Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
THE PEOPLE'S HOME JOURNAL.
, And from the dark west ¢
IN THE DARE,
ALL moveless stand the ancient cedar-trees
Along the drifted sand-hills where they grow
mes a wandering breeze,
And wayes them toa
rky darknesg lies along the sand,
Where bright tie sunbeams of the morning shone,
Anil the eyo vatnly seeks by sea and Ia
Some light to rest upon.
No large pale atar {ts sllramering viet keeps;
An inky sea retle
And the dark river. like a erpeny, creeps
To where its black piers lie.
Strange salty odors through the darkness steal,
‘And through the dark the ocean-thuaders roil;
Thick darkness gathers, stiting, til I feel
Its weight upon n
Tatretch my hands out in the empty air;
in mny eyes into the heavy nig
inched of darkness!—Father, See my praver!
ft me to see the fight’ I
—George Arnold,
io
The Wreck of the Kraken,
pod off to sleep, and only woke fur in tho night,
in}
of insanity, had been too much for his stalwart
‘Taig is horrible! What can I do?” eried
Margaret. “ Alone, on the ocean, with no help
—what it he should die!”
She roused herself and tried to think. She
had no i
water, ospecially in fevers.
She began bathing his head, and induced him
nl
awhile, seemed Swedish Ned h:
talking to him a
d firmly that her very voice was an
ently he said he felt a if he might sleep,
1 brought the wraps he had irran ged
. BY MRS, JANE G. AUSTIN, ~ for her, and piled them OF him, Snishing: by
tuaging a great piers of saileloth over the whole,
CHAPTER V.—(Conrrxvzp.) and burying him quiteoutof sight, Toate should
night wore on, the stars palod a .| gob a ave remonstrated at
peared, and a glorious, rosy light spread lsat this tondance, and especially at her robbing her-
ver aoa and ok on tho doath-white | Self for him, but Margaret was now the stronger
face of tho dying woman with a huo like that of| Of the two, and hai a a ray
edish Ned, reviving somewhat, en all was she returned to her
croatnres do in tho light of a new day, raised the | OW place at the stern, rapped herself as well
wan face, admired the change wrought up
by the warm, soft light, and saw that his watch
Was not yot Over. and Margaret Gray not dead
he could, and looked allabout him, vith his keen
sailor eyes.
Just between him and the golden pot where ®
the sun would presentl , he saw a black
speck, nothing for a lan ‘man ‘to notice, ‘but fall
ofmeaning to afeam n,
near
“an, or a ship, 01
oat. Atany vate ie 8 something, and we can’t
be worse than
tering, Swedish Ned began to mako
propol himself and his
ating « speck, which he
t been bet etween
“asoloss, ad not the current
in and peaceful ‘death, than to share with
ghastly re! ics of mortality what could oniy be-|
come & ‘ave.
© sun was overhead,
at, SW) wingit ing Dow
ho sailor's engor
e, he clung, tor
ing ever was
m) Rus, my poor, tirea darling, though
last time Ic: thal, for w
Here's life
herself, ‘all alone i in the dark. Do you hear mé,
lady-
A boat? ‘One of the Kraken’ 's boats? Will
they give us some water?” whispered Margaret
Nvater, and spirits Hurrah! And biscuit,
and meat. ‘That’s what she’s got for us; and
ough, for Bix months. ver re saved now, for
sure,” replied Swedish Ned,
CHAPTER MI
ead upon
giving draught to herlips, | The effect w:
mediate and striking, for she, who had hardly
seomed at was passing about her
since that last faint cry for ‘eater, how oponed
her eyes, smiled feobly, and si
“Oh, how good! Drink, yourself, quickly.”
Ned wasnot slow in obeying, an:
he was satisfied,
is
I'll_bail the boat, ” ‘ho said, at las'
“ sana ‘hen qt ts ppsome lace for you
ie in, poy Js after your
clothes are i Soul oO Neloratty e comfortable,
eRe ou, Ned,” whispered Margaret,
pmilivg hindlys and. thon wholay and waked
See F ta sion work of bailing, antil sho drop-
n the spar as | 2
mt so weak was ho, |
the spar, that all his efforts
ancing a Ban
ry good-morning,
and inquiries after his health, she found him
quite free trom fever, but weak a:
able to whisper his request be any ‘utile
water.”
“You’ve been wanting it some time, Ned, I
am staid, 0” aid Margaret, holding the pannitin |i
to his lips.
“ Yes! but it was just as good to see you sleep-
weet,” red the
p
hor great eyes fall of anguish as th
him. "He half guessed the eauso of her emotion,
yas too much a man to flatter himself that
8 | it aroso from any tender intorest in him.
“Don't fret, imy lady,”
very be at to apa with 3
strength,“ Don’
lov iar tolet me die just now. Maybe,
oud better say a word or two, just £0
“Ilim of your need ; it might make you
of us, Nea, although I
am not so near to Him as you seem to thin!
God ought, in judging , to care for zou far
betore mo,” sid Margaret, rather
ailor looked troubled, ‘and 2 ia disap-
pointed, but he only said, very humb
t for a poor, ignorant fellow like me
hat God ought to do; but it don’t seem
kel that He could care much for mo, except
can be useful to some one a heap better and
more precious than myse!
Margaret said nothin: but kneeling
there beside him, she ate the Lord 8 Tray-
; but those
words related only to the man pefore her, and
were expressed with more reverence and humil-
yo it by soaking
and beating bits of Diseuit in water until it
makes t ought to be hot waler,
and there sree it ee salt, and some sugar,
8 of wino—but all these
be good for you, too, m
lady. The i isenit Lrowwes solid for you, thoug!
you don’t bolt them as Laid, “ye wtorday j but, to-
day. you'll woak it, won't
8, if you at ik ko. Ned but ost,
andI “il own breakfast potore ° ‘make
yours. it ut wl i satiaty you.”
hh Jady, for all yonr kindness,”
thon ho closed his @ 28
and eootended to sleep, wae in roulity, w tched
re
inexpressible, joy, the. fover, after
I} as she was with min,
little household cares a8 as deftly and and gorenoly as.
rude mi
with the solemn stars shining down upon her. | if they had not been limited
A faint groan, from tho other ond of the boat, | torials and humble preparations. "But whon sho
roused her effectually, and, half rising, shé | proceeded er hands and face over the | kno
calle side of the Dont, and arrange her abundant hai,
“Neat Ts anything the mattor?” ith only her fingors for ‘a comb, ho is
no answer ing for- | head away, and closed his eyes.” Ho would not
ward alto fund Ned, half delions, 1 Sin and | intrude pon, such mysteries as those, by s
groaning with fever. The straii is nerves, | much as a lool
‘All through that day and night, and the next
day, and pa @ third, Swedish Ned |
rodgrate an ‘tholple wes his strength crushed and
ned by the terrible strain it had endured,
3
gede,
both while he was in the water, and during
rief, sharp illness, Margaret, who had suffored
loss from the first causo, and nothing from the
latter, and who, ; povecseod, ina large de-
ree, the wonderful elasticity which, in women,
sorves instead of tho stubborn strength of mon,
emained well enough to care for both him and
herself, and. to convinco y her cheerful
looks, and eager appetite, that ‘she really wai
Seeing this, the good fellow did his
ally his
yur he was UP and moving,
Tike a geant ghost, about the b
anxiety being removed, Mar.
n 0. wonder, with an im
, or go mad, and leap
3 there. could | there be the
slightest ‘chance of rescn!
Revolving these ideas, one lovely evening,
while Ned stood motionless and silent in the
bows of the boat, she was sta tle dbs by a sdddon
hanpe pened
“Do you see that little ‘thus elowtorse there,
as far a8, you can look; just against the yellow
sunsi
“Vos! Is it a ship?” panted Margaret, half
crazed with
“ Better than | that, my lady. Thatis land!”
CHAPTER VII.
lory of the sunset faded with the rapid-
i to the lower latitudes, and witl
faint ig fo of that unknown land of prom-
iso, whiel 1 Margaret Gray already doubted of
d | having soon at all.
8 only a cloud, I am sure, Ned,” said
she, straining her eyes wearily across the waste
arkening waters ; and he replied, as he
already dono a score of times & at least :
“Tt was jond, my lad, Tam certain of that,
ail, or even
ight miss it altogether,” repeated
Margaret, im inpatie tly.
0, my lady; but the wind and the
current is in our favor, and if they hold till
I know t- but it’s so dreadful n;
this lazy, aimless fas!
hen she would sit down and cover her
face, and poor Ned would look at her with the
asy sleep ; and Nod, s
old saileloth over her, heaved a sigh of relief;
ch easier to watch, wi out feeling
that she, too, was wearin ining for tl
rning. All through the summer nigh
waited, unable to do anything, except by mea,
of one of the thwarts, which he had shaped into
ue
iding himself by his old friends, the
2
get
aoe
rs
At last, in the dead hour before dawn, that
terrible ‘Nour | in which, if ever, tho world seems
left ti blind guidance, and hope, and
a
tant woriness fall upon the sallor’s sextustod
d sleep, the
ire a great ery, anda fran-
w vin ay ar ‘m.
ced 1 Ned! Asloep, man, and the land be-
fore our very eyes!”
mad w
she had gaid, ho saw tho breakers dashing upon
& precipitous shore, with a high mountain rising
8.
E
“ Sno | “oF the Wostern Islos, I should say,”
muttered he, the instincts of a sailor awakoning
first i in ‘hia tired brain.
matter what it is,” cried Margaret, im-
“TItis land. It is safety, and hope,
and a future for both of us. How are we to reach
ity, through those b breakers ?”
ware we to keep off it, Should sa
tor be where we were yesterday
ria na”
avd a
claimed ‘Marge aret, im
aid of & rough gon” ex-
mpatio tly ; for, half wild
led dospair and hopo, it
wae out of naturo, oF ont of womanhood. that
she should be just. But
Xp into his face, and ihrongh his eyes, hor ore
hand, she urmured : :
“ Forgive mie. Ido not Aesorva your caroand
ropay it
lady, and. it is not for r you to ask forgivencas of
may choose to say,” re:
urne’
‘saw well enough the
pallor and hardness that had sotted down upon
is face, and she cried b
“Make n t—let ot ‘the Foat drift as she
will, and desk hhercelt and us to Pieces upon the
rocka, if wi is to be. Ido not care to live;
am not i ‘ind you will never sayo yourself | o
withont me, I know woll enough.’
_
He turned and grasped hor hand, while a
it | springs upon
had | of his
BS
odo auything, “Ibate to aniftalong in
Tt!
cried Margarct Gray, halt hi
i
fstarted np, and, before his very eyes, as
al
not for myself nat y was afraid, my
as he said:
“Thank you, my lady, for fat word! If you
w me 80 well as hat, you never can
believe what you Sia babe. and I shall fi forget
ow let us see
no break in these
rocks, until that little inlet. “away down +l
and we
or oar, We've got no choice but to drive straight
on, let the boat go to pieces under us, and trast
light like that of morning broke all over his
fact
you ever spoke those, words
to luck for the rest. I am going to lash these
twoe ane pater-beakers to your shoulders, and
Til make fast the of the line t
gin,
an “Ths silent companion, saying, bitterly :
at's gone, and now L’ve only to
wait Ul tho bont strikes, and then do what a
6 | man can for
you.
She did not reply, ,caeept by laying her cold
hand upon his arm, and glancing hurriedly into
his fhco then her eyes returned to re
onflict of an rs and sullon rock whieh
filled the old space between the boat and the
base of the cliff, except where a strip of black
sand gleamed and disappeared as the waves rose
and fll aero
e's falling. ‘Thank God -for that Y
muttered Swredis Ned, intently watching this
strip of sand, as the boat, advanci cing and reced-
ing witl the. capricious action of the waves,
seemed, on the whole, more likely to go ashore
at this point than any
ut even as he spoke, a cry of dismay from
ergot drow his attention from the shor
‘@ & Mm
is prey, until reachin,
it broke, crushing the littlo craft, an
jained, down, down, until, these
wo gasping
rific d as if they were burie
forever in the fathomless bosom of the sea, But,
even then, the sailor clung to the senseless form
is charge, ani
h
ing on the crest of a gre:
they were to bo cast upon a large black Fook
Which once before he had e ded, b:
ot the sirens toe .
o
it was, ‘and the tide fell, and
Margarot Gray lay lifeless’ ipo nthe face of the
dripping, black rock; and Swedish Ned hung
between it and the sand, his powerful limbs n=
strung, his leonine head drooped, his goldon
hair and beard dank and dark with salt voter,
_onaren vat
pigeons, who we ying homer
pests io the face of the rock, after a breakfast in
© green folds i inland.
“ Credo They’ve tumbled over the cliff,
like ee last you shot, Senor Sebastiano,” ex:
claimed a coarse, , good-humored voice 3 and the
shock head of a young fellow, about eighteen
years of age, crowned with a funnel shaped,
red, woolen cap, was carefully ‘thrust b forward to
ny | ote eae, of the base o| f the c!
“The worse luck for you, Nanool iin
yon who will have to go’ down after thom ces
lied a nonchalaat voice, its somuem hal languid
and somewhat imperious tones ha ‘ing well
with the soft accents of the Portuguese, in which
the conversation was carrie:
Son oa antiss ima f dont but look here,
lon
Son or * Bel come near it;
. oa roa
capping his wend raisi
without uate that a 8
ere
with, ‘tortor,
“Now, ateco oxetsimed his master, half
there,
ave no way of making that without sail ~
eee