The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-08


 Take 1t easy." said he, land get on your back as often as you can.'
 I promised to do so, and, smiling at his "Cheer-oh!" as he let go the raft. I took the plunge with him, and we set off briskly toward the beacon.
 There Is no sensation that I know of which quite conveys such a, sense of isolation as that of being cut adrift from even a bit of wreckage at sea, and set to the task of reach ing the shore unaided. Then truly is 1t up to a mans courage to get him through.
 We Reach Land.
 By myself I should never have reached the beach. We were a mile distant from it, and the sea ran high enough to fIog our faces and often to knock the wind out of us.
 Against this my strength would soon have given out had it not been for the young seaman and his grit. There were moments when he drag ged me along as though had been a log of wood. Others when he sup ported me while I lay upon my back and grasped for breath.
 Yet even at that the pair of us would never have managed but for a geological fact we had no right at all to look for. I had supposed the sea. to run deep up to the very beach of the island. It did nothing of the kind, since there was a shOal of fine sand running out for at least half a, mile from the head1and, and there snted up most curiously to form a harbor bar.
 You can imagine the young Lieut. chants cry of surprise when his feet Er~c+ 7nI1 covered that he could stand up- right. A wild exclamation escaped him, and then I do believe that he gave three cheers. For my own part, stood there gasping and spluttering like a child that has been tucked by a bathing woman. He however, gave me no time to think of it, but, pulling me by fle arm, plainly ihtimated that he was for the shore.
 It was no easy task, even though the water was in places no higher than our knees. The waves broke heavily upon the barrier and doused us with spray. More than once I was laid flat upon my back most ignominiously, and the Lieutenant had to fish me out as though were g. tired dog. And even at that we
 
 so at the end of the sandbank, where little river flowed most curiousIy out between 1t and the headIand. This we did with an energy which animates the animal that suddenly discovers a familiar burrow, and ar irving at the opposite side, we found ourselves amid a number of fishing boats and rude huts upon a path which plainly led to the lights on the cliff above. Here we had a consuIta- tiOn. Should we knock up the fish ermen or go to the house above?
 The Lieutenant was all for the latter course.
 These beggars are not to be trust ed,'' said he; they would put a knife into us for a shilling, and most of them are in Austrian pay. Let's try the big house. It looks like a mon astery and if it is I don't suppose l they will murder us. Any way, my pistol is not much good, and I don't suppose yours is any better. It will 1 have to be the parsons, I think i In the Enenly's Hands. He proved to be correct in every | particular. The fishe were | dangerous, as we found to our cost The building above was a, monastery | of the Greek Church, and while the | hairy old gentleman at the head ot it was not very pleased to see Us, he | did his best under the circumstances I found myself presently sitting 1 before a vast fire in a huge refectory a kind of coarse cassock clothing me, and my precious papers still ir 1 my hand. They gave us goats fIesF 1 tu eat and a crude liquor to drink l stuff so strong and potent that ever | an old toper would have made 6 face at it. Our clothes they carried ! to the kitchen to dry; but our val l UabIes were honestly laid upon l little table by our side. and if the note cases and the watches excited l covetous looks from the lazy breth. ren, none was so fmpolite as to lay a finger upon them.
 Later on, they put us to bed in mar row cell-like apartments, where the furniture was of the rudest, but the comfort not inconsiderabIe. I hat | few opportunities for any word! apart with my Lieutenant, but thos, we exchanged were not to our com fort. He knew the island very well and said that it had already beer suspected Is affording a, nest fo, Austrian intrigues. He thought i very likely that the submarine whicl ] torpedoed us had a base here, ant that the fishermen in the cove below were the keepers of her supplies
 A mixed and ugly crowd-Greeks Turks, men of no nationality, i
 must be supposed that the comin,
 of two of the enemy British was no
 gl eat Joy to them. And our t9sl of getting away was not going to b. an easy one. Our pistols were use less; we were without proper weap
 Ons- Even the monks were alread q, anxious about us. I could aInos read it in their looks and have sine,
 heard that they hourly expected tn,
 fishermen to come up and cut ou
 threats.
 We knew nothing definite of this and perhaps 1t was as well that W,
 did not.
 For my part, I was so exhausted
 by the cold and the exposure that
 slept more than half round tn
 clock. When l awoke the sun wa
 already setting again, and the Lieut.
 enant was by my side. I notice, that he wore his own clothes, thougl
 they looked sadly shabby; and wa
 glad to see mine set on a chair be side me. My papers had gone t