, 1902-12-23


passed by without meeting, almost
deck to deck, and soon were a hun
dred yards apart. The Sea Breeze
was sinking, and the captain cried,
"All hands save themselves" So
owe went the boats in such a hurry
that two were lost: but o OF the
sailors seized spars or anything that
would float and made the best of their
way into the sea in their endeavor
to get far enough away not to be
sucked down in the vortex Of the
sinking vessel. The captain. passing
and seeing a strange lady whom he
evidently did not recognize, handed
her a life ~preserver, and told me ]
would find another in a deck box
just forward. | followed his direc.
tons. and two minutes later | seized
this wife of another man in my arms,
and slipped down a rope into the
strangely Gained sea. | was a strong
swimmer, and when the vessel at
last sunk, we were at a safe dis.
lance.
No word passed between us; but
she was brave and followed my di.
'rections silently and with determine.
ton. For an hour or more we floated
as easily as possible on the sea that
was calm except for the steady swell.
sound of human beings passed from
the range of our vision or hearing.
The fog was lifting, and the moon
came out. Over the endless waters
it sent ito path of light, all marked
with tiny ripping waves. But it
seemed to look on us coldly and with
no ray of hope.
One arm of each was about the
other, while with our free arms we
guided and supported ourselves in
the water. Perhaps our lips met, but
l think not, for they would
have parted. | was happy, strangely,
wildly. awfully happy Il knew no
other word for my feeling, for it
mingled with the sense of death and
disaster that oppressed us BOTH.
And she-she was quite calm; the
passion of distress and unhappiness
had passed away, and the awful lone,
Illness had not begun to weigh upon
her as it had on me.
In the early gray of the morning we
perceived II of the empty boats that
the sailors on the Sea Breeze had
lost. Slowly making our way toward
1t, we managed after a time to climb
into it at the stern: and there we
found water and provisions. and even
several dry garments. In the dusk
we made our toilets as best we could:
then crept nearer each other, till we
sat close side by side, and looked
over the wide sea in the full light of
the morning. How e~ndlessly the
water stretched in every direction;
how idly in this calm it rose and fell
with the swell. and rippled with the
faintest breadth of air! We were in
mid-ocean; would we ever reach
land? Would we find a ~rescuer?
What hope of either in this limit!ess
watery waste? But those questions
did not Cypress us. We were glad of
the waste, we were even glad of the
death that in all probability would be
ours. She was a wife. and only in
such a desert could she love and |
love as our hearts babe les love.
All day we sat hand in hand, talk
ing, talking, talking, of all that had
been and all that could never be.
This seemed our eternity. 1t would,
1t must emf in a few days; but these
few days were ours. They were our
Paradise, u happiness.
And when the night came we drew
closer still, and lips united in one
long embrace. All, this was love in.
deed. I had never known love before.
II she had. she did not tell me. Now
at any rate she loved with utter
abandon.
For six days this heavenly Paradise
Of holy love continued. Sometimes
tho e was tempestuous, and tossed
us high into the air in its Wild arms,
only the next moment TO suck US
into its inner bosom, and we chung to
each other for very dread that the
next moment would be our last; and
again in the moonlight we only
rockeu, Win tne dark arch OF heaven
above us. and the dark breast of the
ripping ocean beneath.
At the end of the six days we
sighted a small sailing vessel that
attempted u rescue. The sea was
running high, and it was hard for us
to come c enough. First they took
the lady of my dreams on board;
then a great wave carried US far
apart. They must have thought the
waves had swallowed me up. for SLOW
ly l saw them draw out of sight over
the horizon far away.
A few hours later l was picked up
by a steamer going in the opposite
direction.