HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1889-6-6, Page 7liONIEWARD BOUND
"Jamas where iigthe Qteen Anne now ?"
"Lying at the buoy, Sir. She hauled outi
of her discharging berth this moruing td
moored to the buoy, meaning to haul in to
her loading berth tale tide, but it' e blowing
a gale and she can't stir.,,
She's flying light, I suppthe ?"
"A bucket at one aide ot the aeelmon and
a broom at the other is all that's in her bold,"
I anaweeed, "She's like a bladder in the
water,'
" mad Mr. Bronson, "And how is
Captain St. Clair today? Have you seen
him ?"
"No. I have not seen him to -day. He
was ashore'but I did. not come acme him.
I hetard, though, that he is just as bad as
etenEereio, "Jr, niaster of the Dutoh garnet
Qaeen Anne of Sunderland, had been for ten
days on a mad ',Tree since his arrival in
Layton, a town on the south coast of Eng
land.
"It's miserable to have to do bueinese with
a mein in his preseut condition. He has only
eigned the memorandum of agreement. We
must get the charter party aigned tide even.
ing for the merchants. Viihera is this wretch-
ed fellow now ? ' asked Mr. Bronson, ship
broker, in whose office at Layton I watt
outdoor clerk or runner,
"I heard he was aboard, Sir," T answered,
"He hae discharged his crew, exeept the
mate and boy. He had to employ shore
hands to shift this morning."
"Would It be poseible f or you to get
aboard ? I am most anxious to have the
charter party signed thie evening for the
thippers. They won't pui `(11 1 of the
china clan, into her until. tee unerter is
signed, and, ot course, we don't want to
miss the von'. Is it blowing too hard to
get aboard?"
I went to the offiie door and looked down
the street toward the river, right in the
eye of the fierce southwest gale. The
March afternoon was perfectly clear. Not
e. cloud was in the heavens. The wind tore
up from the southwest as if frantic with
terror.
" `Twon't be very easy, but I oan manage
it, Sir," I said, corning back into the office,
putting on my thick overcoat, and pulling
my hat down over my eyes.
" Do not run any riek, 'Tames," said Mr.
Brenton, as he banded nee the charter
parties. "H you find him aboard, and he
is in a condition to do badness, melte him
sign theee. Of course, he is bound suffi•
ciently by his signature to the memorandum,
but things will be more regular when his
name is to these."
I thrust the wipers into my pocket, and
was out in the gale walking with head and
ohest bent forward into the wind before
another minute had passed Run any risk 1
QF course I ran risk, and more than one risk,
-to. My boat might be capsized, or
swamped, or staved. This man, Eric St.
Clair, was in a most uncertain temper, and
might become violent at any moment. Fie
had been amaithing furniture end glase the
night before at the " Jolly. aailor's," and
that morning he had been walking about the
quays with an adze over his shoulder asking
for Billington, the shipwright, with a view
to taking .Billington's life. Billington had
) done some repairs for the Queen Anne, and
Captain Eric St. Clair considered the work
badly executed and the charge extortionate.
Hence St. Ciair had come ashore, adze on
shoulder, to let Billington feel what he
thought of the affair. But, risk or no risk,
the outdoor clerk to a pushing ship broker
has simply to get the businese done before
allowing the risk to operate against his
Hub or life.
The wind wale terrible. Chimney pots and
slates were flying, old tins and pieces of
wood and rush mate were trundling madly
up the hilly street that led me down to the
river. An outside shutter, wrenched off one
of the corn stores on my right, lay flapping
on the flagovew like a dying sole. At the
corner was a. group of porters idle ; the
force of the wind made carrying sacks, or
deals, or baskets along planks an impossi-
bility. I passed the men without a word.
One could have spoken only in a shriek.
crossed the broad quay to the head of the
graving dock, where my punt lay moored to
a hopper, and alil down ehe bars of the
Melee to the deck of the hopper.
Ab Leyton the river is about half a mile
wide. It rune east and west, so that with tem
southweet wind blowing there is always a
swell, and with a gale a little soa. My punt
was much larger than those used for mere
pleasure on inland waters. I have had
five adult persons in the boat, but this, of
course, was in trainquil weather. The oars
were looked to a thwart. I always carried
She key; for I of ten had to be afloat before
the office was open in tho morning and after
15 was closed at night.
It was slow and careful work to at out
to the galliot. The punt s head had to be
kept to the sea, and at, the vothel lay
a.breast it was only by edging f sot by foot
progress could be retitle toward the echooner.
When i got cloth I hailed the deck, but got
no answer. I looked over my ehoulder and
saw the accommodation ladder was hanging
over the side of the main chains, and that
She ehio'a boat wail not under the stern.
From the absence af thc boat it was more
than likely the Captain was aetiore. What
a fro? I had bean not to aak the men ab
She corner of the street if they had seen him
land 1
• As T was now in midatream 1 reeolved to
go aboard and learn from the boy or mate
where the Captain toes likely to he found.'
There was not much tide, it was close upon
high water, end the garnet:, was yawing and
driving, and pitching and rolling a good
deal. The punt had taken in half a dozen
bucketfuls of water; I was web through
with eprey, end my feet were washing ankle
deep as the punt leaped up and down the
Ewell I pulled a few atrokes, unshipped my
oars, ran alongeide, caught the accommoda.
tion ladder, and struggle4 on deckwitla the
painter of my boat in my band, made fast
the painter to a belaying pin, shook myself,
d looked round.
)here waseenothing very noteworthy to be
seen. The hatches -were ote the deck Was
cleared;. The companion was open, from this
I assumed the mate mutt be below eftiThe
forecastle scuttle was eloaed; from this and
the absence of the boat I assumed the boy
mulithave soulled the shipper aehore, and
that no one was aboard but the mate.
would go eft and hear what Philip Maple.
the mate, had to say about the Captain and
his condition.
To let go the belaying pin to whichI clung
and reached the top of the companion lad-
der was no easy matter. The distance was
only a few feet, but the schooner was roll-
ing horribly and pitching quickly and un-
certainly in the short, irregular teem I had
not been long at the shliebroking bueinese,
and had no experience before of a light gal-
liot in a gale. Amerioan fee Ent/lisle built
veseels are much crankier, I know, than
Dutch bluff, rotind-bottom craft.: If the
Queen Anne had been American or British
bat, and net to stiff at the galliot, I should
have been in mortal dread of bee capsizing.
le was not, I believed, in the power of
Wind in thou attendee to blow A genial]
over. I let go the belaying pin and ran to
the head of the companion.
I lthiced at the eke,. Tne brighb blue of a
northern Maroh afeernoon was renspotted by
e single cloud. The wind eel -earned through
the nigging and spars. The venal rolled
and pitohed beneath my feet The roar a
betorrent of air and the avvaeh of the witter
againet the bow and sides of the ahip were
deafening, stunning. I bent low over the
companion ladder aud hailed the cabin. It
was imposeiele to hear dietinotly above the
tumult of wind and w '
ater but I thought
there was o, reply of HOMO kind. I stood up,
expecting every minute to see the mate's
face at the foot of the ledder. I waited a
few momenta in vain. Then I turned round
and descended, The oabin door stood open,
about four feet from the foot of the ladder.
I entered the cabin A man was sitting on
the lector that ran round the lietie table.
He leaned forward, his chest against] the
table, his bearded cheek flat upon the shabby
oil cloth, his arms spread wide, his hands
hanging nervously over the opposite side of
the leaf. Thie mien was not the mate, but
Eric St. Cleir, the master of the ship, he
whose signature I vvanted to the oharter
party.
I was young at the tinae, with 01 flew of
eminence in my neture, I remember now
that when the achooneri Queen Anne, Edo
Se Cede, master, was reported on the way
to Lepton I pictured to myself what a man
with such a name ought in appearance to be,
I had hoped to find him no:, untike the
youthful Ral Agin The man etretelited on
the table before me was between fifty and
(linty goers of age, lowisized, stout, °three.
featured, bottle nosed, with short, thick,
dirty hands, and long gray beard, whiskers
and mustaches, He wore dark, baggy trate
Heri
e the ordinary sailor's jersey, and a
tight fitting sealskin cap, the wings of
which hung loose and untied. He was fest
asleep.
I looked into the mete's stateroom ; it was
empty. I could find no trace of the boy.
I concluded that they were ashore, and that
I was alone with the muter of the ship.
I did not care to stay a greater time aboard
then necessary. H the man had been sleep-
ing long, no doubt he would be able to aign
the documents when he awoke; but I did
not wait for him to rouse himself. It would
he dark in an hour or two, and it was not
pleasant to stand here in this rolling, pitch-
ing, lurching, yawing ship with this beast
lying ineensible before me. I caught him
by tlae shoulder and shook him briekly a few
dines. lie groaned, muttered an impre-
cation, and looked up. "Eh," he said,
throwing himeelf back against the looker be
hind him, "Mr. Peulton, is that you? I am
very glad to see you. How did you come
aboard ?"
I staggered beck to any former Phee at
th ta,bie and set down.
"That's more ship ohne, messinete. Now
then, let us wet the theet and we'll draw
ahead." e poured out mime holland e onoe
more into the cup and thrust the cup into
my hand, ineown the shoot with lb, my
boy. Down the scuttle with lb, my boy;
for we're homeward bound. I tell you we're
homeward bound. We're sheeting the wan
or at a fathom a knot. What You won't I
More fool yon, I say. For we're homeward
bound 1 we're homeward bound 1 We'll let
go the anchor in a cabbage garden presently,
and walk out and kill snakes. Snakes I
why we needn't wait till we gob ashore for
them. There's a beauty, A regular green
beauty, with blood red eyes on the table
tinder your nose. Thuuder and lightning,
man 1 Why don't you kill the vermin?'
With frantic, haste he took a large jeck.
knife out of his pocket, opened the blade
and stabbed the table three or four times
furiously.
At that moment I became suddenly calm.
I abandoned all hope of life, I inetantly
made up my mind to watch the unfortunate
man oloaely but quietly, and to sell my life
dearly if he meee an attack on me. I had
no weapon of any kind, nor was there any
witidu reaoh. I was locked in the cabin
with a mth in delirium tremene. Taere
wae no chance whatever of breaking away
from leim by throe. On land and with
plenty of room I might ba a meboh for him,
for he was twice my age ; bat here, in the
narrow space to whiohl was unused and he
perfectly accustomed, and with this awful
rocking and pitching of the vessel, to which
again I was unused and he perfectly ac-
e netomed, I could have no thanee againat
him.
Many years before, when I was a boy of
nine and in parted health, I gave up, with
as little notice, all hope of living an hour.
I vvas fishing in the aea with a hendline from
a rock, and fell itito deep water, no succor
being in view. I could not swim at the time.
I remember diistinctly that I did not ory or
call out betore I mink. Even when 1 rose I
did not call out. I did not think of my
approaching death, though I believed firmly
that there was no thence of rescue. and I
could not by myself get bank to the rook. I be -
gen treading the water, keeping my arms well
down by my aides. I felt no pity for mestelf
or my people; no fear of approaching death.
I looked around the litble bay and thought
with wonder that I had never before noticed
how bright the sunlight could be on field
and cliff and reek and sea and °load. I
thought of nothing but of that sharp, clear,
unveil, brightness. I had never in all my
life before or since ethers° much light as on
that July evening years and year ago when
my chin was level with the smooth sea
which I believed would in less than an hour
be my shroud. A chance fisherman saw and
eaved me then.
To my surprise and delight the man was
sober, 1 answered that I had come in my
own boat, and that she wee now alongaide
ander the ladder. I took the papers oat of
my pocket, and placing them open on the
table beside him, told hun what had brought
me there, adding, "Will you please sign
eppesite the-woed,ielaster' ?"
-"Ah be. igeld with a pleasant smile ;
"All tight —Wait -a minute. He now me.
Honed' me tonele .down by the table, and, go-
ing ontr of eheothin-' ascended the companion
ladder. I thoughthe had gone on deck to
fetch pen and ink, which in coasting vessels
in port are of ten kept in the binnaole. In
less than three minutes I sew his heels again
on the ladder. lie came into the cabin with
aothing in his hand. "I've mede all snug,"
he said, with another smile. He turned
round, leaked the cabin door, put the key
in hisepocket, took a square quart bottle
and a cup •out of a looker poured some of
the Hollands out of the bottle into the cup,
and drank off the apirits neat. Then he sat
down at the table opposite me with a look
of intense satisfaction on his face, and,
holding the empty cup in one hand and the
bottle of Hollands in the other, "Will you
home a drop? It's first-rate stuff. First.
rens."
"No, thank you, Captain, 'not now. I
must get back at once. Where do you keep
the pen and ink? I ma 101 01 hurry. The
Governor wants the charter party signed at
once for the shippers."
"A wee drop,' he aid, persuasively, "a
tiny drop, 0. tiothful, an azimuth, just
enough to drown a fly."
Queen Aune for ten yeers," he said in a
hoarse whisper, "and aha never rolled like
then before. Never. Bat we done) mind.
Blinn you, we don't mind ; for we're home.
ward bound, nay boys. We're homeward
bound! She'll go right over thiamine roll, 111
take my oath."
He did not attempt to rise, bue sat white
with terror on the ftoor close by hie etate.
room, at the other aide of the open until°,
Id the corner where I had fallen. The vete
eel became oomparatively steady. Now eves
my opportunity. If I sprang on him as he
lay he could offer but libtle resistance. I
should have the advantages of the attack
and the uppermost posit( In the struggle
I would not be over.ni I would atrive
with all my force and skill to win and pos
NOS myself of the knife and key of the cabin
door. To hie talk about the schooner cap
tieing I attathed little importance. It was
the talk of a madman. I had often been in
emptyivessels that rolled quite as much as the
Qaeen A.une.
The distance from the end of the table to
the forward bulkhead was no more than six
feet, and in alit' vras the gaping scuttle,
twenty inches square. Whether that trout-
tle opened lute a lazaret or the hold or a
half -deck I did not know. Anyway, I must
take all risks and abide the consequences.
Nothing coming of a etruggie could be worse
than eitting here waiting for hie homicidal
frenzy and his knife.
I sat still until the echooner lay a moment
on an even keel. Then suddenly I rose and
threw myself on him with all my force, pin-
ning both his arm to the floor. At first he
seemed stunned by the unexpectedness of
my assault. Then with a prodigious effort
he drew up hie legs between him and me
and, placing his knees against my cheat, ahot
me from him to the other side of the °thin
as easily as if I were a two-year.old child,
With a wild whoop he sprang to hie feet,
drew hie knife'opened in and fiouriahed the
long, thick blade over my head in act to
etrike. The vessel gave a more fearful roll
than the one betore, the worth roll yet, and
flung him back to his old position by the
stateroom door.
"We're homeward bound, my boy le he
yelled, atruggling to his feet. "We're
homeward bound, my boy, and we'll all eup
sulphur to -night out of an iron ladle 1 I'll
cut the etanding gear of your skull, my boy.
let daylight through your throthle 1" he
etheamed, making for me and jabbing the
air with his knife. "I'll take the hatches
off your windpipe, sonny 1 ffe're homeweird
bound, and ru give you a tow into—"
Now, in the cabin of the Queen Anne,
when I gave up all thought of ever again
seeing land, seeing anything but this cabin
and this man, I remember my first thought
on completing my survey of my environ
meuts was that the cabinneeded very badly
to be painted.
There, Bitting before me, was this maniac
who at any moment might become homi-
cidal. I was about to play a game for my
life, but had loth all concern in the stake,
I felt no stronger interest in the result than
I felt over an ordinary game of chess with
an opponent of whose strength I knew
nothing. To myseli now this is perfectly
inexplicible.
When I had completed my survey of the
cabin I fixed my eyes on St. Clair. Ap-
parently he had forgotten my presenee.
His head was sunk upon his chest, his long
gray beard lay fide upon his jersey; he was
thoughtially stropping his jacknife
on his sleeve. If I could get possession of
thee knife 1 should feel much easier.
" That's a fine knife, Captain. Where
did you buy it, in Lepton or Newcastle ?"
"No. I didn't bay it this voyage. It's
as sharp as a razer. I'm trying to rub the
blood staina off it."
"Blood stains 1" I said with a laugh,
"have you been filling the harness cask
May I look at it ?''
"No, thank you. I never drink spirits.,'
"More fool you. More d --d fool you."
He filled himself out some more, and bolted
Shia neat also. Then he sighed and looked
around him with clim, unseeine eyes and an
expreattion of pleas:eat contentment on the
rest of hie face.
By this time I was a great deal more than
uneasy; I felt fairly alarmed. What did he
mean by saying he had made all snug, and
why did he lock the cabin door and put the
key ia his pocket? I wen sitting on the bot-
tom looker, which running round three aides
of the imnzovable table, did duty for din-
ing -room chairs. The ae.bin was of the
usual horeeshoe shape, the door to the com-
panion being at one cock, the door into the
Captain's stateroom at the other. Between
these two doors and in the bulkhead was the
ttove, and in front of the two camp stools.
Between the Captain and me stood the
table, at which six or seven people might sib.
fender the skylight hung a barometerand the
the lamp, both in gimbals. Beyond the table,
the stools, and the barometer there was no
furniture of any kind in the cabin. I could
have touched St. Clair or he me across the
narrow table. The vessel SWIM rolling heav-
ily now and plunging sbarply, buti wan in no
danger of being thrown so long as I at still
and held on by the table.
"I really am in a hurry, Captain. Where
may I find the pen and ink? When you
went on deck I thought you'd bring them
down."
"My dear lad." he said, with a strange
look and a chuckle, "it's all right. When
I went on deck I made all snug. The boy
is gone ashore in the boat, and when I left
you a moment ago I cast off the paiuter of
your boat. So neither you nor I can go
;More, u.nd we're going to have a rare old
good jolly time, we are."
"Cast my beet off 1" I cried in dread, ris-
ing to my feet. "What did you do that for?
How dare you oast my boat off? I'll hail a
shore boat.
"You won't," he said, with a boitherous
laugh. "You can't f or two reasons: First,
bethinte," tapping his pocket with a playful
smile. "I've looked the cabin door and the
key is hore; second, because if you were to
shoub until you buret all the veins in your
your body not a soul could hear you in such
a gale. Hat hal hal"
The worst roll of all 1 I staggered across
the floor, tried to stop myself—failed—lost
daylight—felt a horrid blow all over my
body, and for a time, I know not how long,
was unconscious. When I recovered my
senses I was in complete darkness. 1 wae
struggling in water among floating objects, 1
inlaid not tell what. I seized hold of a plank
or board and tried in vain to pierce the
dense darkness. It had been daylight when
last my eyes saw, and now it was blackest
night. What could have happened? Where
was 1? In a moment the awful answer
came.
Tee Queen Anne had capsized and I
was under her, floating about among the
dunnsge. The entitle through which I had
fallen mustilhave led to a halecleok below,
When I touched that I must have been stun-
ned and have lain on it or rolled about ou-
tfit, the vessel turned, over, then the inruela
of water from the deck revived rne. The
moment I recovered omethiousness all this
was presented to me as plainly as though I
SSW the whole affair. I clutched two
floating pieces of plenk dunnage, and,having
passed tin :arm over each, considered my
position.
I could see abselutely nothinig, aud could
hear nothing but the burst and awash of the
water washing about in the sightless hold
Now 1 was pitcbed this way inow that
Now I was rolled to right, now to left. I
knew I was in no immediate danger of
death. There were twenty fathoms of wa-
ter where the Qaeen Anne had mipsized.
Some feet of air must be between me and
the flaoringe of the galliot, for in my first
struggles I had not been able to touch the
plank above my ihead. There was, there -
,ore, no reason to anticipate suffontion.
The plank and oakum and tar that sufficed
to'keep the water from entering the bottom
enclibends of the schooner when upright
would suffice to keep the air in when she
was upside down. In her rolling and pitch-
ing the great danger lay; for each plunge
the made air escaped and the water rose
higher in the hold. In the end all the air
would ooze out or get out in this plunging,
and tken the Queen Anne would sink. This
would not in all likelihood occur for days.
For days 1 When I came to this reflection
I remembered the month was March. All
at once I felt the bitter coldness of the
water. An icy chill shook me and my mar-
row froze. Whether the vessel swain for
days or weeks or months would be all the
eame to me. In an hour, or at most in two
hour., I should become numbed—be no
longer able to keep my hold on the planks
which now kept me aftsat. They would
slip from n.y grasp, and in an hour or less
after that I should be aa cold as the water
now stiffening my limbs.
"Von may not. This knife is not for
looking tee Ir's for feeling. It's for out
ting weasands. That's how I served Philip
Maple, the mate, when he refused to fences'
the snakes down that hatch there. I cut
hie weasand this way." He sawed at his
own throat with the back of the blade. He
pointed with his other hand to a email hatch
in the floor of the thin, between the table
end the dove. "And I shoved him down
there 1'
I shuddered. Could it be possible belied
done the thing of which he spoke? There
were, I oould see, etains on the steel,
but there are stains on all such iknivee
carried by minors. "Who's the maker?
Let me look 1"
"No, you don't ," he cried withean eath,
raising his face toward mine. He !shut
She knife, rolled up his jersey, and amp -
ed it into hie capacious trousers. "Yon
want to get hold of it and condemn it—not
for me 1"
I felt I had gained something by the die.
appearance of that mei derous-looking weep
on. I thought to myself, "11 I see him
put his hand near that pocket again I will
spring on him and risk all in a inuid to Wend
s trsubg algl e
"ir threw himself back on the lock-
er, rested both hands on the edge of the
table, and stared at rae. His eyee were prn-
minent, wild, and bloodshot. His face wee
now deadly pekeexcept the MSS, which
burned a red copper color. Although his
eyes rested fixedly on me they did not seem
to see me. They were looking through me,
behind me, beyone me. The thumbs of his
thick short dirty hands were under the leaf
of the table, and I knew by the whitening
of ,the flesh on the inner side of the fore-
fingers that he was clutching the leaf with
great force. I had never up to this then a
man in his condition, but r had read and
heard something of delirium tremene. I
knew that when suffering from an acute at.
tack his disease would lend him strength
and that he would riot be responsible for his
actions. He began speaking of his own ac-
cord:
"Philip Maple was a fool. I said to him
ae plain as plain could be that I would end
him below for hie long watoh if he didn't
follow the anakea down the scuttle; he
wouldn't, and then I cut away all the stand-
ing rigging of his head, and turned him into
my own bunk in my own atate-room. He's
laying to there now waiting for the last
trumpet." He shook himeelf, rose with a
shout, and stooping down, seized hold of a
ring in the latch end pulled up the hatch,
The vermeil at thia moment rolled thrribly
and he fell sprawling on the floor of the
cabin.
For a few minutes he floundered about
the venial pitohing and rolling fearfully, the
while. I dared not at le I could not keep
my feet if I moved. It took me all my
etrength and address to retain my place by
the table. Presently the moth% �f the vesi
gel moderated, and Captain St Clair with
a horrible oath eat tip and glared wildly
I was standing at the port aide of the
cabin on the space in front of the locked
cabin:door. In my exeietment I had not
laid hold of anything. The pellet gave a
fearful roll, and I wee sent over headlong
in a heap against the starboard side in hone
of the Captain's stateroom. 1 struggled to
my feet as queekly as I could. For a mo-
ment Was confused by the fall.
"Why, whore are your neelege, messmate?
A bucket couldn't make a worse tack than
that 1 What I Washed like that down into
the lee scuppers by a pint and a half of
fresh river water Conte once, man, and
sit down. Bring up at your moorings and
lethi have a jolly time—it won't be for long."
Against the half de lo under the oabin and
crawled on tbe bottom of it, There, at all
events, I wee found lying three hours af ter -
ward, The bottom of the half-deok must
have been juet flush with the watee in the
hold, aud henoe I was not drewned.
It appears that when the Men etanding at
the corner of the greet eaw the Queen Anne
blow over they raised the Marin, and the
whole effective forth of Layton wan enlisted
for theme. There MAI little hope any one
would be found eboarcl the genet, but: they
oried, "To bile rescue 1" as though the livee
of e, battalion were obviously at stake. The
mune, Maple, and the boy were believed to
beniboard. The men had seen $t Clair cast
off ray boat, and they mourned that in a
drunken freak he had cast off the ship's boat,
too, As a matter of fact, both the mate and
boy were We °Aimee in a distant part of
the town,andall the madman had said to me
about Maple was the figment of a disordered
brain.
The firat thing the miming piety did was
to get a tug alongside the galliot She was
fast to the buoy by a cable. This was in.
intently one,' After great efforts and with
muoh diffioulty the schooner, still bottom
up, was towed to the edge of the graving
dook. As she came into shoal water the
great fear was that the masts would go
through her bottom. They went by the
hoard instead, and the Qaeen Anne was
floated into the dock anrt headed up as
far as possible, The tide was now
running out. The galliot grounded, and
and minute by minute the water around her
and in her decreased. In less than two
hours from the time she oapsizsd she was
dry enough to allow of men entering her by
She gangway, and up the main hatch they
got to the hold where I lay on the bottom of
the half -deck delirious with terror. My fall
through that scuttle had saved my life. The
unfortunate muter and owner was found
drowned in the cabin above.
Oa the third day after my rescue I was
well enough to attend the unhappy Cap-
tain's funeral. At the grave the mate came
up to me and said : "You didn't know
him, young man, as well as I did. He Yeas
a good man and a thorough sailor. When
he hadn't the drop aboard he was the best
chap that ever Naiad," He daebed a tear
indignantly from his eye. "He knew 'twits
°online. He knew he wain* going to sign
that charter for you ever. For he said to
me the morning. the went over, Go ashore,
Phil ; it's blowing too hard to haul into
berth. They want me to sign for clay for
London, but I won't. Phil, for I'm homeward
bound.'"
"It was yearn before I reoovered fully
from the effects of that day's experience, and
even still the sight of a gannet fide me with
tumultuous memories, and often I awake in
the night from dreamt and hear, as clear as
a trumpet note upon the silence, words
and familiar, but which make nae sick
vsith terror—" We're horaevvard bound, my
boy; we're homeward bound."
Captain St. Clair was right; I was home,
ward bound.
With the thought of that murderous
maniac suddenly appealed to my imagine,
tion an awful question : Where was Philip
Maple, the mate? St. Oak had said at one
time that he had put the mate in hie own
bunk; at another that he had thrust him
down the lazaret scuttle. Was it now
washing about beide me ? It with its
awful wound? Thank heaven I had these
planks 1 They would keep ft away. It
could not come very near me to long as I
bad a plank on each side of me. The ple.nkt
were a merciful protection against that
hideone contact. • But, then, it might touch
the part of my arms and my hands outside
the plenks 1 Ugh 1
And yet what egregious nonsense was
this on my part I Jut now my brothers
were the living e in an hour or two my
brother% would be the dead. I should not
mind tlae fearful fellowship of Maple so
much only for the hideous wound.
Then I was cursed by the eight in dark -
n888 of imago too (idiom to desoribe. In
my hands I f alt contacts of complete and
unendurable illusion. Lights glanced and
darted and flashed before my eyes. Lights
pierced my eyes and shot through my brain
with fiery thrills of agony. Lighta entered
my eyea in thin pencils, and then impacted
themeelves on the bones of my skull, and
grew in bulk and glare, and spread out and
permeated all my brain, and auffused all my
head and blazed with an intolerable tyranny
in all the hollows of my skull until the walls
of my skull ahem with a piercing white light
more unendurable than the voiceless gloom
of virgin spate.
Ali the time my hands auffered the ap-
palling minted. All the time my hands held
the throat -lose man by the throat])
Then Heaven's- mercy was moved ; the
lights went out ; my hands relaxed, and all
was dark and void of sound and feeling.
How long I washed auout eupported by
the planks I do not know. When reason
, Government to deneunce tenet iSeheitifien,
been Captain and owner of the yn b mine as well as my hueband's.°
a •
The Siftinc• of the Apple Bloom.
The orchards were all white with bloom,
The scented air was balm,
The birds their little rain-songa sang.
Across the Mayday calm.
" Twetwetwntwetweent,
Better -go home -now -m.1304 1"
0 the sifting of the apple bloom 1
My little love had golden hair,
And eyes of trustful blue,
She said : "0 Willie, if it rains,
hatever shall we do ?"
" Tvvetwebwetwi-tvw ee-t,
I know -a shelter sw-ee 51"
0 the silting of tb.e apple bloom
The pearly drops began to fall:
Beneath the apple tree
I clasped her close, the rain was short,
But love eternity.
" Twetwetwetwinw ee.t,
Never mincethe-rain-now-sw-ee-t 1"
0 the sifting of the apple bloom 1
KATE BROWNLEE SHEBWOOD.
(.1.411fa4T4:,
Mtn. Rooth Conkling °was a neoklace
&sighed by Napoleon I. It is very exqui-
site, workmanahip, the ortainellng, hefng
fainoue for its brilliancy. The emperor
serially supervieed its manufacture. ter
his death it found its way to this tentacle',
where it WAS purcenteed by Mr. Conklinge
The GOVESSal emperor reoeived a very
original Eaater egg It is of candied Outgo
and ie supported by stethelites in sugar of
Prince Blarnark And Count Moltke. Upoe
the egg is a group representing the imperial
family (likewise in sugar, oelored), whiiethe
egg iteelf containe a mental isonwhich plays
the Prussian nationel hymn.
Tamberlik, the tenor, who died the other
day, was onoe throning:through the market
ed Madrid, when he noticed a great lot of
song -birds in cages. He drew a ithoinerid
franc note from his pooket, banded ib to, the
proprietor, and threw open all the cages.
sawing: "Go and, be free, my brothers!" as
the birds flew away.
It is related thab when Mies Jewsbuer
was staying with the Wordsvvorths she
wrote a short poem. She thought ahe had
worked very herd at it and carried it down
triumphantly to breakfast. "There, lefre
Wordsworth," she exclaimed, "I epent three
hours over these lines." "Young lady," re-
plied the greet poet—"young lady, I have
spent three weeks over the same number of
lines,"
An Amerioan newspaper 'syndicate recent-
ly offered William E. Gladstone the surd of
$25,000 for a series of twenty-five athletes on
subjects of current interest. The following
reply has been received from Mr. Gladstone r
"Ab my age the stook of brain power &ea
not wax but wanes, and the public calls upon
my tirae leave me only a fluotuating residue
to dispose of. All idea of a series of efforts
is, therefore, I have finally decided, wholly
beyond my power to embrace,
Fencing for I/Vol:lien.
Fencing ie now as much a young ladyde
pastime aa tennis or horseback riding, and
everybody who kiaows how beneficial this
exercise is to the tamale system is glad it is
so Its votaries, in fact, say it is a lady's
aport par excellence, as it needs quickness
and skill more than strength Wad, daring,
and develops thane qualities which are so
Se/feudal to a lady, viz., a graceful carriage
and they motion. On the diva given np to
the ladies the large hall of the Fence& Club
retentuele with the stamping of feet and
°linking of blades. The instructor gives
eaoh pupil a lesson, which generally lasts
&bent fifteen minutes. Thee two friends
may chellenge each other and put in pram
tice the thrusts and guards they have just
teemed. The weaker sex makes up in pram
doe the thrusts and guards they have just
learned. The weaker sex makes np ia min
ning what it lacks in strength. Women are
muola mere artful than men. In no case is
thin evidenced more clearly than la fencing.
A ntan will make it bold open attack, which
his opponent will parry if he keeps cool. A
woman waits apparently with no fixed par.
pone until the sees her opportunity ; then
with quickness; of eye and hand which
defies parrying she makes her thrust, and
stitheede if the can keep her point straight.
A parry would come too late ; retreat is the
only safeguard,
The English barmaids who are to attend
the Paris Exposition are attracting immense
attention in that city. It has been hinted
that there will be some ordinance forbidding
the employment of all women in the cafes
during the show, and the papers are full of
advice to young men how not to be enthrall-
ed.
A counterpart of the "Salon des Refuses,"
which in Paris takes and exhibits such pic-
tures as are rejected by the Salon jury, bete
be established in London for the accom-
modation of the five or six thousand ea
pirauts who can hot get into the Royal
Aoademy. Although the Paris institution. is
regarded in the light of a huge joke, yet it
was the raeans of first placing Whistler and
several other noted men before the Parisitute
While clearing an old swamp last week,
Mr. Martin Flush, living near Pleasant
Valley, Indiana, discovered quite a curiosity.
Several feet beneath the leaves and muck
he unearthed what appeared to be a stone
book. Close inspeotion showed it ice be a.
family Bible, bearing the date 1773 plainly
lettered. It is now solid limestone. Those •
who have examined the book abate that it
was originally a real book and is now pee.
rifled.
To harden crayon pencil and charcoal
drawings and sketches so that they. will not
fade aeon or rub off, lay the paper in a, shal-
low dish, and pour skimmed milk over it
when well wet all over, raise into a vertical
position and allow it to drain, removing
with a feather the last drops from the bot-
tom edge ; dry carefully, or wash it over
with warm starala solution, thin isinglass -
water, or rice -water, applying it with a
camel'shair brush.
" By the death of Franciecus Cornelia
Denolers," says the London "Athentenne.
"not only does Holland mourn her most
distinguished investigator, but men of sci-
ence in all countries feel that they have lost
one of the leaders of physiology and the
first ophthalmologist of hie time. It is now
scarcely ten months since the celebration
of his seventieth birt hday was marked by
the congratulations of his admirers and
pupils in all parts of the world, and his
appointment to the Erne ritue professorship,
which he had earned by forty years of hard
work."
The National Academy exhibition just
closed sold $21,000 worth of pictures. Thie
is a falling off from last year, when the sales
reached $22,000, and $27,000 in 1887. In
1886 125 paintings were Bold for $27,000 int
1885 122 were sold for 29,000, and in 1881
the sales amounted to $30,000 in round num-
bers. In 1883 the receipts from the sale of
pictures exceeded $40,000. An amount near-
ly as large was realized in 1882. The beat
year financially, in the academy's history,
was 1881, when 120 pictures brought $42,
800. Int1880 the sales amounted to $28,000.
What They Were For.
Poet: "I thought this new building of
yours Was fire -proof ?" E Hear : "Yen ; it
Poet: Then why do you have those ex.
tioguishera and bottles ell through the build-
ing ?'' Editor : "To put out poets."
---
We have Put enough religion to make s
hate, but nob enough to make us love one
smother.
The last ship to touch at Pitcairn Islan d
the bark Fri th of Clyde, reports that there are
117 souls on the island, 45 males and 72
females, and 38 of them are children.
Another fleet of French torpedo boats,
seven in ali, put to sea from Toulon to go to
Ville French°. Time were driven back to
Cannes by the weather, all more or lees
seriously damaged.
Miss Susan 13. Anthony, is nearly SOVOIIty•
but her figure Is straighter than that of many
a girl of seventeen. Her eyes are very bright,
end her rather thin face expresaes ancuteneas
and kindly intelligence. She drethes quietly
but richly in dare silks with fine lane for
garniture. She leas one very feminine weak -
11615}3—a horror of going out in the rain. She
thoroughly enjoys the attentione vvhich the
younger and more progresaive New York
women have been seizing their opportunity
to lavish on her. Whether they believe in
women auffrage or not, there is e. conetant
beneath he the retake of the women who are
grateful to the women suffrage agitation for
the improvement in the legal and sooial
osition of thct sex which the diecutnion has
Thirty years ago, when the population of
England and Wales was about 19,250,000,
She average number of penal servitude
sentences was 2,589 ; but ber the end of 1887
when the population had risen to ovei
'27, 750,000, the average re -amber of such
sentences had tenon to 962. On the last
day of 1869 there wae 11,660 persons under.
going sentences of penal servitude in Eng
land and Wales, the poyul ition then being
21,681,000. In July, 1888 when the rope
laden had advanced to nearly '28,000,000
the penal servitude subjects had f alien to
6,921.
An English friend of the late Laurence Oli-
phant says that there never was a man so
indifferent] about money. He came one day
to a bank in London, and :asked for a boa
that he had long ago deposited there, and
which he believed to contain valuable scour.
ities and important papers. The box wet
brought; he had no key, and there was nom
In the posseinion of the custodians of tee
box. It was therefore broken open. Whai
were the contents? A battered old meer-
schaum pipe, and nothing more. And wha
were the results of this discovery on Oli
phant ? Not any expression of disappoint
ment or regret, but peal upon peed of thin
delightful and infectious laughter which al
who knew him will ever connect with th,
personality of Laurence Oliphant.
Anti-Semitism has become so intense and
aggreseive in Vienna as to create a powerfo
and vigorous opposition. Two hundred...am
fifty firme 113 Buda•Peath have published
common decleration to the effect that teen
vsill cease visiting Vienna's Internationa
Corn 'Market in consequence of the growtl
of the Anti Semitic movement in that 0111
Similar declarations have been signed b,
the corn merchants of ediskolcz, Arad, an,
Pressburg. in Hungary, and by a *meow
others in Prague, the majority of whom an
said. to be Christians. This beyootting
Vienna has told ao upon the commercial an
industrial °lathes that the Vienna Asecedatioi
formed to attracb vieitors to the capital, ha
formally set its views of affeirs before th
Austrian Premier. Trade and induatrie
se the association, especially the art in
dustry, are at the lowest ebb in Vienna
principallylaecauterichforeigners avoid twit
in which those who spend money are hel
up to opprobrium and hatred, and also let
wealthy Jewish reagents student,
elped to produce. " I'd ile dowel lie the °atm th°
mot for any inaii or woman to mew over," 117 refrain from any display of luxury in, ordi
mid y mug mother it wlao temeg mite eim to escape the Meath's of the AnteSenaite
have left me instinot must have remained for I
11 lawmakers realize that my baby ought to lbe The memorial closest With a leetition toeithe.
teat, alter tang washed aft, have oome