Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1902-11-28
A NIGHT OFF LEWIS.

waves Of the Atlantic were dimly seen from
the windows through deluges Of rain. Din
ner was just over, and two men drew their
chairs near the peat-ire lit their pipes, and
began that endless fishing chat which is SO
dear to all anglers
Never was such a rainy climate" OBJ
served one Of the fishers II had not a dry
rag on me when ] reached the farm here
You, who have been fishing all the morn
ing, must have felt the same" He
laughed at a huge pea jacket in which he
was enveloped, and at the legs Of his
trousers borrowed like the coat from the
good wife, whose husband was among the
uheep) turned up at least half a yard as
the speaker was very little man and the
farmer a colossus.
II also got a jolly duclSing," replied the
other man; "but am used to the Lewis.
Il is not a district to be trifed with
viii tell you a story in point
When I was last here, more than 20 years
ago, l nearly lost my life. l had been out
several days fishing with a gillie-out there
where you see at present those sheets Of
foam. One day, however, the gillie had to
attend funeral at Stornoway, so / went out
again alone. The farm people could easily
see me from the house here, and it was a
lovely September day. Soon getting dis
satisfied with fishing there, | rambled round
to the back Of the house, where the ground
rises a little and hides the sea. There
found a creek with sea-trout passing up
wards and rising in very tempting fashion.
/ could not throw close to them; but in an
evil hour l spied a small boat fastened to a
rock, which l gladly undid, jumped in, and
began fishing. Soon l rowed out to the OPP
A. hui N
quarter of a mile nearer the sea-landed,
dragged the boat up the shingle but neg
lected TO fasten her with the painter, and
went on eagerly fishing towards the sea
Presently, hearing a grating sound, ! looked
back and saw the boat slipping off the rocks
as the tide rose. / instantly understood the
situation, and rushed back; but it was too
late. The boat was floating down, and the
tide was beginning to ruffle and flow out OF
the creek with great swiftness every mo-
ment. / must rush in, l saw, as the boat
passed. This l did, but it was just out
Of my reach. Quick as thought l realized
that / must capture the boat, or | might
be swept off the island on which | stood,
or otherwise / was liable to be starved
to death, as the farm probably possessed
but one boat; therefore l dashed in and
at once felt the power of the current run
ming out with great velocity. | soon
reached the boat and crawled in, when, to
my horror, l found but one car, the other
one being left on the beach. One oar
was useless in that fierce current.
Il sat down, squeezed the sea water
out of my things, and reviewed the sit
uation It was decidedly black | was
at the mercy Of the sea. 1t was extreme
ly unlikely that ] should be picked up.
1 should probably drift out with the tide;
and in another six hours l might, or /
might not, drift back, but whether to
the rocks / had just left or to another
equally inhospitable island who could tell?
/ remember thinking even then how
young salmon go down to the sea from
the river in which they have bred; but
who knows whether they return to it?
1T was now verging toward sunset, and
dark fringes gathered in the east lit
up one by one by the dying luminary. |
hoisted my shirt on the oar, but not sail
specked the sea around me. ] might as
well have been castaway in the trop-
les hundreds of miles from land yet
was in sight of the long, shadowy reefs
Of my native land, and was even now
suffering acutely from hunger and thirst.
had left my rod and tackle on the
beach; but there were several trout in
the stern of the boat, which, however,
l had no means of cooking, and deter
mined not to eat raw until the worst ex-
tremity. Solemnly fell night, and l was
thankful to resume my shirt for its prop
er purpose The waves were not high, and
| there was no wind so l made up my
mind to wait as patiently as | could till
found the boat moving homewards,
when | resolved to aid its course to any
| land it neared by means OF my one oar
Then the stars came out and looked down
on me pitilessly
"Cold as the night air was, I dozed fit.
fully; but suddenly woke with the sen
sation that I was being run down, Sure
enough, some hundred yards off | saw
! the revenue cutter, which so frequently
comes To guard these waters, crowded with
| sail and actually bearing down towards
me. was saved l waved my shirt and
shouted out and splashed the water with
| the oar, but to no purpose. The watch
was lax, the sails hid me, and the cutter
swept on. / watched its retreating form
and then flung myself on the bottom Of
1 the boat in utter despair. All the night
| through I had heard the screams Of sea
qulls. the tapping of the waves against
| the boat, even the wash of breakers on
/ the rocks. / did not trouble about any oi
them now, such was my miserable eondi
ton.
"When the risen sun came the love oi
/ life. and I once more considered what
could be done / determined to work the
boat with its one oar to the rocks, and
then in all probability / could let hei
drift upon the breakers and at least have
a swim for dear life. While thus en-
gagged I felt the tide beginning to rur
very strongly towards land, and I kept
her where it set in most strongly, aid
ing the current with the oar Ny delight
was extreme when / found at length thai
was not 200 yards from the reefs Or
we hoated, and now made a narrow
passage or woe running up INTO the land
] began now TO see safety, and suffered
| the tide to run me in farther and far
ther. At length, to my joy, ! saw th'
! ehimneys Of the old farm; but my trouble
were not yet over. Some of the lonl
reefs were mere gray rocks with no vege
tation, others we're green with heather
and bog-plants ] drove the boat on on,
Of these latter, rightly eonieeluring tina
thew were mostly connected with the land
/ dashed across It and found it was onll
an island at high water (which it thei
was), and the tide was beginning to run
out again. ] could not venture on an
other night at sea. At once | plunged il
again, and swan as strongly as / could
but only just landed at the end Of tn
reef, where a miss Of ten yards woul,
have carried me out to sea without a boat
and / should speedily have perished. Tn
rest vas easy. Wet, cold. famished will
hunger and thirst, / made my way her
to find the good folk had quite given M