Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-12-27

and stoke hole were oft. There was plat
form Just like this, at the level Of the tops
of the cylinders, on each side of the engine
room, and across the forward part Of il,
close to the bilkhead; with ladders at the
after-ends Of the two side platforms leading
dawn to the stoke hole; and another at the
middle Of the part that went across, by
which you descended to 6 narrow passage
between the engines, where the starting
handles, etc. were placed at-the same
part Of the platform vas the ladder which
communicated with the deck.
"You will see from this that there was at
the forward end Of the engine-room, having
the cylinders and ends of, the engines on one
side.of it, the bulkheadS on the other, and
the cross platform for a root, q space about
four feet wide, and in length the whole
width Of the ship. The port side Of this
space was filed with tallow -casks, eilScans,
etc for which there Was not room in the
store closet; but on the starboard side
there was q rice, snug, little spot, kept
cool, though not so near the
cylinders, by the draught Of air from the
deck, and through some holes IN the bulk
head, from the fore hold. This snuggery
was approached by narrowipassage nthe
starbGard side Of the ship--for the ladders
and the deck pump prevented you from
getting in from between the engines, and
The donkey engine was in the way on the
port side; and you had to make a rush to
get in, when you did, without @ ducklng
from the starboard waste water pipe
through the ships side, which was very
leaky, SO that there Was generally a torrent
of water falling down from it. But once in,
with q bag Of cotton wipings for a bed, and
my jacket rolled up for a pillow, 1'could
generally calculate on q comfortable snooEe
without disturbance from the wheels or
anything else. I am obliged to be so par
,ticular in NY description, or you would
never understand what have to relate. In
this fayorite spot of mine, then, you will
understand that lay down, and in g. very.
few minutes vas fast asleep.
g had not slept very long, when awoke
with a start, and with an, uneasy conscious
ness that there was something unusual in
the working of the engines. I1eant on my
elbow and listened. They were going much
more slowly than usual, and there WAS, "a
peculiar jerking style about their motion
which seemed as if they were working
expansively with high steam and the
well known rushing sound in. the steam
pipes, like the wind through doorway,
when the door is aj&r, showed ne in q
moment that they were closely thfottled
.--this is, that the; valves in the pipes Lead
ing to the cylinders were partially clossd,.
so as to check the flow of steam from tie
boilers to the engines | saw, too, that
there was a very bright glow from the fur
naces, and that the fires were more than
usually intense. 'fancied, also, from the
absence of the usual currents of air, except
through the windsail and from the fore4hcld
and the appearance Of the lights and shad-.
ows, that the hatches over the crank graf
ings, and the companion leading to the deck,
were closed-agthing that was very unusual
except in bad weather :. e,,-,, .fr.I..rss,i 3is
q | was about to creep out Of my lair to
see what was the meaning of all this, when
L heard persons in conversation in the.
passage between the engines, and almost
close to whore was By slight move
ment was also able TO see them One was
our chief engineer, who had never before.
been seen in the engine room, at this hour
OF the night: he had his hands on the in
lection handles, and was regulating the
supply of water to the diminished Quantity
of steam passing through the. engines. The
other, with his back turned iowa ds me, was
person whom did not know ct all. He
appeared slight, gracefully formed young
man, Of middle height, dressed in SAILORS
clothes of 3 fine texture, and with the voice
of s. youth rather than Of man. I should
have gone ottrat once to see to see what was
doing, but the first words distinguished
arrested my attention in moment, It was
the. youth who said:
90 How long before we shall leave the
ship?' ssd 9a.sss,o sisii aaud 9tG3e.i
=" Not long, now replied the chief;
but we have nothing more to do, except to
start when it is time ,7ss 3Ho@ ~ 7@-
j.. /" 'IAre you sure tho third engineeris all
right2' nc. -s,..~., -:as -; ii. T.,
) ,.t'Yes, He sleeps In one of the wheel
houses9 and have turned the key upon
him !; Dick is at the wheel; the rest Of the
watch ison deck, and these smutty fellows
are disposed Of. We have lowered the boat
all safe, and all is ready for start
g fThen why not gonowg' ia" ,A''D}
"eNo, we might still be discovered in
time to spoil all. Let us wait till the last
moment, and we shall BE sure that we have
got rid of the Internal ship and all that
could ever give us. trouble, But, by ~
he. said, with glance .towardsth the gauges
there isn't much time to spare, either,
The steam mounts quicker than Thought J;
it is at twenty-five already, and the water
is all out Of the gauges, Just step on deck
and tell Dick we shall be off at once
s.|The youth turned and assembled quickly
to the deck = and the chief went to the.stoke
hole, opened the furnace doors, looked at
the fires, and threw in some Goals and tai
lew. ~ 81 80 aS''*@ ~ - 81
81 should make'a bad hand at describ--
ing my feelings, and all that sort of things;
but I think you may imagine that the unac
countable appearance of a stranger in the
ship--tho intelligence that the watch both
on deck and liz the engine room were dis
posed of--the knowledge that the steam was
attwentyfive poundsto the inch four usual
working pressure being ffteen1-and rapidly
rising, with the safety-valves, of course,
fastened down or very heavily loaded
engines throttled of half their steam, the
feed in the boilers very low, and the fur
naces fed with oil and tailow, it was alto
gether enough to make one feel queer. The
boilers were new and strong; but, for that
very reason, when they did give way,i the
destruction would be the greater; and |
expected soon a terrific explosion, which
might probably send the ship to the bottom.
understood at once indeed, there was no
room fer doubt after what had seen and
heard-that the villains had by some
means got hold of the gold on board; that
they had either drugged or oyerpowered the
watch, aud that it was their intention to
blow up the ship, and escape in the coafu-
sion; or to getaway a little beforehand,
and trust to the explosion, which must in-