Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-05-02

the boats head inshore, ran close to the
rocks, and then slid along (more slowly for
being hard by the bank just beyond what
l thought to be the loom of the land BY
this | had gotte.i into the swing of the stu
alton and had less fear of interruption
than of missing the Phantom 'Twould be
an easy matter to slip by her, and even could
l once mark the height of Corlears Hook,
with its alarm beacon always ready for the
touch of torch / would then be an un-
usual sailor if | could make straight
course for the schooner, though she still lay
at her old anchorage. In the darkness both
beacon and heights would be beyond
vision, and l was approaching what was
very like real worry when my fears were re-
lieved and our present situation indicated
by the sound of eight bells struck in true
Tan-o' wars mans style that came floating
over the river about off our larboard beam.
l gave fair guess that the measured beats
came from the Bellerophon striking the
Incur of midnight, that ship being the only
vessel of size which had been anchored
above the Jersey prison hulk to dispute a
possible passage of the Sound river from
above. / was sure of this when, after in
tently listening, heard no other striking,
for had the fleet been near there would
have been harmony of bells in quick sue
cession.
My mind being thus relieved, I turned
the tubs head into the stream again, and for
awhile we fioated rapidly and silently along,
a boat with three figures that might have
been carved from stone, so rigid were our at
tjtudes of watchfulness and expectancy.
fear l am none too strong believer in
the doctrine of special providences, though
| have seemed to see its workings in my own
behalf, as instanced in the breeze that
saved me from the knife of the negro; but
if ever the Almighty carried three human
beings in the hollow of His hand, and point
ed out the way of deliverance from press
ing danger, He did it this night, and that
without the working of a miracle. Sud
denly, and without the Intervention of a
breeze, we were floating in clear water. Be-
fore us rose a white, impenetrable cloud of
a dull luminosity, while behind us lay the
moist veil from which we had just drifted
Its height was clearly marked, and showed
the mist extended not more than 20
feet above the rivers surface. We had
struck a chasm in the fog, and once when
on the high seas had marked the like, then,
as now, there being no wind to mix or drive
the vapor.
The rift was but few hundred feet
across, though it apparently extended from
shore to shore, like the waters rolled back
for the passage of the children of Israel.
Not a boat was in sight. On either hand
the water lay black and fiat, only SHIN
mered here and there by the light of the
stars that shone clearly overhead. This
incident must not be considered forced
The writer saw these exact conditions while
on ferry boat from New York to Brook
lyn during a foggy night in the summer Of
1895. The phenomenon is probably due to a
warm and comparatively dry streak of slow
ly moving air, and lasts but a few moments.
1t was a wonderful an awe-inspiring
sight, but the quick exclamation ] involun-
tarily made-the first sound from the boat
since it left Turtle bay-was followed by
almost a shout as marked a height OF head
land from the top of which, family outlined
against the pale sky, stood up the beacon.
1t was Corlears Hook past doubt, known
not alone by its rounded outline, but by
the unused alarm signal which Clinton had
caused to be placed there to warn the feet
in case of a sudden attack by the Ameri-
cans. a watch was always kept from this