St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1861-01-31
sNE EcTED MISCELLANY.
HEATED CREW.
AsTALE OF TEE ARCTIC OCEAN.

Z =
-A.rALE OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
Z thought was standing near the le
ssof our ship. the '.z:yaugus," looking GU
upon the iec-bergs as they driftsd past. s
| A figure rose slowly up from the sea
and moved toward me- The face wa
white and rigid, the eyes glazed and va
cant. the lips eoloiless. while the froze,
c,lrls Of dark brown hair. that clusteree
about the temples. stirred not to th,
breathings Of the wind. / knew tn,
eonntcpance well--it was that Of my ship.
mate William Glen. Within ten fathom.
Of the vessel, he came to sudden pause
fixing his eyes steadily upon my face
Then his right hand slowly lifted, and wa.
laid upon his breast. in the region Of th.
heart His lips parted, aud in voice OF
hollow mournfulncss be spoke:
1T is STILL" said Le; frozen in my
bosom. Write home to my mother. and
tell her that she will see me no more
mn dead"'
A gust Of wind swept bowling by. 4
huge drift of ice crushed aginst the ship,
side. There was loud thumping noise,
like The tramp Of many feet The spectre
vanished from my sight, and | awoke ia
find myself. not standing by the lee rail
of the vessel, but snugly rucked up in my
bunk.
Bang, bang. bang" (at the foreeas-
tie seuttle.) "All hsads rho-o-o-y
Stand by the boats" (Bang! bang
baUg) Dye hear down there? Tumble
up! tumble up. tumble up"
This shrill hail. piercing the ears of the
watch below. and to which their dreams
gave way like so mnch smoke before IA
violent puff Of wind. caused the men COM
posing the watch to leap al,Aos, simultane-
ousl y from their respective hunks, anu
dress themselves in the quickest time pos
s'ble. William Glen. the young seaman.
whose ghost had greeted my sleeping vi
sion moment before. was now pulling on
his boots. bis CHEEKS all sglow, and his
eyes sparkling with ardor
But their was no leisure at present for
relating my dream to him Whales were
in sight, and the voice of the mate could
already he heard, inpatiently shouting
for the crew of his boat.
Pants, boots and jackets having been
hastily adjusted. we rushed pcll-,nell up
the forecastle steps and made our appear
ance On deck. Emerging thus from our
warm quarters below, the icy chill of the
cold Arctic breeze was keenly felt; for,
the lateness of the season,
when every whacr but eur own had prob
ably forsahcn these waters-notwithstand-
ing that we were in danger Of being shut
out from toe Pacific by the masses of ice
aceumulating in Bherirg's Straits--the
captain Of the Lycurgus had refused 10
bulge one isch from his present latitude
which was seyenty-three degrees north.
until he should succeed in capturing one
more whale.
And now We nigh. all predict that his
wish was about to be gratifed, for as VIC
glanced over the ships bow. we caught
sight of+hree large bow-heads to leeward
slowly gliding along the edge Of an ice
field in the distance.
The boats were soon got in readiness:
the order to lower away was given. and
they dropped into the water. With the
main sail and jib of each boat spread to
the breeze, and our paddles briskly but
noiselessly parting the waves, we were
soon gliding swiftly in the direction of The
whales, who were now abeu, ono mile and
a half distant, still pursuing their course
along the edge Of the icc-field.
Presently they turned fukcs and went
down. The men were then ordered to-
stop padding. and having proceeded q
little further. the boats were brought up
into the wind to wait for the next rising
As sat upon the gunwale of the one
to which l belonged. and my eyes wan.
dsred to the larboard boat, which was a
little ahead of the rest. and which CEN
tanned William Glen among its crew. ex-
perienced strange and unaccountable
feeling of uneasiness-a sort of present.
ment, that for few moments weighed
heavily upon my spirits. Almost instan-
taneously with this sensation my thoughts
reverted to the disagreeable dream from
which ] had been SO suddenly aroused on
suipoOAFu.
With powerful effort of my will. how
ever. l succeeded in shaking off these
gloomy Impressions; and the rising of the
whales soon afterward turned my thoughts
into different channel.
The fish having changed their course q
lftsie, while under water, we're now going
dead to leeward. The jib and main sheets
OF tbs various boats were accordingly
SACKED off. our paddles again put in rcgui-
sition. and with good bree.e filing our
sails. We went dsncing merrily upon our
way. TO the music of the waves that rippled
around our bows.
The mate still took the lead, and was
now about quarter Of mile ahead OF US.
The nearest one of the whales was not
father than that from his boat, and ne had