The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-06-20
An Ancient
Mariner ale
By F. 4, MITCIE1.

village where l was temporarily stop
ping. On wooden bench facing thu
ocean sat an old man, and l, havin:
time on my hands, sat down beside
him. asked him the .cauSe of the
tolling, and he said that sea captain
who had long been resident of thu
place had died and was being buried
remarked on the dismaheffect of thu
strokes, each stroke following the one
before after long interval in painful
regularity.
"You think that aidismal sound, sir?
said the old man. What would YOU
think if you heardaa bell a-tollin' fol
the dead that had been rugged by their
selves for that particular purpose? In
this yere case sexton is pullin' on
the rope; in the case I'm t;,lkin' about
the dead'was a-toIlin' the bell"
! looked aside at the old man curl
I ously. There was something about
him to indicate that he had been a
sailor and a light in his eye that
caused me to wonder if he were not
| an Ancient Mariner with tale to tell
| Though the light did mot exactly indi
cate insanity, the fact of his speaking
of the dead tolling their own funeral
bells looked suspicious. asked him
to explain. and he did.so as follows:
"When Twas younller sailed from
this port every two or three years for
the east. There was no SueZ canal in
them days, and we always went around
the Horn or the Cape. On one O. them
voyages when we was in the Pacific
what I'm goin' to tell you happened.
The, Pacific is so big that it's kind O.
lonesome. When pusson has seen
nuthin' but water for Il month and
nary a ship or sighted land, even a
sailor will sometimes feef as if he's
lost in never endin' space.
Zone night when we'd had reason to
feel that way was one O. the watch,
and, sailin' along in the darkness
there was. neither moon or stars-l
thort heard the faint sound of a bell.
listened hard and heard it again.
When heard it third time asked
one O. the watch IL he heard it too.
He listened and said he did. Then !
knowed it wasn't my fancy. go - I'D
zone after another the rest O. the
watch heard the sound. 1t wasn't reg
ular; the strokes come anyway There
wasn't no bell at sea that ever made
such sounds except bell buoy. But
we was in the middle O the Pacific
ocean, where there wasn't no need Of
a bell BUOY And yet the strokes kept
comm, sometimes near together, some
times far apart, sometimes heavy,
sometimes light, and in that big ocean
O blackness atop and below they was
awful melancholy.
2. Either we was movin' toward the
sounds OH they was movin' toward us
OF mebbe both. Anyway they was
CROWN I,lainer. The ole man come
on deck all of a sudden. He'd heard
the tollinf and couldn't make it out.
It drifted past us in the darkness,
soundin' Clear for awhile, then growin'
fainter as1ern. The ole man couldn't
bear to, lose it without KNOWN what
it was. and give an order to put the
ship about and stand by or follow if
needed till dawn, which was a couple
O hours off. So we did, and durin'
them: tworhours, the dolefulest 1 ever
experienced, We kept within the sound
O that b ell.
. sMernim' come at last, and a couple
o, Tniles away I'VE: saw somepin black,
Witch. as the light growed, turned; out
to- be d dfsmantled ship. She was
W'rollin' and a-pungin', and everytime
She rolled or plunged we heard that
Solemn tollin'. That's what we'dabeen
hearin-the wrecks bell.
1.-The old man allowed that she Swas
a derelict with no one aboard ofaher
and her bell rope had rolled away or
become unlashed. We sailed up to
within short pull Of her, and the
second mate boarded her, I bein' one
O. the, bo:stes crew to take him there.
Her decks We're awash, and it was
plain there was nothin' alive on her
before wesgot to her. We went on to
her deck for'ard, which was a little
higher than the stern, and looked
around, but we didn't go 3elow. One
O. the men looked down q hatch, and
his report was not enco,ragin' for us
to go down among the dead men, and
we let 'em alone.
"Well, now, I told You that I'd
known a case where the dead tolled
their own funeral bell. eThiS was 1t.
The. crew. KNOWN they was doomed,
had nailed a board up near the bell
and'had painted on it a 1nessage- -
An hope ,Sone. The SHIPS ben viii toll
our requiem.
"They lad cut awaytthe1 bell rope
entirely. $50" ''"
"Wed brought a blast with us to
sink the ship, and we put it where 1t
would do the work, N1; the ole man,
fearin' we might fail, had ordered the
mate on no account tor leave that bell
a-tollin' to give persons on other ships
the sllivers. We'd brought axes with
us, OF course. and before firm the
blast we chopped away the bells sup
ports. And, would you believe me,
sir, when it rolled down on to the deck
1t sounded like dyfn' wall.
3, "tHeave the cursedtthing overheard!