Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-07-08

and had made me fast upon it's tim
bers. Perhaps he had not similarly
secured himself because of an over
trust in his ability to remain afloat.
| have been haunted by the fear
that his effort to save me may have
overtaxed his 'sorely tried powers.
Possibly he had lost consciousness as
we drifted, and had been washed over.
side, to fall prey to the prowling
sharks. I could not hope to know
what his end had been, but l wished
that l might have shared It with him.
I fumbled at the soaked knots of
my rope with fingers that had grown
| numb. When at last I was free, and
| had, to some extent, restored the cir
| culation in my stagnant veins, be-
| gan the task of freeing my oarless
craft from it's wedged position so tina!
the insetting tide might carry me tn
| the shore.
In the pocket of my pajama jacket,
| soaked with salt water and almost re-
duced to pulp, I found the letter
which stood charged 10 deliver to the
girl in Sussex.
I laughed. / knew that I was not
in reality the solitary survivor of the
Wastrel. was merely the latest sur
vivor. was to die more slowly than
my fellows. This sun, at the end Of
my lingering, would beat down on my
bones, whitened, disjointed, and per-
haps vulture-picked; but it was what
lay between this day and that which
troubled me.
The revolver in my belt was al
ready clouding into red rust. l en-
perimentally turned the cylinder, and
found that the corrosion had not yet
attacked the mechanism. One shot
could cheat my sentence of slow
death, yet did rot fire the shot.
Life had heretofore been tiresome-
ly uneventful to me; thing l would
have willingly surrendered.
Now l found myself standing preca-
riously on the narrow and very Slip
perry edge of existence; and with
Death advancing on me / no longer
wished to die. The very odds against
me brought dogged desire to cling
until my feet should slip and my fir
gers could no longer hold their life
| grip. / knew that / should not turn
the pistol upon myself while all the
chances of fate stood over against ME
in battlefront. l should fight back at
them with wolfsh defiance until they
spread me on the beach for the buz-
yards. Meantime l should probably
go mad, but that lay hereafter.
Whether l was to have my island in
sole tenancy, or must fight for foot
hold with hostile natives, was ques-
tion which also lay hereafter. AT pres
ent 1 had only to wait for the tide.
Since could not hurry the tide,
must lie here thinking.
On one hand stretched the sea from
which I could look rescue only by
miracle. What had been Coulter's
destination he had not confided, but
| l knew that we had for days been in
imperfectly charted waters, and that,
as likely as not, our screws had
kicked up virgin wake. We had
| passed atolls marked on the chart
p. D. and e. DEPOSITION doubtful"
existence doubtful"-and to hope
that some other wanderer would
shortly follow would be taxing coin
cidence too far.
ct the other end lay the island
perhaps empty, perhaps populated
with God knew what type Of human
and animal and reptilian life.
could view it across the accursed-
ly beautiful waterway, and speculate
upon its nature; but I could not beat
up very hopeful confidence in Its
treatment Of me. It's truncated cone,
it's spurs of coral crags jutting sea-
ward, it's steep activities and lush
palm jungle, it's fern and shrub-soft-
ened rocks, all spelled beauty which
was opulent, and which would have
been magnificent had the greenery
not wrapped and softened every COM
manding angle.
. 1t was loveliness which suggested
treacherous menace, the deceptive
beauty of the panther or of the soft.
gliding snake that charms its prey to
death.
Looking as / did then into the eye
of the unknown, l could foresee only
death or madness followed by death
Isolation would sap my mental es'
sence and atrophy my brain, unless
some device could be found by which
! could side-focus and divert my trend
of thought. Even had the young
girls diary remained to me, might
by 1t have kept myself reminded Of
that other life I had left behind me,
and SO die sane. A single book would
have helped.
had been credited with sense Of
the ludicrous SO whimsical as to be al
most irresponsible. II now could
invoke that quality in this grim stu
alton, might hope to be regarded as
/ =, cnpotat ant humnriat II anu parann.