Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-05-24

Illness. And he was a man ito whom
 Loneliness In ltself was punishment.
 There were too many things In the past
 that had habit of making their pres
 ence felt when he was alone for him 1 ever to desire to be solitary. Present
 ly the sun disappeared with the star
 tling suddenness of tropic attitudes. and
 without twilight darkness fell over the
 sea and over his haggard face like a
 veil The moon had not yet risen, and
 he could see nothing. There were a few faint clouds on the horizon, he had
 noticed. which might presage a storm. It was very dark and very still, as calm aad peaceful tropic night as i ever shrouded the Caribbean. Farther
 and farther away from him he could
 hear the rustic of the receding waves as the tide went down. Over his head
 twinkled the stars out of the deep
 darkness.
 Then the moon sprang up as sudden ! ly as the sun had fallen. Her silver ! radiance flooded the Armament. Light, 1 heavenly light, once more. Far away 1 from him the white line of the water | was breaking on the silver sand. Now the tide turned and came creep 1 ing in. It had gone out slowly. It had ! fingered as if reluctant to leave him. but to his distraught vision it returned with the swiftness of n thousand white horses tossing their wind blown names The wind died down: the clouds were dissipated. The night was so very calm l 1t mocked the storm raging in his soul.
 And still the silvered water came food ing in. Gently, tenderly. caressingly. the little waves Tapped the sands. At last they lifted the ghastly head of young Teach and laid it at his feet. He cursed the rising water and bade it stay. and heedlessly 1t came on. It was tropic sea. and the waters were as warm as those of any sun kissed ocean, but they broke upon his knees with the coldness of eternal ice. They rolled the heavier body of his faithful slave against him. He strove to drive 1t away with his foot as he had striveB to thrust aside the ghastly head. and without avail. The two friends receded as the waves rolled back, but they came on again and again and again They had been faithful to him in life; they remained with him in death. Now the water broke about his waist: now it rose to his breast He was ex. hausted. worn out. He hung silent. staring. His mind was busy. His thought went back to that rugged Welsh land where he had been born He saw himself little boy playing in the fields that surrounded the farm house of his father and mother
 He took again that long trip across the ocean. He lived again in the hot hell of the Caribbean Old forms of forgotten buccaneers clustered about him.
 The water was higher now. It was at his neck. There were Porto Bello, Puerto Principe. and Maracaibo. and Chagre and Panama-ah. Panama. All the fends of hell had been there, and he bad been their chief. They came back now to mock him.
 There was pale faced. tender eyed Maria Zerega. who had died of the plague. and the baby. the boy Jamai- ca. too. swept into his vision. There was his wife shrinking away from him in the very articles of death. There was young Ebenezer Hcrnigold. dancing right merrily upon the gallows. togeth- CT with others of the buccaneers he had hanged
 The grim figure of the one eyed boatswain rose before him and leered upon him and swept the other appsri- tions away. This was La Guayra yesterday He had been betrayed. Whose men were those? The men hanging on the walls? And Hornigold had done it-old Ben Hornigold-that he thought SO faithful.
 He screamed aloud again with hate: he called down curses upon the bead of the growing one eyed apparition. And the water broke into his mouth and stopped him. It called him to his senses for moment His present peril overcame the hideous recollection of the past That water was rising still Great God. At last he prayed. Lips that had only cursed shaped them selves into futile petitions. There was a God after all.
 The end was upon him. yet with the old instinct of life he lifted himself upon his toes. He raised his arms as far as the chains gave him play and caught the chains themselves and strove fo pull. to lift. at last only to hold himself up. rigid. awful figure He gained an inch or two. but his letters held him down. As the water supported him he found little dificulty in maintaining the position for space. But he could go no higher if the water rose an inch more that would he the end He could breathe only between the breaking waves now.
 The body of the black was swung against him again and again. the head of young Teach kissed him upon the cheek. and still the water seemed to rise and rise and rise. He was a dead man like the other two-indeed. he prayed to die-and yet in fear he clung to the chains and held on. Each mo ment he fancied would be his last. but he could not let go.
 By and by the waters fell. He could not believe it at first He still hung