The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-11
THE HERMIT OF CAPE MALEA
A Pathetic Romance of the Sea.

| A Pathetic Romance Of the Sea.
 There Is one feature of Cape Malea
 that rarely fails to attract the notice
 of the most careless voyager doubling l 1t by day, touch of human tragedy
 and pathos, belonging in point of chro-
 versal interest to all ages At the eX-
 treme pitch of the Cape a stupendous cliff rises sheer from the fretting waves for about a hundred feet. Then comes
 an irregular plateau or shelf, of per- haps two acres in area, the mountain rising again abruptly behind 1t to a height of about two thousand feet This plateau is apparently inaccessible, and yet, perched upon huge powder in it's center, mass of rock detached from the mountain ages ago, is a house. It
 is rudely built of wooden fragments h.
 geniously fitted together, but its out
 lines convey at once the idea of Its de-
 signer having been an Anglo-Saxon. It
 must be firmly built, too, for 1t is ex-
 pO5tu tO liit Iuil luIy ol Nlliu itDOulu-
 ing from the mountain face, and the
 observer instinctively wonders why, if
 house must be built on that shelf, so
 terribly exposed a position was selected.
 Then if he be fortunate he will hear It's
 story.
 About twenty-five years ago there
 was young sailor who, by dint of hard
 work, integrity of character and firm
 ness of will, reached at the age of
 twenty-six the summit of his ambition becoming master of what would then
 be called good sized steamship, some
 nine hundred tons register. Upon this accession to good fortune he married the girl of his choice, who had pa tiently waited for him since as boy and girl sweethearts they parted on his first going to sea And with rare com placency his owners gave him the ines timable privilege of carrying his young bride to sea with him. How happy he was! How deep and all embracing his pride as, steaming down the grimy Thames, he explained to the light of his eyes all the wonders that she was now witnessing for the first time, but which he had made familiar to her mind by his oft repeated stories during the few bright days between voyages that he had been able to devote to The ship was bound to sev- eral Mediterranean ports, the time be- ing late autumn, and consequently the most ideal season for a honeymoon that could possibly be imagined. Cadiz, Genoa, Naples, Venice, delightful tour with not one weary moment wherein to wish for something else! Even fly ing visit to old Rome from Naples had been possible, for the two officers, re- Iolcing in their happy young shippers joy, saw to it that no unnecessary cares should trouble him, and bore willing testimony, in order that he should get | IS much delight out of those halcyon l lays as possible, that the entire crew | were as docie as could be wished de- 1 ,oted to their bright commander and | lis beautiful wife.
 Then at Venice came orders to pro- eed to Galatz and load wheat for home. Great was the glee of the girl-wife. She would see Constantinople and the Danube Life would hardly be long though to recount all the wonders of his most wonderful of wedding trips. Ind they sailed, with hearts overbrim- ming with joy as the blue sky above hem seemed yelling over with sun lght. Wind and weather favored them:
 othing occurred to cast shadow over heir happiness until, nearing Cape ialea at that fatal hour of the morn- ng, just before dawn, when more col lsions occur than at any other time, ir1f hyy T fl elk steamer coming the other way. nd cut down amidships to the waters dge To their peaceful sleep or quiet ppreciation of the nights silvern blenders succeeded the whelming ood, the hiss and roar of escaping team, the suffocating embrace of cath In that dread fight for life all erished but one--he so lately the hap jest of men-the skipper Instinctive- 7 clinging to piece of wreckage, he cd been washed ashore under Cepo Ialea at the ebbing of the scanty tide. nd his strong physique, reasserting it. elf, enabled him to climb those rugged | attlements and reach the plateau. [ere he was found gazing seaward by , )me goa therds, who, in search of their l imble footed t1Ocks, had wandered 1 own the precipitous side of the moun- l ,in. They endeavored to persuade him 1 come with them back to the world l ut in vain He would be gratefully | { ccepting some of their poor provision. Ut from that watching place he woull l ot go. And those rude peasants. un- something of his woe, with him so deeply that ithout payment or hope of any they alped him to build his hut and kept ( m supplied with such poor morsels of q