Morris tribune., 1906-02-17

! with the swifIness of thousand wlife
| horses tossing their wind blown names
The wind died down; the clouds were
dissipated. The night was so very calm
| 1t Knocked the storm raging in his soul.
And still the silyered water came food
ing in Gently, tenderly, caressingly.
the little waves Tapped the sands. At
last they lifted the CHASTITY head Of
young Teach and laid it at his feet.
He cursed the rising water and babe
it stay. and heedlessly it 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 GOODNESS of eternal Ice. They
rolled the heavier body of his faithful
slave against him. He strove to drive
it away with his foot as he had striyen
to thrust aside the CHASTITY 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. 1t was
at his neck. There were Porto Bello,
Puerto Principe, and Maracaibo, and
Chagres, and Panama-ah Panama! All
the fiends of he'll had been there, and
he had 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 HornigoId, dancing
right nerrily upon the gallows, togeth-
err 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 appari-
lions away This was La Guayra
yesterday. He had been betrayed
Whose men We're those? The men
hanging on the walls? And Hornigold
had done tod Ben Hornigold- that
he thought so faithful
Ee screamed aloud again with hate;
he called down curses upon the head
of the growing one eyed apparition.
And the water broke into his mouth
and stopped him 1t called him to bis
senses for a 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 be lifted himself
upon his toes. He raised his arms as
far as the chains gave him play and
caught the chains themselves and
stroye to 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 difficulty
IL maintaining the position for a
space. But he could so no higher
Ii the water rose an inch more that
would be 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 chung
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
suspended and waited with bated
breath Was he deceived? No, the
waters We're surely falling. The Sec
onds seemed minutes to him; the min
utes, hours At Fast he gained assur-
ance. There WAS no doubt but that the
tide was going down. The waves had
risen far, but he had been lifted above
them; now they were falling, falling.
Yes. and they We're bearing away that
accused body and that CHASTITY head.
He was alive still, saved for the time
being The highest waves only touch
ed his breast now. Lower lower, they
moved away Reluctantly they lin
gered. but they fell-they fell.
To drown? That was not the judg-
ment of God for him then. What would
It was just out Of reach Of his lips
e. a