Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1902-04-25

sound of the sea:
Nothing under heaven canchange
ner coursew
Yet he and his strove never
theless to the last Every one on
board knew that the sci was drift
sng rapidly; that so she must
strike and be dashed to pieces.
The sea swept her deck md broke
over her masts. Seven mel hung to
the rigging for life. They looked
ashore. Only $50 Yards away stood
group of islanders, as helpless to
succor those in peril as the Iatt,.
were to save themselves.
Now the position of the vessel
was this: Where Sandy point drops
beneath the sea it does not end, but
it is prolonged under the water,
making thus a perilous sand bar.
Out upon this bar was the Warrior.
The island tides from the east and
from the west meet here. There is
no more terrible place in a gale than
that where two seas collide.
The storm grew Such was the
work of wind and sea that times
were when the sand bar from the
shore to the vessel was swept naked.
But its nudity was speedily buried
| under heavier seas.
Passengers and crew, fatigued
with labor and loss of sleep, assailed
by biting wind, at last succumbed
to chill and numbness and made no
more effort.
Then arose one of their number.
a tall, gaunt fellow, whom the cap
tain had called a coward in harbor,
and he proceeded to belabor them
and to keep them active, that they
might not perish from the cold.
There's hope yetw he cried.
'Keep alive, men~
And one after another did he
awaken by rude shaking and warm
by his rough chafings.
Some caught his spirit, and by
the labors of their weary muscles
they set th-;r frozen blood in quick
er motion.
"But what use ?" cried one. e'The
end must come"
"Aye, but there's one chance,"
shouted the coward, who now loom
ed up large and resolute. "Lookl
The sea has rolled back and left the
bar uncovered. A man could run
ashore on that, maybe, while the
sea held back"
Two men laughed madlv.
80 1
one, with savage sarcasm.
The coward looked. The sea had
swelled up and hidden the bar far
beneath its foaming waters.
Yet one may tryl" cried the cow
CRY you thenr' shouted the 9TH
er.
Now, it is hard to meet death half
way. 1t is against mans nature to
walk to destruction. Even though
he knows it be coming he has the
hope or the cowardice to shrink
from it to the last. Therefore no
sailor of them would leap into that
sea or dare the deed suggested by
the coward.
IF l succeed, will you follow at
the next fall of the sea ?" he asked.
what one man can do another
can" was the reply.
The coward looked ashore. Sui
lenly the waters rolled apart. The
sand bar was naked. The man Jump
ed from the gunwale and ran.
The people on the vessel watched
him with waking hope and cessation
of breath. The hundreds of island
ers on shore stood silent, thrilled,
eager. No word was said only the
sea spoke.
The man ran shoreward, with
shoulders and head bent forward
and eyes set. The sea rose on both
sides of him. The huge waves wall
ed his roadway.
The roadway began to narrow. A
turbulent high seas moved in pur-
suit of him. He heightened and
quickened his steps. 1t was a race
between SO small thing as a man
and so great thing 80 the storm
impelled ocean.
Inc ocean won. WIN q great
roar it came down upon the man.
But he would not be taken in flank,
with his back t. his enemy. He
turned and faced the sea. He leap
ed into it headforemost. After
ward his body was cast upon the
beach. The ocean had toyed with it
and had then thrown it back to its
own kind.
Those on the island saw that
when the man turned to meet death
smile was on his face. He had
discovered he was not afraid to die. !;
She Had the Best of II.
The artist of whom the Philadel-
phia Press tells 1uas Of tho ;nar..O...