CHAPTER X.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 46, 8 March 1889, Page 32

CHAPTER X.

1 OF THE CASTING AW\Y OF THK BARQUS " BKLINDA." October had bruk.-n aus P.ici <usly with a bright sun <tni a cloudless sky. Ihre bad in the moruiig been a s.ight br^tzj, and af w little wi ite wr. nth-of vapour dnf'el here *ud ttiere like the scattered featbeis of some gigantic bird ; but as the day wore on, such wind ac there vai fell completely away, and the air became close and

stagnant. Ihe sun blazed down with a degree of heat which was ' r«»?*kable so late in the season, and a shimmering haze lay upon the upj*td moortand concealed the Irish mountains on the other side of the Channel. The sea itself rose and fell in a long, heavy, oily roll, sweeping Blowly landward, and breaking sullenly with a dull monotonous booming upon the rock-gjirt shore. To the inexperienced all seemed calm and peaceful, but to those who are accustomed to read Nature's warnings there was a dark menace in air and sky and sea. My sister and I walked out in the afternoon, sauntering slowly along the margin of the great sandy spit which shoots out into the Irish Sea, flanking upon oue side the magnificent Bay of Luce, and on the other the more obscure inlet of Kirkmaiden, on the shores of which the Branksome property is situated. It was too sultry to go far , so we seated ourselves upon one of the Bandy hillocks, overgrown with faded grass-tufts, which extend along the coast line, and which form Nature's dykes against the encroachments of the ocean. Our rest was soon inteirupted by the crunching of heavy boots upon the shingle ; and Jamieson, the old man-o'-war's man whom 1 have already had occasion to mention, made his appearance with the flat circular net upon his back which he used for shrimp-catching. He came towards usupon seeing us, and said in his rough, kindly way that he hoped we would aot take it amiss if he sent us up a dish of shrimps for our tea at Branksome. "' I aye make a good catch before a storm," ne remarked. " You think there is going to be a storm, then V I asked . " Why, even a marine could see that,'' he answered, sticking a great wedge of tobacco into his cheek. •' The moi.rs over near Cloomber are just white wi' gulls and kittiwakes. What d'ye think they come ashore for except so escape having all the feathers blown out o' them / I miud a day like this when 1 was wi' Charlie Napier off Cronstadt. It well nigh blew us under the guns of the forts, for all our engines and propellers.' " Have you ever known a wreck in these parts ?" I asked. '• Lord love ye, sir. it's a famous place for wrecks. Why, in thit very bay down there two o" King Philip's first-rates foundered wi' all hands in the days o' the Spanish war. If that 6heet o' water and tbr Bay o' Luce round the corner could tell their am tale they'd have a gey lot to speak of. When the Jedgment Day come i round that water will be just bubbling wi' the number o' folks that will be comiDg up frae the bottom." " I trust that there will be no wrecks while we are here,' said Esther earnestly. The old man Bhook liia grizzled" head and looked dietrusttnlly at the hazy horizon. •' If it blows from the west," he said, " some o' thoße sailing ships may find it no joke to be caught without sea-room in the North Channel. There's that barque out there— l dare say her maister would be glad enough to liudhimsel' sale in the Clydi>. " She seems to be absolutely motionless, '' 1 ismarked, looking at the veteel in question, whose black hull and gleaming sails rose and fell slowly with the throbbing of the giant pulse beneath her. " Perhaps, Jamieson, we are wrong, and there will be no storm after all." The old sailor chuckled tohimseli with an air cl superior kuowledgc, and shullled away with his shrimp-net, while my sister and 1 walked slowly homeward through the hot and stagnant air. I went up to my father's study to see if the old gentleman had any invmctions as to the estate, tor he had become engrossed in a new work upon Oriental hter.ilure, and thcpracticil management ot the pie,perty had in consequence devolved entirely upon me. I found him beat el at his tquaie library table, which was so heaped with b -oks .ml pipu> etiaf nothing ul him wa-. visible from the door u.\eupt a tult of white hair. '• My dear 85n 'he sud to me as I entered, "v s a gieit gnet to rue tli it you me not moie conversant with Sanscrit. When 1 was your age,"l could i orm<w not only in that noble language, but albo in tue 'lamul.e, Lolntie, Gangehc, Taic, and Mala,.- dialects, which are :i 1 offshoots liom tin' Turanian branch . ' "I regret . \tietnoly, hi," 1 answered, " tl at 1 have notinhented your wondeiful talentH a-^ a polyglot.' " 1 have set myself a task, ' he explained, ' which, ll it could only be continued from geneial'oa to generation in our own tarn.lv until it was completed, would make the name of West immoital This is nothing less than to publish an English translation of tie Buddhist Djarmas with a preface giving an idea of the position of Brahmanism before the ccming ot tSakyamuni. With diligence it us possible that 1 might be able nivself to complete part of the puface befora I die. • And pray, sir," 1 ask( d, ' how long would the whole wuik be when it was finished / " "The abudged edition in tin Imperial Library of Pekin " said my lather, rubbing his hands together, "consists of 325 volumes ol au average weight of live pounds. Then the preface which must etubiiice some account oi the liig-veda. the fc.'ima-veda, the Yau-ur-veda and the Athaiva-veda, with the Brahmanas, could uaidly" be completed in lisa than ten volume?. Now, if we appoition one volume to each year theie is ewry prospect of the iamily cumin" to an end of its task abuut the elate 2230, the twelfth generation com pleting the work, while the thirteenth might occupy itself upon the index." "And how are our deeendanis to live sir," 1 asked with a smile ■' during the pr^ greas ot this great undertaking / " ' •' That's the worst of you, Jack " my tatter cried petulantly •'There is nothing piactic d about you. Insteidoi c. mining your attention to the working out el my noble scheme, you begin raising all;sorts of absuiJ objections. It is a meie m.ittei ot detail how our descendants live, as long s,o the v --tick, to tli > Ujumas. Now I want you to go up to the buthy ot Fergus McDonald .uul hoj about the kHatci), and Willie FulWiou has vwitten to say that hih rank cow is %d. You might look n upon your way and ask atter it. I btaited off upon ray eriamls but befoie doing so I look a look at the baiouieter upon ihe wall. The im rcury had sunk io the phenomenal p ant ot twenty -jiglit inches. CleaUy the old sailoi had

not been wrong in his interpretation of Nature's signs. As I returned over the moors in the evening the wind was blowing in short angry purr's, and the western he>n/on was heaped with Bombre clouds which stretched their long ragged tentacles right up to the zenith. Against their dark background one or two livid sulphur-coloured Bplotches showed up malignant and menacing, while the surface of ihe sea had changed from the appearance of burnished quicksilver to that of ground glass. A low moaning sound rose up from the ocean as if it knew that trouble was in store for it. Far out in the channel I saw a single panting, eager steam vessel making its way to Belfast Lougb, and the large barque which I had observed in the morning still beating about in the ofning, endeavouring to pass to the northward. At nine o'clock a sharp bree/3 was blowing ; at ten it had freshened into a gale ; and before midnight the most furious storm was raging which I can remember upon that weather-beaten coast. I sat for some time in our small oak-panelled sitting-room lisiei.int? to the screeching and howling of the blast and to the rattle of the gravel aud pebbles as they pattered against the window. Nature's grim orchestra was playing its world-old piece, with a compaes which ranged from the deep diapason of the thundering surge to the thin shriek of the scattered shingle and the keen piping of frightened sea birds. Once for an instant I opened the latice window, but a gust of wind and lain came blustering through, bearing with it a great sheet si seaweed, which flapped down upon the table. It was all T could do to close it again in the face of the blast. My sister and my father had retired to their rooms, but my thoughta were too active for sleep, so I continued to sit and to smoke by the smoul. deiing tire. What- was going on, in the Hall now, I wondered 1 What did Gabrielle think of the storm, and how did it affect the old man who wandered about in the night? Did he welcome these dread forces of Nature as being of the same order of things as his own tumultuous thoughts 1 It was only four days now irom the date which I had been aesuied was to mark a crisis in his fortunes. Would he reg.ird this sudden tempest as being in any way connected with the mysterious fate which threatened him? Over all these things and mauy more I pondered as 1 sat by the glowing embers until they died gradually out, and the cnill ni<rnt air warned me that it was time to ictire. I may have slept a couple of houis when 1 was awoke by some one tugging furiously at my shoulder. Kitting up in bed, 1 saw by the dim'hght that my father was standing halt clad by my bedside. and that it was his grasp which 1 felt on my night-shirt. •• Get up. Jack, get up !"' he was crying, excitedly. " There's a gnat ship ashoie in the buy, and tne poor folk will all be drowned. Come down, my boy, and let us see what we can do." The good old man seemed to be nearly beside himself with excitement and impatience. I sprang from my bed and was huddling on a few clothes, when a dull booming sound made itself heaul above the howling ef the wind and the thunder ol the breakeis ••There it is again I cued my father. "It is their signal gun, poor cie.iturcs ! Jamieson and the fishermen arc below. Put youi oilskin coat on and the Glengnryh.it. Come, come, evciy s-cond may mean a human life ' " We hurried down together and made our way to the beach, accompanied by a dozen or ao ot the inhabitants of Branksome. The gale bad increased lather than moderated, and the wind '•cic.i'ncd all lound us with an infernal clamour. >Su great was its toiee t i.it we h id to put out ii agmust it, and bore our way thioujjli U, wluli tin siivl uidgravt' tingled up against our faces. Tin iiTua.l |iist liirnt enough to make out the '■cuekliuj,' clouds anei the w'l ii.' uleam ol the bit akei- but bi youd that all w as ab^/nte daiknebs. We stood iuikU - leep in the shingle an I seaweeds atuding our eyes with our hand-, and pi enng <ut into the luky ob-eauty. It seemed to me n-> 1 listened t.*t 1 c hi d heai hum in voices loud m entieaty m, I tenor, but ami 1 tho wil 1 turmoil of natuie it was dirlicuit to di-t'iuui-h one si uud heuu .mother. Suddenly, ' owever, a light I'lmitnemi in the 1 c utol tl,e tempi a 1 and next lustaut ttie beach and m a ami wide to-Miit; b,.y wue biilliuntly lllumina ed by the wild glare of a signal ln^ht. She lay on In v beam < nds n^ r ht in the centre of the terrible Hansel leel, hulled ovu 1 'o Mich .u\ .ingle that I coulel tee all the planking ot ln'i deck. I iexogimed her «»t once as being the same thive-ruaste i baique, which 1 had observed in the channel in the morning, and the LJunni .lack which was nailed upside down to the jugged btump ot her mi/.jn pioelaimed her nationality. Every spar and\ope and wishing piece of coida<<e showed up hard and clear under the livid light whicn -.put i ted and dickered trom the highest poition of the forecastle. I'x.yond the doomed ship out of the gieat daiknc-s came the long rolling hues ol black waves, never ending, never tinnir with a petul uit tuft ol io.un here aud theie upon their cie^ts. Fach as it leiched the broaa circle of unnatural light apt eared to i; ither M^icn^th and volume aud to nuiry on mora impetuouM'v until with a loai and a junug ciash it sprang upou its victim. Clin^ui'.' v> the weather shrouds we could distinctly see ten or a (k/ hi t lightened seamen, who, when the lif, r ht revealed our prc-cice tuine 1 then white i.ices towaids us aud waved their hands lmplm mtrly Ili ' pu< -r v. letches h;u' cv ulently taken iies'i hope fiom our pieseiui' though it was clear that their own boat^ had been either WAhheil away or so damaged as to lendei tnem useless. 'llu sailors wliocluuj; to the ni;i»iu^ wjie not, however, the only uii l jituualis aboau!. On the breaking p<up there .stood thiee men v\li> appealed to b- boi'i of a dill rent lace and nature fiorn the coweun^' vvietehei who nuploied oui as-iitanu. Leaniug upon the bh.itteieil talJrail they s emed to bo cuu\u -.ing together as quietly and uneoncemeelly ;n tl uii^ii they were unconscious of the; deadly petil which sunounded them. As the signal light lhekered over them we could see Hum t ln shoic that these immutable btrangers wore led k/i - and that then faces were all of a swaithy, largefeatuied i\ p", which pioel umed an Eastern origin. Theie was hit c time, howevei, foi us to take note of such details. The ship wasbieiikiug japidly, and some elloit mu>t bj made to save the poor sodden gioiip ol Innu.i 1 lty who imploied em assistance. The. nearest

lifeboat was in the Bay of Luc, ten long miles away, bat here was our own broad, roomy craft upon the ehmgle, and plenty of brave fisher lads to form a crew. Six of us sprang to the oars, the others push»d us off, and we fought our way through the Bwirling, raging waters, staggering and recoiling before the great sweeping billows, but still steadily decieasing the distance between the barque and ourselves. It seemed, however, that our efforts were fated to be in vain. As we mounted upon a surge I saw a gia it wave, topping all the othera, mnd coming after them like a driver following a flock, sweep down upon the vessel, curling htr great green arch over the breaking deck. With a rending, riving sound the snip split in two where the terrible serrated back of the Hansel reef was sawing into her keel. The after part, with tbe broken mizzen an i the throe Orientals, sank backwards into deep water and vanished, while the fore- part oscillated helplessly about, retaining its precarious b dance upon the rocks. A wail of fear went up from the wreck and was echoed from the beach, but by the bleeeing of Providence she kept afloat until we made nur way under her bowsprit and rescued every man of the crew. We had not got half way upon our return, however, when another great wave ewept the shattered forecastle off the reef, and, extinguishing the signal light, hid the wild denouement from our view. Our friends upon the shore were loud in congratulation and praise, nor were they backward in welcoming and comforting the castaways. They were thirteen in number, as cold and cowed a set of mortals as ever slipped through death's fingers, save, indeed, their captain, who was a hardy, robust man, and who made light of the affair. Some were taken off to this cottage and some to that, but the greater part came back to Brank-ome with us, where we gave them ■uch dry clothes as we could lay our hands on, and served them with beef and beer by the kitchen fire. The captain, whose name was Meadows, compressed his bulky form into a suit of my own, and came down to the parlour, where he mixed himself some grog, and gave my father and myself an account of the disaster. (7b be continued,)