Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-11-19


the bed. We id not speak much. bat
there was full companlonship in our
| bereavement and our silence.
When Atlantis sank to form new
accan-bed, she left great whirlpools
and spoutings from hsr drowned fires
| as a feeting legacy to fhe gods of
the sea. And then, I think Though
in the black belly Of the ark we
! could not see these thiHgs), a vast
hurricane of wind must have come
on next so as to leave no piece of the
desolation incomplete. For seven
nights and seven days did this dread
| full turmoil continue, as counted for
US afterwards by the reckoner of
hours which hung within the ark, and
then the bowling of Che wind depart
| ed, and only the roll of long still
swell remained. II was regular and
it was oily, as could tell by the diff
| ference of the motion, and then for
| the first time I dared to go up the
stair and open and found the gate they
| bit against was deserted.
| The sweet salt air came gushing
| down to freshen the foulness within,
| and as. the ark rode dryly over the
seas, ! went below and brought up
| Nais to gain refreshment from the
| curing rays of CIR lord the Sun. Duly
| the pair of us adored him, and gave
thanks for. his great mercy in com
| ing DO light another day, and then we
laid ourselves down where we were
to doze, and take that easy rest which
we so urgently needed.
Yet, though was tired beyond
words. for long enough sleep would
not Visit me. YEARLY stared out over
the oily sun-lit waters. No blur Of
land met the eye. The ring Of ocean
was unbroken on every side, and over
head the vault of heaven remained un-
| changed. The bosom of the deep was
Uttered With the poor wreckaga of
Atlantis, to remind one. if there had
| been a need, that what had come
| dream. Trees, squared timber, q
| smashed and npturned boat of hides,
and here and there the rounded corpse
| of man or beast shouldered over the
| swells, and kept convoy with our ark
as she drifted on in charge of the gods
| and the current.
| But sleep came to me at last, and I
dropped off into unconsciousnes
holding the hand of Nais in mine, and
| when next woke found her open
eyed also and watching me tenderiy.
We We're finely rested, both Of US, and
rest and strength bring one eompla-
| cency. We were more ready now to
/ accept the station which the high gods
| had made for Us without repining.
and so we went below again into the
belly of the ark to eat and drink and
| maintain strength for the new Life
which lay before US.
wonderful vessel was this ark,
row We ssre able 10 soc it at leisure
and intimately. Although for the FIRST
tixns now tn all It's centuries Of LIE
| it swan upon the waters, it showed no
leak or sun-erack. Inside, even its
floor was bone-dry. That it was built
from some wood, one could see by the
/ grainings, but nowhere could one find
suture or Joint The living timbers
had been put in place and then grown
| together by an art which we have lost
to-day, but which the ancients knew
with much perfection; and afterwards
some treatment, which is also Sc
cret of those forgotten builders, had
made the wood as hard as metal and
imperyious to all attacks of the
weather.
In the gloomy cave Of it's belly were
stored many matters, AT one end, in
great tanks on either side of central
alley, was prodigieus store of grain.
| Sweet water was in other tanks at
| the other end. In another place were
| drugs, and simples, and essences of
| the life of beasbs; all these. things
| being for use while the ark roamed
under the guidance of the gods on
the bosom of the deep. On all the
walls of the ark. and on all the par
tittons of the tanks and the other
woodwork, there were carved in the
rude art of bygone times representa-
tons of all the beasts which lived in
| Atlantis; and on these looked with
a hunters interest, as some Of them
were strange to me, and had died out
with the men who had perpetuated
them in these sculptures. There was
a good store of weapons, and the tools
| for handicrafts.
Now for many weeks our life en-
| dured in this ark as the gods drove it
about here and there across the face
| of the waters. We had no government
over direction; we could not by so
much as hair's-breadth day in
crease her speed. The high gods that
1 had chosen the two of us to be the
only ones saved out of all Atlantis, had
sole control of our fate, and into their
hands we cheerfully resigned our fu-
| ture direction.
OF that land which we reached In
| due time, and where we made our
abiding-place, and where our children
were born, 1 shall tell of in its place;
but since this chronicle has proceeded
| so far in an exact order of the events
| as they came to pass, it is necessary
first to narrate how we came by the
sheets ON which it is written.
| In great Golfer, in the center OF
| the ark's floor, the whole of the mys-
teries learned during the study of
ages We're set down in accurate writ
| ing. / read through some of them
during the days which passed, and the
| awfulness of the powers over which
they gave control appalled, me. had
seen some of these powers let loose
| in Atlantis, and was witness of her
destruction, But here We're powers
far higher than those; here was the
| great secret of life and daatb which