FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86  
87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>   >|  
an injured world by its warmth and its sunshine. A chorus of birds in the garden below filled the whole air with their wonder and congratulations. Down in the hall I found a number of the shipwrecked sailors, looking all the better for their night's repose, who set up a buzz of pleasure and gratitude upon seeing me. Arrangements had been made to drive them to Wigtown, whence they were to proceed to Glasgow by the evening train, and my father had given orders that each should be served with a packet of sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs to sustain him on the way. Captain Meadows thanked us warmly in the name of his employers for the manner in which we had treated them, and he called for three cheers from his crew, which were very heartily given. He and the mate walked down with us after we had broken our fast to have a last look at the scene of the disaster. The great bosom of the bay was still heaving convulsively, and its waves were breaking into sobs against the rocks, but there was none of that wild turmoil which we had seen in the early morning. The long, emerald ridges, with their little, white crests of foam, rolled slowly and majestically in, to break with a regular rhythm--the panting of a tired monster. A cable length from the shore we could see the mainmast of the barque floating upon the waves, disappearing at times in the trough of the sea, and then shooting up towards Heaven like a giant javelin, shining and dripping as the rollers tossed it about. Other smaller pieces of wreckage dotted the waters, while innumerable spars and packages were littered over the sands. These were being drawn up and collected in a place of safety by gangs of peasants. I noticed that a couple of broad-winged gulls were hovering and skimming over the scene of the shipwreck, as though many strange things were visible to them beneath the waves. At times we could hear their raucous voices as they cried to one another of what they saw. "She was a leaky old craft," said the captain, looking sadly out to sea, "but there's always a feeling of sorrow when we see the last of a ship we have sailed in. Well, well, she would have been broken up in any case, and sold for firewood." "It looks a peaceful scene," I remarked. "Who would imagine that three men lost their lives last night in those very waters?" "Poor fellows," said the captain, with feeling, "Should they be cast up after our departure, I am sure, Mr. West, that you wi
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86  
87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
waters
 

captain

 

feeling

 
broken
 
noticed
 
couple
 

safety

 

collected

 

peasants

 

wreckage


Heaven
 
javelin
 

shooting

 

barque

 

mainmast

 

floating

 

disappearing

 

trough

 

shining

 

dripping


dotted
 

innumerable

 

packages

 
pieces
 

smaller

 
tossed
 
rollers
 

littered

 

raucous

 

peaceful


remarked

 

imagine

 
firewood
 
departure
 

fellows

 
Should
 

sailed

 

things

 

strange

 

visible


beneath

 

winged

 
hovering
 

skimming

 
shipwreck
 
voices
 

sorrow

 

Glasgow

 
proceed
 

evening