The Storyteller.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7847, 13 June 1905, Page 4

The Storyteller.

f - ' DEAD MAN'S CHAIR. K Tho fa>_ts concerning my brother disappearance were few and * ' simple Cook hear the (runt-door about six one Juno morning. f? JJtirten, tho milkman, saw him saun- * termg down the lane with a towel ! ' - o *er his shoulder at a quarter-past. *■' At a quarter to seven Captain Fair- ] 'child going lor his morning dip,, I * louud his. clothes by Dead Mana J Pool The only mystery was that * bis body was never riCjveredv; * 'Jlhere was, in truth, nothing very ?• ni\stenous in this. A body might P easily be washed out of the . pool '.* right away to sea. But my. mother '' r was "continually dreaming that poor * Jim stood beside the pool>hd pointl , ed to us d L pths ; so she decided that! y some dreailful secret lay there. 'j. No one in tho neighbourhood prov'i ; ed equal to reaching the bottom, so : ' when I came home from India a r year later [ dqteruiined to make tho «■* attempt. if 1 wafc, I may say without vanity, |, a lar stronger swimmer and diver $L than any of our friends. J For two mornings I dived until cx- '-' Hausted without result ; indeed, with- > out ever reaching the bottom, which I was over thirty feet below' the surt " face, e\en at low tide. Upon the •r. third uioining I resolved to plunge

'L from a gfcater height. £ Dead Man's Pool is a basin of "f about a hundred feet in diameter," » v opening into the rocky clitls. Its ,right| hand boundary is a tall hill, some ei£ht hundred feet hsgh. salledl e Dead Man's Chair. f Some daring climbers of my great-! \.' grandfather's .days were said to have £ reached the summit: but in my time lr > no one had even -made-the attempt. ;. Upon the land side of the pool j there were a number of natural platforms, to which steps had been made ~~-' so that swimmers could bathe from £\ one on the other; according to the

i state of the tide F A few of the bolder spirits occas u I jonally dived from ledges along the side of the hill; but only my broth- 1

K er and I dared to plunge at low; * tide from the highest accessible; i' ledge—a distance, of some fifty feet. £ From this eminence, however, I t hoped to gain sufficient impetus to !> carry me to the bottom, so■ •'! resolve

t ed to take the risk. £;, As I clambered up the ledge I had jL', an cene sort of feeling that my bor-

i& thcr a feet had be?n the last to tread * there, when he went to his deathy Jjf Hut 1 smiled at my fears and made s a bold spring from the ledge. •s■», I dashed into the deep green water

t- which seemed to sway away beneath ™* . me, and struck out furiously downs | wards. ■• As I was expecting every moment £s to touch (the bottom with my hands, ■ r _ a terrific current seized me, twisted me violently round, and carried me. \. along quicker, than I could rise to] £.' the surface. ! lis * Just when I was nearing the top o|

f' the water the dim light suddenly; gi faded out; and then the horrible •.•' truth 'flashed upon irie. .1 was being! £' carried away, as my isrother nadi Si been, by a current running undei;- , _ Dead Man's Chair. I . : i >*j T I made desperate efforts to turtt p,'i back, hut in vain. My breath began b- to fail, and drums seemed bjpating in. Z-' my ears. gf ' I strove to an imaginary surface, jf j ; and merely knocked against the rocky *■ ■ top of the channel, till I reached an f,.- opening somewhere m the dark. " Then I began to breathe, but there K was no air, and I sank helplessly into the seething waters, swailowing % mouthfuls with a dumb soV Then I », was dashed against something hard, 1 • •■ and ■then—nothingness ! ii 1 " The first notice of returning life :f was a voice somewhere in the still--C ness. Then the world seemed to 1 \ break in upon me with a dazzling f& rush. I was lying on a heap of soft :v> dry seaweed, and a wild-looking mart J|" with long hair and a huge, strag- ,-' glmg beard was bending over me. j, I did not recognise his features in 1 " the dull light, but when he spoke I rt- knew him. It was uiy brother ! fj, " Whore am 1- Jim?" I asked r'. slowly. "Am I dead or aBvo? " f " Alis-c, my poor boy," he answer- * cd, laying his hand upon my should- £ - er " Buried alive—in Dead Man's 1,. Chair ! " * S I sat up and looked around me, 5- and slowly realised our awful fate. p_ The inside of the great Hill was) ?" ' hollow, and the current had carriedf" t us both there'! ; The prison to which wc were consigned was an irregular oblong, some ' sixty yards by fifty ; a deep pool, I-, with a border of slimy boulders anj patches of shingle. The sides were prccipitious rocks, V' slightly overhanging, and keeping us j to semi-twilight, even at noon, e»Cept in the summer, when we caught. a glimpse of the sun through 1 a long \ cleft upon the south side. Upon the north side the cliff wasi climablc to a height of some thirty ' jards, aij which point a sort of platform ran: round the enclosure and a; ,' Quantity of tall, rank grass grew; _, •which we used for our beds. Here, too, was a deep cave, which was oun 'dwelling-place, and in the mouth ol which we kept a small fire alight all the year round. My brother had found a pair of Uinoculars among the? wreckage round! the pool, and had succeeded in kindling a fire by using one lens which! ■was undamaged as a burning glass ; so we had the comfort of being abl© •to cook our food in an indifferent fashionTlie foo'd was mussels and other