Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-07-06

| would come. q said it all day. But II
| will pass away. Don't mind the GLIB
| bering old fool, Manuel. Tomorrow
II will be over. the sun will SHINE, the
birds will sing. and-I shall come for
Won in the evening, and we viii take the
Iugser cross TO Grand isle. We VIII
take Glode and the wife. for only thii
| evening. she said h as longing u
| visit the Petries." And 81 he cheered
i her. and she smiled, and comforted
| Globes wife. and smiled and eooed to
! the frightened babe lying in its moth
er's arms.
Then a fearful thing happened, for a
! beam shot by the window, on which
rode a human figure-a stark, CHASTITY
| figure. Gaspard, who had been watch
ing at the window, saw it, and Marie
saw it too, and so did Andre.
Heavenly Mother, walled the girl, as
she sank TO her knee. "Oh, pity us,
pity us, and protect us thus dreadful
night"
Old Manuel had seen it too, revealed
in a binding flash of lightning. See
he cried. with skeleton nnger pointing
THE sea is all about US. We are being
swept away. I tell you the houses are
gone. This will go too And he
pointed to the floor. There. in a trick
ling little stream. was the water. and 1t
came in faster and faster, through the
cracks oil the doors and the fireplace.
"To the attic, the women first, cried
Bizan, pushing his wife to the stair.
Ito the attic" he Numbered. Lit is
the only chance" He drove Globes
wife, with her babe, up the stair, the
others following. Marie had flown to
Andres side. and slipped her beads
over has wrists.
"If we die, W. die together She
whispered.
But for answer he TOOK her firmly
by the arm and led her to the stair,
and she fell, h~alf-fainting, into the
room in which the luckless women were
huddled, on their knees. while low
muttered prayers were ascending to an
angry heaven.
When the worst came. it was soon
over. "The boat, Andre, the boat"
gasped Glode. Save yourself with
Marie. You are both young and strong.
You must fight for life. Quick" He
grasped Andre by the hand and shook
him off. Marie was clutched in Andres
arms as the little boat put forth. Glode
SdW LltIH SO, duu At was Sidd tndA
he and his wife and the babe were to
die together. since die they must. Out
on the water. Marie and Andre saw
lights that must have turned them gray,
Bodies flew past them in the seethins
black water, while shrieks and moans
rent the air. Wild echoes flew ovel
the waters to the lonely figuers in thu
boat. Every fash of lightning revealed
horrors afresh.
Morning dawned, clear and beautiful
The sun, a fiery disk, sent long, CLINT.
ing lines across the water, and tn,
iridescence was a mockery of some o
the hideous objects floating on the
waves. A strange stiffness lowered
over all. Life seemed strangely, sud-
denly interrupted. Only the occasional
cry of a cat bird was heard. No sound
of lowing cattle, no early matin by the
noisy swallows.
See, there lie two bodies side by side
with faces upturned to the sunlight
Serene in their last sleep, the unhapp!
and luckless lovers lie, cast on the
beach by the receding waves.
Old Manuel was right. For 1t Is writ
these two shall not wed. Tonight they
shall die
**AS
And there, in the graveyard Of
Cheniere, are among the many new
graves, two side by side, with a single
cross above them.
Never again in the days to come, will
the island be it's former beautiful self.
Such scars drive too deep. Time may
never change the awful, dreadful men,
cries about the land which once smiled
in plenty. Little children play agaiI
about the vineyards, and other youth.
full lovers whisper as they walk hand in
hand along the beach at twilight, but
if spirits walk at the mystic hour
among the lonely graces in the marshes
and in the humble little cemetery, Their
you will hear of that dreadful night
when the angry waves rode over the
island, and robbed it and murdered it
estful spirits will keep watch, and ii
the waves lash again into fury, they
will be softened and hushed. and so in.
stead sholl only wash away bitter mem.
cries. The peace of God is again upoI
the island. and is song and story
Cheniere is again the vine-clad land o.
mirth and plenty.
Once more the red sailed luggers ride
around Cheniere Caminada.
*The facts of the story are essentially
true. The storm ragged all night on Sun.
day. in October, 1898. On that night, 200,
or more lost their lives on the island OF
Chinere Caminada. The island lies ada
cent to the Grand Isle, noted as a summer
resort on the extreme southern coast ot