The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-02-23

70 NV notion. The Sea Witch war as
tight a little craft as a ever sot foot oil,
and the captain war gentle man to
Che marrer Of his bones. We had about
] half d dozen cabin passengers aboard
1 and one OF these--a tall, pale sort Of
sorrowful-l oking young gentlema an.
/ TUX my fancy at once. He had q soft
kind way Of speaking, and he didn't
1 seem to set himself above an honesl
! Jack Tar. like he war made of differ.
1 ent clay had many q ia TX with him
! for lie used to stay on deck, ez If he
didn't like to be alone, specially after
dark. He was very l'arned and clever
and he told me many queer things th1t
I'd never heern before. ut''-Bill's
voice sank to a mysterious whisper
The never told me he was q Jonah. rs.
"A Jonah p echoed the listeners, in
tones Of awe. s 4. y .5
eve had bout the cussedest wealth
er that wage I'd ever SEEM contin-
ued Bill. as if he disdained interrupt
| ton. e"0Twan't as much foul weather
as cussed weather. The wind KEEP
a-shiftin roun' as. if it didn't know
+ clarly which way to blow, and the
gales would bust on ez if they had a
spite agin' the canvas; while the way
the thunder would crash, and the light
min dance ro1n' them mastheads, was
enough to make the toughest. hide
creep. And the merrnaids, orr Bill
az ded, solemn1y, something else, kept
a-singiny at the stern Of the ship-a-
singing death-songs every night 5
.Have you never heard nothing
here?" asked one Of the men, in a
hushed voice. III a@s.5.-z. #. Il.
'sIt's no matter what we've heard
here answered Bill, significantly
"l'm talking now bout what war
heard there. Ennyhow the singing
+ want meant for nothing-for the Sea
Witch struck on a rock one night,
when the sky was so dark we couldn't
see how near we war to shore, and the
best half of the men aboard went to
the bottom with her. Folks never can
tell cparly what or how things happen
at 5sech times. It's jes' ez if so many
lives were thrown out of bag, and
everybody grabs for his own. I only
know that I caught hold, somehow, to
broken spar, an was arranging to it
for life and death, when I seed the
white face of Mr.. Riggs Riggs
was the name of the tell, pale gentle
man that had sort o. TUX to-. I saw
his white face a-shining out of the wa
ter beside me, and I grabbed him and
held him fast. He was Arranging,
though [ didn't know it when touched
him. to-a long, narrow box, and when I
dragged him from it, it was orful to
hear. That air box, shipmates, was q
coffin. and that air coffin held his dead
young wife, eZ he had run away from
home with year before. ~ -
''He told me all afterward. while he
war lying in the hospital, whar they
TUX him when he was drag ged ashore
l wa mt much the wuss or my wetting,
but that and sorrow together were his
death. He told me, when he was a-lay-
ing there dying, that he married her
ag'in her fathers will and under her
fathers cuss. and that cuss had fol-
lowed him and stuck to him to the last.
she mad cried out, when she was a-dy-
ing, that she couldn't rest without her
fathers pardon, and that he must take
her nome and let her father say he'd
forgive her poor clay. And it was for
this that the wage was cussed-it was
for this the Sea Witch. went to the
bottom; because no craft could carry
that air dead woman, that was under
meath a fathers cuss. Her sperrit was
a-Wandering round that air ship, for
Mr.. Riggs told me, with his dying
breath, his wife followed him by night
and day."
The moon glided out from mass of
cloud as the story ended, and Herbert
Give turned to throw his burned cigar
end into the troubled waves AS he
did so the fiutter of woman's dress at
the companion-way attracted his atten-
ton. +
He glanced toward the spot, and saw
aye, he could have sworn it-as plain
ly as he had ever seen in life, the pale,
beautiful, countenance. the floating
golden hair, of Sybil Wraye!
The White-hooded cloak he had so
often seen her wear was thrown back
around her shoulde1s.> Their eyes met
and then-then, ere he could spring TO-
ward to her side, she had melted from
his sight. The moon had passed be-
meath a rugged storm cloud, and all
was darkness again.