Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-05-05

WlllCll lie ICtN DCVll oDilSSu w liS oliN
suffer, was better than a perfectly DIR,
boat would have been. He could
scarcely meet death by freezing while
in it.
Dark! Dark and silent! Silent
all but the everlasting dash of the wa.
tiers against his boat, which would no
Ilet him sleep-and the steady beat oi
the rain, which he caught in his cloth
ling and greedily sucked up-and-and
What was that?
A breeze among the pine trees In
his boyhood home, with his mother
lstanding near him and singing q
notonous beat in the music? No, not
that He woke from his dreamy fancy
to the awful reality of his loneliness
his hunger-his scarcely half-satisfed
thirst-and the fearful cold
| He dozed again. He could not help
it. He scarcely cared. Death was
coming. He knew it. All, well; he
must die some time; he-he had done
his best-he had not altogether failed
He believed he was dying. He did not
care.
Dear-old-Aldrich"- voice fall
tered and the words came slowly-"1-
| II--did-wisely. Check-to--"
And, as suddenly as slumber fell
wakefuness followed. What was the
sound? What was coming? What
was the awful clangor Of machinery SO
near him? What meant it all? Was
he suddenly going mad-or--or-was
fate coming back to finish what had
been so thoroughly begun? He was
certain, after little, just what it was
Just as an ocean steamer, driven at
her utmost speed, had found the
Homeward Bound in her way and had
cut her down, cut her in two, gone
over her in the darkness Of the night
and gone on without an effort look
ing toward rescue, so here came an
other. straight toward him, as swift
and as merciless as the other had
been.
He shouted once-shouted loud and
|long-shouted in the hope that his cry
would be heard and the steamer stop
ped. and a boat lowered from her for
the humane purpose Of rescue. Then
he dozed away into half unknowingness
again. Dying? He did not doubt It,
But if his souls salvation. instead OF
merely his life, had depended on his
wakeful activity, he could not have
paid the price. He must have lost It,
He woke again. He shouted again
The lights of the vessel seemed almost
above him. No answer; no ceasing of
the machinery: no swerving to one
side. And he slept again. in his half
delirious weakness. and dreamt fan
tastic dream of home and mother
Again consciousness came back,
skowly-reluctantly He
shouted again, more loudly and more
madly than before. The steamer was
upon him. He closed his eyes, but not
to sleep-this time, this time he ex-
pected the mercy of sudden death.
The steamer went by. She did not
quite touch his boat-not quite, though
he lay so far under her side that the
darkness seemed deeper and more
gloomy than it had been before, thick
and dense and damp as the clouds had
been. She did not touch his boat, but
the rushing, roaring swirl Of the wa
ters which she tossed aside struck it
rolled it-filled it-swamped 1t.
Gilbert Sem found himself helpless
in the sea, his boat gone from beneath
him, his garments hampering him ana
resisting any movement he might
have tried to make, the blanket ne
had thought himself so fortunate in
having to wrap himself in, dragging
him down like pitiless demon-down
-down-down.
| Is it any wonder that his despairng
cry reached the ears of all on the
Oceans Own? Is it any wonder that
the sailor could think Of nothing else
so appropriate to call it as the name
he had given 1.-THE cry of a lost
soul?"
He went down into the depths. He
was down so long that he began To
doubt whether he would live to come
to the surface again; and what If he
did not? Why need he care? Was II
not better since he must die, that
death be speedy?
He came up to the surface the
shock of his overturning and the deep
plunge into the sea had driven away
his drOwsiness and given temporary
and fictitious strength. He loved life
There were many reasons-many un-
selfish ones-why he did not wish to
die. And, after all, does hope ever die
out while life remains? l can THINK
of no more horrible crisis of danger
than that in which Gilbert Sem found
himself, unless it were the fire walled
vengeance to which Samuel Lyman
condemned himself: but this castaway
shook himself loose from his blanket
cast off some Of his garments, ano
prepared to make as brave a light
DESPITE his weakness and his almos,
| certain n)IeltNSllSSH a. NV ''S'N'
done had the shore been In sight ano
q half-score of men hurrying to his
assistance.
He did not shout now, for the SOUND
of the steamers machinery had dice
away into silence; he shut his eyes
closely together: he husbanded all his
strength, almost every breath. Anc
then
out with the boat shouted q
voice. in the darkness, not far away
the voice of Prier, the detective.
And how Sem shouted in answer!
oh. no. kind reader you are too fast;
Sem did not shout in reply at all. He
only muttered. in a weak, complaining
voice. while all his efforts ceased as
completely as though sudden par
lalySis had chained his muscles witt
it's cold and cruel strength: "Mercifu
lGod-is this the end? Was 1t no.
enough that this man should drive me
out from my life of happiness and use
fulness and honor. making me mar