| Show A supernatural tale mr robert bruce originally descended from some branch of the scottish family of that name was born in humble circumstances about the close of the last century at torbay corbay in the south of en england 9 land and there bred up to a seafaring life when about thirty years of age to wit in the year 1838 he was first mate of a bark trading between liverpool and st johns new brunswick on one of her voyages bound westward being then some five or six weeks out and having neared the western portion of the banks of newfoundland the captain and mate had hall been on deck at noon vain taking an observation of the sun after which they both goth descended to calculate the days work the cabin a small one was immediately at the stern of 0 the vessel and the short stairway descending to it ran athwart ships immediately opposite to this stairway just beyond a small square landing was the mates state room and from that landing were two doors I 1 close to each other the one opening aft into the ca cabin bin the other fronting the stairway I 1 into the state room the desk in the state room was in the forward part of it close to i the door so that one sitting at it and looking over his shoulder could look into the cabin the mate absorbed in his calculations I 1 which did not result as he expected varying considerably from the dead reck reckoning milti had bad noticed the captains motions when ln he hi rad completed his calculations he called out I 1 without looking round 1 I make our latitude and longitude so and so can that be right how liow ia is yours receiving no reply ile he repeated his question glancing over his shoulder and perceiving as ge tie thought the captain busy whitin writing on his E slate still no answer thereupon he rose and as he fronted the cabin door the figure he had bad mistaken for the captain gaisea raised its head headband hea dea dand land disclosed to the astonished mate the fea rea features turis of an entire stranger bruce was no coward but as he met that fixed gaze looking at him in grave silence and became assured that it was no one he had ever seen before it was too much for him and instead of stopping stop ing to question the seeming intruder he rusted rushed upon deck in such evident alarm that it immediate aly atti acted the captains attention why mr bruce said the litter latter what in the world ig Is the matter W with ith bouvy you the matter sir who is thab that at your desk t no one that I 1 know of 23 but there is sir there Is a stranger there gerl geri man you must be dreadin dreaming amin you must have seen the steward there orthe or the second mate who else would have live ventured down without orders but sir air be he was sitting in your arm chair fronti fronting Dg the door writing on your slate then thery be he looked up full in my face and if avgi efera saw a man p plainly iid tid ai lily illy and distinctly in this world I 1 saw him film hum huml whom god knows sir I 1 dont I 1 saw saw baw a man and a maii malf man iliad I 1 had never been seen in my life before you must be going crazy mr bruce A stranger tranger and we nearly six weeks 1 I know sir but then I 1 saw baw saw him go dowland dow nand see what it is bruie bruce hesitated 1 I never was a believer fa in ghosts ly he said sald but if the truth must be told hir sir pd ltd rather not face it alone come come man go down at once ind and dont donat make a fool of yourself before the crew 1 I hope youve always found me willing to do iea reasonable bruce replied changing color but if its all the same to you sir id ltd rather we should both go down together I 1 the captain descended the stairs and the I 1 mate followed him nobody in the cabin they examined the stateroom state roohi room s not a soul to be found well mr bruce said sald sai dithe the captain did I 1 not tell you you had been dreaming its all very well to say so sir air but if I 1 see that man writing on your slate may I 1 never see my home bome and family igaina again I 1 ah writing orn ori the slate then it should be there still and the captain took it up ile he exclaimed heres something 1 sure enough Is that your writing I 1 mr bruce the mate took the slate and there in lin plain legible lemble characters stood the words 11 to IL the norwest norice have you been trifling with me stry stra sir added the captain in a stern manner oil on my word as a man as a sailor sir replied bruce 1 I know no moie mole of this I 1 matter than you do I 1 have told you the exact truth the captain sat down at his desk with the slate before him in deep thought at last turning the slate slake over and pushing it towards 1 bruce he be said write down stee ste r to the norwest 11 the mate complied and the captain after narrowly comparing the two hand writings i said mr bruce go and tell the second mate to come down here he became came and at the captains request the he also wrote the same words so did the steward so in succession did every man of the I 1 crew who could write at all but not one of the various hands resembled in any degree the mysterious writing i when the crew retired the captain sat sit in deep thought could any one have nave been stowed away at last he said the ship must be searched and if I 1 dont find the fellow he must be a hand at hide and seek order up all the hands 17 every nook noor and corner of the vessel from stem to stern was thoroughly searched and that with all the eagerness of excited curiosity for the report had bad gone out that a stranger had shown himself on board but not a livin living soul beyond the crew and officers was fount found Return returning returning in to the cabin after their fruitless search mr if bruce said the captain what do yon make of al all ail I 1 this cant tell sir air I 1 saw baw the man write 1 you see the writing 0 there must be something 0 in it well it would seem so we have the wind free and I 1 have a great mind to keep her away and see what will come of it 1 I 1 surely would sir if I 1 was in your place its only a few hours lost at the worst st 11 well weil well weli see go on deck and give the course norwest not noi west and air bruce he added as the mate rose to go have a lookout aloft and let him be a hand you can depend on his orders were obeyed about three the lookout reported an iceberg nearly ahead and shortly after what he thought was a vessel of some kind close to it ft As they approached the captains glass disclosed the tact that it was a dismantled ship apparently frozen to the ice and with a good many human beings on it shot shortly aly after they hove to and sent out boats to the relief of the sufferers it proved to be a vessel from quebec bound to liverpool with passengers on board she had got entangled in the ice and had passed several weeks in a most critical situation she was stove her decks swept in fact a mere wreck all her provisions and almost all her water gone her crew and passengers had lost all hopes of being saved and their gratitude for the unexpected rescue was proportionately great As one of the men who had been brought away in the third boat that had reached the arek was ascending the ships yards the mate catching a glimpse of his face started back in consternation it was the very face he had seen three or four hours before looking up from the captains desk at first lie he tried to persuade himself it might be fancy but the more lie examined the man mail the more sure he became that he was right not only the face but the person and the dress exactly corresponded As soon as the exhausted crew and famished passengers were cared for and the birk bark on her ourse again the mate called the captain aside it seems that was wag not a ghost I 1 saw to deyl sir air the mans alive what do you mean who a alive why one of the passengers we have j just saved is the man I 1 sw writing on your slate state at noon I 1 would swear to it in a court of justice 44 upon my word mr bruce replied the i captain this gets more and more singular let us go and see the man they found him in conversation with the captain of the rescued ship they both came forward and expressed in the warmest terms their gratitude for tor their deliverance from a horrible fate slow colim coming death by exposure and starvation the captain replied that he had but done what he was certain they would have done for him under the same circumstances and asked them both to step down into the cabin then turning to the passenger he be said baid 1 I hope sir you will wall not think I 1 am erfling with you but I 1 would be much obliged to you if you would write afew a few words on this slate and he handed him the slate with that side up on i which the mysterious writing was not 1 I willbo will do anything you ask replied rep liedthe the rass passenger enger eDger r but what shall I 1 write A feiy bends wends are all I 1 want suppose you write steer to the northwest 22 the nger evidently puzzled to make outtie motive of such a request complied however with i a smile the captain took up the slate in and d examined it closely then stepping aside so as to conceal the slate from the passengers gas passengers he turned it over and gave it to him im again with the other side aide up you say this is your hand writing said he e 1 I need not fiot say so rejoined the other looking at it for you saw me write it 94 an and this said the captain turning the fhe slats slate over aver the man looked first at one writing then thien at the other quite confounded at last what is the deanin meaning t of this sald said he 1 I only wrote one of them who wrote the other i thata more than I 1 can call tell you sir my aly mate here says you wrote it sitting at this desk at noon today to day 12 the captain of the wreck and the passengers looked at each other exchanging glances of intelligence and surprise and the former asked the latter did you dream dream that I 1 wrote on this slate 21 no sir not that I 1 remember you speak of drea dreaming ming wing 2 said the captain of the bark what was this gentleman about at noon today to day coptain replied the ether other lith rith the whole thing is 13 most mysterious and extraordinary and I 1 had intended to speak to you so soon as we got a little quiet this gentleman p nt ing to the pass passenger enger eDger being much exhausted exhaust edy fell into a heavy sleep or what seemed such some time before noon after an hour or more he awoke and said to me captain we shall be relieved this very day when I 1 asked him what reason he had for saying so he replied that he dreamed he was oil on board a bark and that she was coming to our rescue he described her appearance app earence and rig and t to 0 our utter astonishment when your vessel hove in sight she corresponded exactly with his bis description of her had not put much faith in what be he said still we hoped there might be something in it ity for drowning meny mend men you know will catch at straws As it turned out I 1 cannot doubt that it was all arranged in some incomprehensible way by an overruling providence that we might be saved to him be all thanks for his goodness to us there ig is not a doubt 21 rejoined the other captain that the writing on the slate come there as it may saved all your lives I 1 was steering at the time considerably south of west and I 1 altered my course to norwest nory norl west and I 1 had a lookout aloft to see what would come of it but you say he added turning to the passenger that you did not dream of W writing on the slate I 1 no sir I 1 have no recollection what ever of doing so 80 1 I got the impression that the bark I 1 saw in my dream was coming to rescue us but how that impression came I 1 cannot tell there is another thing strange about it 12 he added Every everything thin I 1 I 1 on board seems quite familiar yet I 1 am v very ery sure I 1 never was in in your vessel before it is all a puzzle to me what did your mate see thereupon mr bruce related to them all the circumstances above detailed the conclusion they finally reached was that it was a special interposition of providence to save them from what seemed a hopeless fate the above narrative was communicated to me by capt J S clarke of the schooner julia hallock who had it directly from mr bruce they sailed together 17 months in the years 1836 and 18 1837 3 7 so that capt clarke I 1 had the story from the mate about 8 years after the occurrence he has since lost sight of bim him and does not know whether he is yet alive all he has heard of since they were shipmates is that he continued to trade to new brunswick that he became master of the brig comet and that she was lost I 1 asked capt clarke if be he knew brucewell brudewell Bru bruce cewell well weil and what u hat sort of a man helas he was As truthful and straightforward a man as ever I 1 met in my life we were intimate as ever were brothers and two men cannot be together IS 18 months in a ship without getting to know whether they can trust one ailo atio an others othera word or not ile he also spoke of the circumstance in terms of reverence as of an incident that seemed to bring him nearer to god and aad another world pd id stake my life upon it that he told me no lie thin in july 1853 1859 the anin Hal hai haalck lck ick wa wai 4 then lying at th root toot of or rutgers rutger ney york tork she trades between b new vew york and st jago jagos cuba ab the apt captain a in allowed me io 10 uc ut bl hla name nd tj ti refer to him as e evi evl vl leoce dence for thu thy truth ol 01 wadi baa is liere litre bet do down doun 0 aa gf the best remedy for rheumatism halls Sarsa sarsaparilla Darilla yellow dock and iodide of 8 tim gili |
