Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-11-23

hsuGs ". 49, iasS3tt
Il RAISED THE bIuzzLE AND TOOK AIN AZ
THE BIRD.
touch at Trinidad on the return voy
age. We, however encountered storms
and our vessel was wrecked within
sight of the island. AL! Oh board were
saved l had the good luck to fall IL
with vessel bound for Santo Domin
go. From there l was In hopes of find
ing berth on some northward bound
vessel.
II was to have more adventures
however. During the voyage we were
driven by adverse winds far out of oul
course and lay for a long time becalm
ed in the Caribbean sea, not far from
the island of Martinique.
"One day. as the vessel lay In sea &c
calm that 1t resembled great mirror
suddenly, from nowhere apparently. there
appeared directly over the mainmast OF
the vessel huge black bird 1t was not
like any bird I had ever seen in the trop-
les, nor anywhere else. in fact. Its large
head resembled that Of an OWL and the
body was almost like an eagles, except
that 1t was black as a raven
IT wac not the only one who saw the
bird. and in an instant a sailor came run
ming with gun in his hand. But the
others begged him not to shoot.
LIT win bring bad luck to the ship,
they cried. Put up the gun
II was not supersttious. however and.
seizing the rife from the sailor who
stood irresol,Ite, I raised the muzzle and
too aim at the bird
"But now a strange thing happened.
Jut as / was about to pull the trigger the
bird disappeared. Nor did 1t fly away,
but poised In midair over the ship. 1t
vanished az 1t had come--on the instant.
81 lowered the gun, blinked my eyes
and looked about mo.
Did You see that? / asked, turning
to the sailor who had brought the gun.
BLOW mel! he said. Where did It go
to-
"Then looked around at the others, all
of whom had seen the thing.
81 told you So repeated first one,
then another. 1T is lucky you did not
shoot No good would come to the ship
"By this time the captain was on the
scene with his glasses and carefully scan
nins the sky. but no bird could be seen.
1t all happened in a minute, and ! can
hardly believe to this day that 1t was
not dream"
w nat Qdlc WIS LudI, ! k86heQ
eagerly.
May 4. l remember 1t well, because
that night q breeze sprang up, and we
made the island of Martinique before
daybreak
t"The second night we lay in st. Pierre.
At about the middle watch / was aWak-
ened by sound as of some one moving
about the cabin. At first I was going to
call out, but before I had time to open
my mouth a strange light began to glow
around me. and suddenly the side of the
ship seemed to open. and I saw Mont
Pelee seething mass of flame. which
shot upward to the skies. AS gazed at
the sight the Same rustling noise which !
had first heard again fell ON my ears.
and the strange black bird that had APP
peared above the ship two days before
swooped down, spreading its huge body
and wings between me and the scene. It
was nearer now, and it's head, could
have sworn, was the head Of human
being. with look of unmistakable warm
ing in its eyes, AS I raised my hand,
with cry Of alarm, 1t disappeared, and
found myself sitting up in my berth
staring wildly at the wall Of my cabin,
where moment ago Pelee had shot forth
flame and smoke.
"Only q dream? Yes, Of course. But
the strangest part Of it has to come.
The next day there was consultation as
to whether we should remain in harbor
another day or sail at once. The vision
Of the previous night rose up before me-
and felt relieved when it was decided to
set sail right away Some delays occur
red, however, and finally we sailed out Of
st. Pierre few minutes before o'clock
on the Sth Of May. shall never forget
that day as long as live. We were Just
barely out OF the harbor when terrible
thing happened. The most terrific noise
ever heard in my life sounded from
Mont Pelee. could think of nothing but
the crack Of doom. 1t seemed as IL 1t
must be heard around the world. Every
eye was turned toward the volcano, which
for some time had been sending out
ashes and cinders As looked toward It
a great volume Of black vapor rose from
the crater. This was filed with sparks.
like electricity. Then sheet of flame
like huge blast furnace rose heaven
ward. think the whole mountain must
have blown up. Again my vision of the
flaming mount and the great black bird
rose in my mind, but now neither body
nor wings of bird. beast or spirit hoyered
between my eyes and the terrible sight,
This time It was no dream. but fearful
reality.
''In another minute the air about us
was filled with choking vapors. Ashes
and dust rained upon the deck Of the
vessel, which rocked in a tidal wave.
when we reached Santo Domingo we
heard that st. Pierre was totally blotted
out. and I shuddered at the doom from
which we had escaped"