The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1861-12-07

pldlIl vi uldhOHuS. Inc graceful DOatS
Of the Greek fishermen flOated here and
there amid the magic beauty Of the scene
like fairy barks. From one and another
came at intervals the chorus of careless
song, or the mellowcr tones of voices
singing Of love and its joys and palms,
The island Of Egina lay dark and massive
in the bosom of the lovely bay, tlinging
its heavy shadows deep down about its
base. About two leagues distant was be.
calmed,
"Iike a painted ship upon painted ocean" Z"
an American brigantine of | 6 guns. She
had been all the afternoon beating up to-
ward Corinth, and now lay as quiet on
the still gulf as If she had terminated her
voyage forever. Her broad canvass hung
listlcSsly from her masts, shining bril-
lIantly white in the glitter of the moon
beams, which, in those Grecian seas, seem
ts do their best TO rival the MONDAY sun
in splendOr.
From time TO time the vessel discharg-
ed gun, which echoed among the hills
Of the island like rolling thunder. The
effect, as heard in the night, was truly
sublime. The smoke sailed rff in wreaths
Of silver The midnight passed, and yet
the hrigantnr remained moti0nlcSS; but
every half hour She fired off her caIron-
AIDES.
We shall not have wind until the
sun is up said the commander. by
that time Randolph will be on board. DO
you See nothing Of the boat, there nloit!'
No sir, answered the lookout from the
fprr-topganant cro>>trcc>.
1t is 80 cOnioundcl black in there un-
der the shadow Of the i>iand,' said Il mid
>hipman on the watch, that We could see
nothing two miles this side Of il, anl no:
until it cnergcS into the moonlt space
'C"ntuund this sightseeing, that runs
ali our Officers mad after ruins whenever
they come near an old Greek island!
wish Homer had been born blind ere he
had written about places that are about
as real as the Arabian Nights But Ran
d"lph'S marriage in Smyrna will cure
hin
This was uttered By the Captain Of the
briSanlinc, a fine, weather beaten sailor,
who had everything Of the gentleman in
him but Latin and Greek, which he th0't
NJ great deficiency. Neither did his
friends; nature and observation had con-
ferrr,i upon him such noble qualities.
But, captain, said the Lrddy, it must
bc very agreeable to be able to sail about
these seas by the card, and tell what was
done here, and what there, before old
father NoaIi'S flood; how OH that island
stood Solomon'> temple. and on the other
dwelt the children Of Israel. How on
such promontory Samson slew Goliah,
and David ran oil with POliphar's wife
how
'Confound the fellow exclaimed the
captain, you are as full Of the Bible as
Gordon Randolph is Of Virgil. Your pa
rents must have been of the Puritan stock,
Middleton, and taught you catechiSm with
the cat O nine tails
Not |. am Southern lad, captain,
but YOU see had good deal of Scripture
hammered into Inc before was eight, by
a nice Yankee school mistress who had
wandered out South.
4 fanced something like that. Do you
see the boat? If not, give them another
gun TO come on board
NO, sir. Yes, sir!'
well, which is it!'
Yes, sir; see boat pulling this way.
Then it is likely to be the CUTTER
There are SO many ugly fellows among
these islands that began to think our
men had got into some difficulty
The boat, which had been made out to
be the briggs cutter, at length came along
side. There were four men in it, pulling,
but no one in the stern sheets. Upon see
ing this the commander called out in a
startling tone of alarm,
where Is Lieutenant Randolph
we couldn't find him, sir answered
one of the men, US he came up the brig $
side. o.
Couldn't find him! Don't say so =
What is the matter? Why didn't he
come off with you? Has anything be-
fallen hlm!'
we fear there has, SIR answered the
men together.
This is Incredible; tell me straight
story, or shall believe you have thrown
him overheard
we had no grudge against him, sir.
Every man in the ship likes him, sir
After We pulled into the island, which we
reached about half an hour before sunset,
he leapt on shore, and as he did so, he
said he would be back in two hours, and
began to climb hill, on the top of which
was some sort of Jupiter's temple, he
said
'Confound the Jupiters temple! Go
on
'Well, sir, VIC sky-larked about till after
the moon was up, and as he said he only
wished to see the ruins by moonlight, We
OOk our places in the boat and waited for
him. Well, sir, We waited full an hour,
when, seeing he didn't heave in sight, two
of US agreed to go and lODk for him, think
ing he might have got off sOundings, or
missed stays, bcatin' down hill, and got
among breakers. After we had got to the
top and seen nothing, We hallOed and hail
ed him, but could get no answer. Then
we heard the firing 70? Us to come aboa. i.
But we thought we'd cruise sharp for a
while all about the ground, and our ship
mates, finding we didn't come back, made
sail after US to give US their aid. Well,
sir, we sounded every fathOm O. the tenn