St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1864-07-07

could see her sails plain enough; we are
too far out at sea for any coasters carry
ing cattle Besides, there's no such trade
on this coast, and we're eight hundred
miles from it." .'' IL. - x
III It's from boat, what kind Of q crew
must she have. That's what I want TO
know" said = second. II know what it
is to be ad,ift and perishing. I was one
time on !. raft with twenty more, for two
and thirty days, and whole lot Of 'emii
went mad and died raging, from drinking
the salt water, and yelled and fought, and
throttled each, other till they we're pitched
overheard; bat then, these here sounds
aren't human like" ""'
Couldn't be . whale, Bill, that made
that moanln' noise :" asked another Of the
boat-steerers, who was a veteran salt,
having followed bio calling as . sealer
and vhaler in anpsrts of the world.
well, it might be-that noise might
though twarn't exactly like i. neither.
I've heard 'em too often ~not to know 'em.
Sperm whale don't roar much; but right
black, or Greenland species, common all
over the world, you can hear, at times,
miles away. / remember once, when l
was in New Zcaland-we was Bay
whaling near Hokianga-we killed COW
whale and her calf and towed 'em Into
the bay. Well, the old bull, he came in
frou, sea- At snigh,fall, and KEEP up such
moanin' and roarin' it was pitiful to hear
him. He knowed las missus had gone in
there, you see, and hs was a calm on her
to come out aud for nigh hand onto a
week, every night, he'd tack about in the
ofang, until daylight, waiting and calm
her. Twarn't till we stripped the blubber
off her, and towed the carcass out to sea,
that he gave in and left -
For some time the men listened; but
nothing further was heard or seen. They
also rowed for some distance in the direc-
ton Of the sounds, and again shouted, but
got no reply and IN hour afterwards
they we're picked up and taken on board.
The captain, when he heard their story,
swept the horizon with his night glass
but detecting no sail, he concluded that
the vessel from which the light had pro-
ceeded (if they really had seen it had
passed out Of sight in the Interval; and
as tor the sounds which had startled them,
he made light of.kem. -~-- :. -.. .<ssls
You heard u grampus grun,ing, or
some seals shorting, or, maybe, some pen
gums trumpeting," he said "You were
all knocked up and half asleep. Turn in,
the whole lot of you, and take snooze
till daylight, for We must finish stripping
and trying out this fish. A set OF lubbers
you were, to lose that other whale!"
The men did as they were ordered, but
were perfectly convinced that the sounds
they had heard were not caused by an,
such agencies as their commander had
mentioned. The light, strange as it was,
might have proceeded from a
passing ship, although, in that case, it
was odd they could not see it. Each Of
the noises separately also might be thus
for. perhaps; but the whole oc-
curing together, and proceeding from one
quarter, was to them inexplicable.
They had been asleep some hours, and
day was about to break. The breeze had
slightly treshened; but the ship after hav-
ing picked up the boats, had been hove
to, and consequently had remained nearly
during the night, the carcass OF
the whale having been placed alongside,
by tackles, preparatory to strip
ping the blubber, or ''blauket- piece ns it
is technically called. Some OF this had
already been taken off, hoisted on deck,
cut up, and placed in the huge coppers,
used in the sperm whale fishery for boiliDg
Tor "trying OUT" as it is termed) the oil
these coppers being imbeded in BRICK
work, on The upper or open deck. The
fires beneath them being laid ready for
the mate was busy with his prep
arations when the captain, who had been
in bed, turned out and came on deck. ,.
''bo you know" said he, 'that really
think there was NO mistake in what the
hands said? There's something out Of the
way going on, or atoat near us. My
cabin window was opcn-the head Of my
bunk is close to it-and Us I lay there
heard something-I can't make out what
Did you not hear anything!" g..
mo; we've been busy knocking about
the decks. What Was it hke?" .-s
:''Well, at first it was like what the men
said--:deep groaning, moaning, aud rum
bling kind Of noises. good distance off
Then heard scream then
some one laughing-a rum sort Of laugh it
was too. l should have thought m, self
dreaming, only for what the men had
said.'' i'7'.. '2fs -. 2's, '@ ~ :s. -
''How long since was this ?" asked the
mate. Mi f. .,..,.,t.
"WithiA this last quarter of an hour.
But is everything ready for trying out,
Mr.. Smart :" And the captain examined
the preparations made. .'Call the watch
~ soon ~ it is light enough, and set all
hands to work. The ooppers are charged
." you may as well light the fires, and then