The Forrest City times., 1913-04-04
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i They were lifting the fisherman 1 aboard when Cameron, at length aroused by the unusual, strolled for ward and joined me.
 There's your bit of wreckage," ob- served, smiling.
 Poor devil!" he exclaimed, sym pathetically. He seems more dead than alive
 Hes breathing, sir" announced Brandon, the first officer, and not much more. We'll take him below and see what can be done for him, sir"
 He appeared to be about forty years or age, somewhat shrunken, wealth er-beaten creature, with face deeply lined and half hidden behind possibly a weeks growth of dark beard It is not easy to read man with his eyes closed, but I was far from prepos- sessed by what of this fellows fea- lures was on view. Ordinarily l should have given him scant heed, but today was no ordinary day, and my suspicious were superactive. Even the most trivial occurrences took on sig nificaDce. And this was not trivial occurrence. Certainly it was not usual. Fishermen blown to sea in storms and overcome by exposure, hunger and thirst were common enough, perhaps, but within the past week there had been no storm; the weather had been as mild as that of JnnQ with thrown in. How was it possible, then, for this bit of fotsam to have come where 1t was and in the condition 1t was?
 To Cameron I gave no hint of my reasoning, but to Captain Macleod put the question without hesitation.
 Tt does seem a bit odd, MT. Clyde" he returned, judicially, but you see his mast and sail had gone by the board and his oars, too. It looks to me, sir, as If he'd been run down, may be, and nigh swamped. Of course we cant tell till he gets his senses and lets us know"
 Though this put the matter in new light, it did not by any means re- lieve my anxiety; and I asked Mac Leod to have sharp watch kept on the fellow, adding that I would come to him later for anything he might learn. l took care, too, to caution him to make no mention of the affair In the presence of Cameron.
 It was not until after dinner that evening that found opportunity again to question the captain. I came upon him in his stateroom, a comfortably commodious cabin, far forward on the upper deck On his table was spread chart, over which he was bending when l entered. A briarwood was gripped firmly between his teeth and the grateful odor of clean pipe smoke greeted me as I entered
 Hes come around, MT. Clyde" he informed me, turning about in his swivel chair. and I'm just trying to check up some of his statements by means of this chart here, and our weather record"
 And how do they check so far?" I asked. little dubiously.
 Quite to dot, sir" was his an- swer. There's no breakdown any where, so far. According to his story he sailed out of Gloucester harbor on Monday morning. His names Peter Johnson, and he lives in East Glouces- ter, He says the wind was strong from the westward, and he made the banks all right without mishap. But about noon, the wind died, and a thick fog came in from the northeast, chill and | soppng, sir. He kept moving about, and finally in the thick of 1t lost his | bearings. It had clouded over and after a little it began to rain. He made a try for Gloucester harbor, but must have sailed southeast instead of ! northwest. Then the night came l down, and the fog was like a dozen l blankets, he says. His food was gone and most of his water but he said 1 he'd seen worse than that many a l time, and just prayed for the fog to lift and give him sight of the stars. And the next thing that happened was l what l suspected, sir He heard a l steamers whistle. He had his sheet | out and was running before the wind. and that steamer coming upon him out of the fog, caught his boom, ripped out his mast and nearly capsized his dory When she righted, the steam CTS lights were fading into the fog again, his boat was half full of water and his oars were washed away. We'll, sir, to make long story short, he must have caught 8 current that car ried him well out beyond Cape Cod. and then slowed him around the southermOst end of Nantucket island questioned him about lights and fog signals, and making due allowance for his condition, his yarn works out pret- 1 ty straight. He'd been drifting about for three 0ays when We picked him up and was half dead of thirst and l hunger. But he's come around better than might be expected, and"
 And then l interrupted him.
 Three days without water?" ques- | toned.
 And without food Yes, sir" When did he tell you this story 2"