Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-03-18
The Bur ming Ship,
By c. J. PETERSON.

llOu. 1IlC 4A6io tliC oMcdU6Sb dllu HOS
romantic cottage in the vicinity ot
:, Philadelphia, tits but nine miles
from the city, and near fine old
turnpike, sd that sHan of blood
; horses will take you Il ilere in forty
minutes. His wife is IA perfect an
lgel; beautiful sweet td dmpered, and
Eoyes Harry deyotedlyl And Il hen
"a group Of ! 4ach lovely children!
did you ever hear how Isabel
IhnH | became acquaintea?f said he to
mf, one ever ling. loolin 3 on bis wife.
! shook my head in t be negative.
i i'Well, then, draw your chair closer
to the fire, and | will tell you"
/ With those words he began:
! 1t was a night in the tropics.
we had been in pursuit Of a heavy.
me drchAntmaH, but a fog coming up,
she was shutIin from OF b sight. and
f4r more than an hour lIemained in
visible. SUI ddenly, h owever, the
moon broke forth, and we saw the
chase closehapled, on tho very point
Of escaping us-s We in4tantly made
all sail, but the wind whs 50 uncer-
ID in that the stranger Kept his adj
Vintage, the air being comparatively
still with us, while he haH a respecta-
bic breeze. AIT length il fell dead
g i'm the chase being b this time
several miles pn..
! She could now be seeh, lying in a
liquid fluid Of moonlight rising and
falling hzily upon the swell, her
white sails Sc arcely moving from the
mast, and flashing in the distance,
like a sea gull's snowy wing. All at
one & Capt. Drew, who hdd been scru-
tiniFing her through ills glass, ex-
claimed ~
1 There is spmething tho matter on
boatal there, the men hade almost all
left her decks and even those aloft
p4iring are coming dowh-what can
it b { -Mr Jon esq"
II can't mike out sir the CROW,
per r@aHs has hutinied, they are run
nm& VI Wildly hfther and thither-Ro,
my God, the ships on fife!' he ejAc-
ulaied as a cloud of {hick, bla elk
smd dl5e suddenly puffed tip her fof re-
hat{ {hway, followed by a long, vi9 id
sire hm Of fire. that shotPp brightly
into the midnight sky.
Ee saw at once that the hame les
must have been raging some time in
the hold, and that they had attaine ed
an j htensity which would defy every
effort to subAue them. lit wasa fea r.
ful tight. The eager element sh pt
along tie rigging, ran swiftly up the
fore hast, ana wrapping The hamper
in a Sheet of fire, streaming almost
perEIendicularly upward a fathom or
two above the truck. There was no
bree ze; but the undulatib bns Of tlleI
atm bsphere swept the d4 4nse smoke
to 0 he side, forming, as it were, a
gloom my curtain against which the
lurid flames shone in tel 4rible relief.
Every object on board cd duld now pc
distinctly seen, and we noticed that
all al once. the crew rushed aft. "A
signhl of distress the ne ext instd ntI
was shown on the quarte5. All ills
had passed in moment
Lower away the boats pipe tn eir
crews there, Boatswain! qElick, sir, or
the poor wretehes will be lost" thu a.
dereA the captain.
The men hurried to their stations,
fired with a asl-mpathy equal to bis !
own.
MIR. Danforth," said he, Il shall
give you the command of the leading
boat. spare no effort to re ach there in
time but, III continued in whis-
per, +mind the magazineP'
Gay, ay, SIR answer fd, touching
my Hat, and leaping int b the stern
sheets, l continued, 'push b off there
forwd drd--and now give Fay, with q
viii, boys-pull!"
At these W prds, the hen bent to
their cars with the thew4 of giants.
curling the waters in I'd am beneath
our j ows, sending the bohts along as
if they had been pleasure sklffs.
But swift as was ohr progress,
that of the des stroying element was
more so. The fire had spread with
such lfightful rapidity as to wrap
the whole fore top Of the ship in |
flamds and Threatened to consume