"HE WAS DOWN ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES UPON THE TURF."
Naturally, Coleman and Philip thought he had found some curious reptile. Instead, however, of this being the case, Bromley was kneeling over a scrap of newspaper which was impaled on a dead twig under the shelter of a rock where neither the sun nor the rain could reach it. The torn fragment was scarcely larger than the palm of one's hand, and snugly as it was now protected from the weather, it was yellow from former exposure, and the print was much faded, so that parts of it were illegible. It was possible, however, to decipher enough of the small advertisements on the exposed side to show that it was a Charleston paper, and they knew of course that it must have come by the balloon almost a year before. Undoubtedly it had lain for a long time on the plateau above, exposed to the storms, before the wind had tossed it over the cliff and landed it in such a wonderful way on the twig under the cover of the rock.
On the reverse side most of the print was fairly legible. The scrap was torn from the top of the paper, and had on it a capital G, which was the only letter left of the name of the paper. The line below read: "September [date of month gone], 18-0." The center column was headed:
"FOREIGN WORLD
"The Hon. Charles Snowden, M.P., goes down with his
yacht—Earthquake in Spain; four distinct shocks felt—No
dam——e done—Movement of specie
"London, September 4. The steam-yacht of the
Honorable Charles Snowden, M.P., which was wrecked
yesterday off the old Head of Kinsale on the south coast of
Ireland, was this morning looted by thieves. The ri——,
plate, carpets, upholstery, and fittings, as well as
quantity of storage, sails, and stores, were taken. Lights
were seen from the mainland at two o'clock this morning,
when a heavy sea was running.
"Later. The Hon. Charles Snowden and the first officer
of the boat lost their lives by the swamping of the
raft on which they had embarked.
"Madrid, September 4. Four distinct shocks of an
earthquake this morning were felt in the province
of Granada, in the south of Spain. Coming as t
shocks have, twenty-four hours later than the
ances reported on the coast of Italy by y
ws, would indicate that the disturbance
No damage is reported. In
from the vineyards."