Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1869-10-28

have for you. l do play billiards as
much as ever, and 1 was at the
TClub the other night playing
with Bill Perkins; and l needed only
one point to get out. 1t was rather a
brilliant shot before me, and H
and some others were lookingon, which
made me bit nervous, especially as
Bill was only ten behind me. was
so nervous that l made miss-cue,
but, after all. got the point. Il
clapped his hands as soon as he saw it,
and exclaimed, How classical! Onne
tula punctuna, gu. niseuit I"
"How very goodP' said the English
man. "Really i did not suppose you
did that sort of thing in America.
l had mind to put him down with
smashing retort, only | would not
help out the Bostonian; but the ap-
pearanee of canvas back ducks closed
my mouth, or rather opened it to a
better purpose
Next timer' thought 1. Three fell
lows had had their innings. and the
fourth man, Curtis, was as silent as /
was. So 1 let Fred have his own way,
and get off his stupid stories about the
English judges, at which everybody
laughed, as in duty bound; when Sosia
tells stories, poor Amphryton has to
grin L am not sure that have the
names quite correct, but everybody
will understand what / mean-that the
man who goes out to dine has to ap-
plaud the jokes of the fellow who gives
the dinner.
At last the fruits and ices came on,
and then Fred said to me, ''Monkhouse,
shall send you some of the ice?"
mo. 1 thank you," said 1. 81 once
saw ice enough to last me a whole life
time"
! saw Curtis give sort of waking up
start, and then fix his eyes on me as
if he was going to begin regular
yarn. hate that sort of thing and |
was bound to get before him, if only
for the sake of the rest; so | gave up
my chance for the fruit with pang,
| confess, for l do not get fruit, es
pecially out of season, every day and
began at once:--''When l was in the
South Pacific, gentlemen--'
Here Fred looked queerly and
shrugged his shoulders, which was not
polite, at his own table. | should like
to know why l have not as good a
right to have been in the South Pa
cifc as he, if he is a rich man?
went straight on;--"When was in
the South Pacific, on board the razce
Indepeudence-her Captain, Commo-
dore Conner, was friend of mine and
offered me a passage home from Val
paraiso--no, l mean Quito "-(By the
way, is Quito seaport? ones geogra-
ply slips away from one so; but |
could not stop to ask, for they were all
watching 80 cut in 1--we were be-
calmed off the island of Juan Fernan-
dez. 1t was in S lat. 638 80. W. long.
1,O4899 (nothing like being accurate
in these details, and we saw huge
iceberg approaching us. 1t was a
dead calm, but the ice came on very
rapidly. 1t must have been at least
FIVE miles in circumference; and quite a
mile ont of water
"Connor was in a dreadful fright,
and | confess | was not easy as |
watched the enormous mass slow ly
heaving and settling. and every min
ute fragments the size of Trinity
church tumbling down its sides. Its
color was"
"Never mind that" said Fred. "we
have all seen Church's and Bradford S
pictures, and Read Dana's Two
Years Before the Mast Skip to the
catastrophe; did it run over you?"
"No sir" l retorted; ait did not
On it came, and on, till the boldest
held his breath for time. Every
man in the ship was on deck, the nim-
bic top men swarming far out upon the
yards, and the gold bands of the Off
GERS caps cleaning along the quarter
deck On it came, and the ship was
beginning to rock helplessly upon the
swell which drove before the mighty
mass.
Conner was Just ordering out the
boats to try and pull the ship off. when
called his attention to something |
had Just discovered. (My eyes were
very good in those days. l said,
Conner, see that black speck coming
down the side of the berg?' He turn
ed his glass upon it--acapital Doland
had given him and exclaimed, Its 6
bear Conner said |, "who eyel
saw a black bear on ice? 1t is mar
and brother Conner turned as rec
as beet, but presently, after anotheI
look, replied, by George! | believe
you are right, and he is making sig
rals to us; but l can't help him; nj
boat would live in that sea which il
breaking at the base of the berg anc
we've enough to do to save ourselves.
"The berg, however, must have
gone aground--they are very deep
you know, under water-for it remain
ed stationary; only the attraction was
sucking us in imperceptibly. We sa"
him reach the waters edge-and how
he did it | can't tell; l was not near
enough to see-but presently he was
coming off to us.
"You might have heard apin drop
on the deck, gentlemen, such was the
breathless silence of all, which the
stern discipline of man-of-war per-
mltted no one to break. We made out
that it was man in canoe
Marquesas Island canoe; and the
strangest thing of all was, that he had
nothing to propel it with but an um'
brella. He neared the side, and Con-
ner and went to the gangway to hal
him. He was dressed in superb sea
skins, which would have been for
tune in New York, and he managed hi;
umbrella wonderfully, shooting his
| light bark along Ikea racing wherry
The first words he said were, Il though
/ II G