Sparhawk, for a thermometer, £3 15s.pd.

I. On the 25th of May, 1887, I sat alone upon the deck of the Sparhawk, a three-masted schooner, built, according to a description in the cabin, at Sackport, Me.

The Sparhawk was a "derelict"; that is, if a vessel with a man on board of her can be said to be totally abandoned.

As I said before, I came on board the abandoned Sparhawk on the 17th of May, and very glad indeed was I to get my feet again on solid planking.

Not long after daybreak I sighted the Sparhawk, and immediately began to make such signals as I could.

For the first day or two of my sojourn on the Sparhawk I was as happy as a man could be under the circumstances.

She had probably recognized the derelict Sparhawk and had made a note of her present position, in order to report to the hydrographic office.

Had I known that the Sparhawk was already entered upon the list of derelicts, I should have been hopeless indeed.

Had I known that I was on a vessel which had been regularly relegated to the ranks of the forsaken, I should better have appreciated the importance of allowing passing vessels to see that there was a light on board the Sparhawk, and, therefore, in all probability a life.

Every day there seemed to be less and less wind, and when I had been on board a week, the Sparhawk was gently rising and falling on a smooth sea in a dead calm.

The fact that I was on board the Sparhawk did not, in my eyes, make that vessel any the less forsaken and forlorn.

The Sparhawk, on the contrary, was but little affected by the breeze, for apart from the fact that the great sail kept her head always to the wind, she was heavily laden with sugar and molasses and sat deep in the water.

I did not at all desire that she should come near the Sparhawk.

The steamer was steadily but very slowly nearing the Sparhawk, when the woman removed the glass and stood up waist high above the rail of the steamer Now I could see her much better; I fancied I could almost discern her features.

There were no boats on the Sparhawk, and what had become of the one in which I reached her I did not know.

Under the influence of the gentle breeze, the steamer was steadily drawing nearer to the Sparhawk.

Then I would spring on board the steamer, and when I had transferred Bertha and Mary to the Sparhawk, would cut loose La Fidélité to drift where she pleased.

Into this she would put a pair of oars and lower it as well as she could; then I would haul it to the Sparhawk, row over to the steamer, and transfer Bertha and Mary to my vessel.

And in an hour or two the other wind did spring up; I felt it in my face, and slowly the Sparhawk turned her bow toward it, and, enrapturing sight!

During the night the wind must have risen again, for the Sparhawk rolled and dipped a good deal, troubling my troubled slumbers.

Mrs. Laura F. Sparhawk ...5.00 Brattleboro.

William N. Sparhawk.

SEE Wardell, Morris L. SPARHAWK, WILLIAM N. German forestry.

William N. Sparhawk.

SEE Wardell, Morris L. SPARHAWK, WILLIAM N. German forestry.