The suburban citizen., 1900-04-07


Something We expected to happen,
but of what it was TO be We could form
no idea. The second officer, belieye.
thought us both crazy; indeed, i often
wondered myself at the state I was
in. Evening came, and nothing had
turned up.
Morning came, and with the frs
gray light L was on deck. It was
bitterly cold. There was a mist low
down on the horizon; 1 waited i'm
patiently for it to lift. 1t lifted soon.
and I could not be mistaken beyond
it / could see the simmer Of ice. ]
sent down 10 tell the captain, who
came on deck directly.
"It is no use, Mr.. Brown" he
said; "you must put her about"
"Wait one moment, the mist is
lifting more, it will be quite cleaI
directly"
The mist was, indeed, lifting rapid.
ly. Far to the north and west we
could see the ice stretching away in
one unbroken field. l was trying tc
see whether there appeared any breah
in the ice toward the west, when the
captain, seizing my arm with one
hand, and pointing straight ahead
with the other, exclaimed:
"Good heavens! there is a ship
there"
The mist had risen like curtain,
and there, sure enough, about three
miles ahead, was n ship seemingly
firmly packed in the ice. We stood
looking at it in silence. There was
some meaning after all in that myste'
rious warning, was the first thought
that suggested itself to me.
"She's nipped bad, sir" said old
Shiel, who, with the rest of the crew,
was anxiously watching our new dis.
covery. I was trying to make her
out with the glass, when the flash OF
a gun, quickly followed by the re.
port, proved that she had seen us,
Up went the flag, union downward.
We needed no signal to know her dis.
tress. The captain ordered the sec.
ond officer off into the boat.
watched him as he made his way over
tho ice with few of the men toward
the ship. They soon returned with
eight Of the ships crew. 1t was q
dismal account they gave of their
situation. They might have sawed
their way out of the ice, but the ship
was so injured that she could not
have Aoated an hour The largest
of their boats had been stove in, the
others were hardly seaworthy, They
were, preparing, however, to take to
them as q last resource when our well
come arrival put an end to their fears.
Another detachment was soon brought
of, and the captain with the remain.
der Of his crew was to follow imme.
diately.
L went down to my cabin and tried
to think over the singular fate which
had made us the preservers of this
ships crew. I could not divest my.
self of the idea that some supernatural
agency was connected with that paper
in the desk, and I trombled at the
thought of what might have been tho
consequence If we had neglected the
warning. The boat coming alongside
interrupted my reverie In few Sec
onds Z was on deck.
7 found the captain talking to fine,
old, sailor-like looking man, whom he
introduced to me as Captain Squires.
Captain Squires shook hands with me,
and we remained talking some time.
1 could not keep my eyes off his face
I had q conviction that I had seen
him somewhere, where I could not tell.
Every now and then I seemed to catch
at some clue, which vanished as soon
as touched. At last he turned round
to speak to some Of his men. I could
not be mistaken-there was the long
white hair, the brown coat. He was
the man L had seen writing in the
captains cabin.
That evening the captain and 7 told
the story Of the paper to Captain
Squires, who gravely and in silence
listened to our coniectures. He was
too thankful for his escape out OF
such imminent peril to question the
means by which it had been brought
about. AT the captains request he
wrote "Steer N. W." We compared
it with the original writing. There
could be no doubt of it, It was the
same old cramped hand.
Can anyone solve the mystery?