The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-05-06
The Strangest Thing | Ever Saw

and my brain having refused 10 become |
| gan 10 take u detached kind OF interest 1
| in the heavenly display. Apart altogether |
from the wonder and strangeness OF the !
| celestial show IL must be admitted that !
| the accessories of the scene were calcu- |
| lated to raise interest to the point of !
| wind, the surface OF the sea being like !
| a pool of Ink; the very phosphorescence
! had disappeared. Any swell there might !
| have been was so trivial that the ship /
/ seemed motioncse. at any rate not rope
creaked nor n sail tapped ever softly !
| All hands were on deck, that motley ,
| crew, some muttering prayers with pal
sled lips, others rigid with expectation |
| awaiting developments.
The lumlnarIcS above began slowly to
Increase in number and brightness and
| gradually the gloom departed from the
| scene AT lrst IL appeared as If there
/ was Il point in the heavens from which all
| these splcndors radiatcd and their gem
| cral trend was downward In diagonal
| direction. But as they increased in num-
| Der IL was impossible to refer their ori
| gin 10 any given point or TO say that they
| pursued any general course The whole
heavens from horizon 10 zenith. were 1T
| orally full OF these blazing messengers.
| darting upward, downward, athwart, so
| that the air seemed thick with them So
| have / seen. on an infinitely smaller scale,
| the evening air Illuminated for a few feet
| above the grnss of a savannah In Central
America by myriads OF iire-liics, giving a
| quaint charm 10 the quiet scene that moth
| ing could improve upon Tor beauty and
| simplicity. No one OF the suffering men
| made sound, so utterly silent were all
| sublunary things that heortbeats could be
| heard, and VIC could swear that We heard
| also the soft swish OF the dying stars
through the sky. Occasionally one bright
| cr than usual would burst, apparently
quite close to us and dazzle our aching
| eycballs with Its radiance Of many colored
them. but It appeared AS II ! saw just "a
plainly through my lowered lids so I gave
that up and stared upward Us before.
A Mystery of Light.
How long this went on before ] gained
| composurc do not know, but do know
| curious appreciation of a palpable fact,
! showing thet child az ! was my mind had
not lost it's powers of reasoning l argued
that since at the last day the world WAS
TO be destroyed By fire II was strange that
We were not feeling any perceptlbie In
crease of heat, but rather the reverse.
| Moreover had dim feeling chat all was
| not proceeding upon orthodox lines, since
neither the form OF the archangel had
trumpet been heard These reflections
comfoTted me SO much that | had actu-
ally moved bit from my cramped posi-
ton and unclutched Louls's death-lkc
grip on my arm an action Of which he
took no notice, when TO my diSmay an
other portont appeared, which, although
have viewed it several times since, |
have never again bcheld SO clear and dis
tinct as / then saw 1t. 1t was mighty
cone OF soft light rising from the Western
horizon and slightly inclined at it's sum
NIT. which was halfway to the zenith.
TO the south. At its base it spread over
a 5pace which memory tells me was about
an eighth of that holf Of the horizon, or
say 10 or L degrees. But this Is very
! vague and must be taken for what IT Is
worth. What | can Youch for. my mem
ory on these points being intensely vivid.
is that this wondrous cone OF light, al
| though like the shadow OF some mighty
flame n universe away, was so tenuouS.
III l may express light in such a way.
that the meteoTs still flying were yet
visible against 1t or through 1t, so clearly
visible was IL among these multitudinous
brightnesses. Its edges seemed TO wavcr
| as do those Of the flame OF candle and
II | looked ut them steadily | could not
tell presently where they began or ended
and had to close my eyes awhile and
| look quickly when reopeuing them TO see
any definite edges at all,
The Renwakening of Life.
The appearance of this mysterious phe-
nomenon, the origin or Import of which
believe has never been explained SatlStac-
| torily. marked sudden decrease in the
celestial activities, and l presently heard
"a raucous voice raspinE on the night
| Seems [ be takn' OF; q oit don't lt?"
IT was the skipper, and l. the lowest Of
his crew, and the one !rom whom he
would have deemed it an Insult had
expressed agreement with him, felt quite
| proud TO think that my previously formed
opinion was thus corroborated by tho man
OF all others In whom l had perfect con-
| hdence. But as for the rest OF the crew
they were stlll without any comfort. IL
| i9 true thcir deepest terror had gone, for
| lllt DIalU cannot nOld muCn rear 1Or
any length OF time without dementia. and
although / feel sure that some of them
were closely bordering upon insanity | be-
lieve their thick skulls saved them There
was, however, sense that the worst of
the strain was over, the hurried breathing
OF fright was giving way to natural res
pirations and tho sky gradually assumed
It's woDted aspect, There were some un-
easy movements among them, until at
last the spell was completely broken by
the striking of u match for lighting Il Gig
arctic.
Matters having assumed their normal
condition above, the stars peeping shyly
out In their familiar old positions and the
empty parts of the heaven showing again
blue black, the sea beneath seemed re-
leVed- The creatures whose nocturnal 60
ings and comlngs make so beautiful the
mysterious depths. and which had been
so strangely quiet or invisible during the
marvellous display overhead resumed
their gambols, and presently the dark
breeze sprang up. greeting fcvcred brows
refreshingly, and the old familiar call of
''lee fore brace" shattered the last breath
! OF silence with his hoarSe reverberations
All unconscious of whose watch II was
| all hands turned TO AZ tho braces with a
VIII and tnelr weird cries rang out loudly
and clearly, rs II In a chant of praise
that the night OF terror Was gone And
| then when the yards were trimmed and
the ropes coiled up, behold II was dlscov-
cred that all that soul whitening expert
eace had been compressed into u space OF
halt All hour. There were many expires
SlonS Of satisfaction from the watch be-
! low upon finding that 40 little of their
valued sleep time had passed away, but
| from none of them did / hear any clcnr
account that I at least could understand
about thcir late vision Nor did the Of
flcers eror again sneak of II 20 my knowl-
edS- IL has. however. remained with me
In all its vivid phases through these many
years as the strangcst thing I ever wit