were to he found on the island.
This man, who may have been the cap
tain, probably started out by himself
to see IL there was chance Of escape
but in making his way up the rayine
lie persisted Of cold and hunger. There
was scarce a hope for the others. II
they left the hulk they were forced to
return to It for shelter and food. There
came Il day when food and fuel were
! exhausted, when avalanches of snow
covered the decks and the cold of win
ter froze the marrow Of their bones
and they hid away in forecastlc and
cabin and died with open eyes staring
into the darkness. Upon our return
to London the case was reported ana
made much Of In the papers, but no
government or Individual has ever
gone farther than we did. A hulk lies
there full of dead mcn-a hulk which
sailed the waters Of the fro2eu seas
half Il century ago, and thereof will
lie until time is no more and chaos
reigns again. It might be blasted out,
but Of what use? The solving of one
mystery Of the sea more or less would
count for but little