The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-02-02
FOULPLAY.
a N Ov H. Il.
rY cnAs. HEADE AND DION BorclcAuLr
CHAPTER xLvu.


make a bold deviation to the s. W., anC
then see If they could find nothing there
before going to Easter Island.
Captain Moreland was very unwilling
TO go to the S. W., the more 80 as Goa
was getting short. However, he haC
not the heart to refuse General ROLES
ton anything. There was northerlJ
breeze. lie had the fires put OUT and
covering the ship with canvas, saileC
three hundred miles S. w. But founC
nothing. Then he took in sail, got II
steam again, and away for Easter Is
land. The ship ran so fast that she haC
got into latitude thirty-twO by ten "A. NJ
next morning.
At lob. Ism. the dreary monotony O.
this cruise WAS broken by the man a
the masthead.
"On deck therC!'
"Hullo!'
"The schooner on our weather bowl
| "Well, what OF hel?"
"She has luffed."
"Well, what o. thRl?"
"She has altered her course"
elbow many pOints?"
"She was sailing Sc, and now heI
head is NE"
THAT is curious"
General Rolleston, who had come
and listened with grain of hope, now
sighed, and turned away.
The captain explained kindly that
the man was quite right to draw his
captains attention to the fact OF trad
ing-vessel altering her course. "There
is Al sea-granmar, General" said he;
land, when one seaman sees another
violate it, he concludes there is some
reason or other. Now, Jack, what d. ye
make OfheI?"
| ~ can't make much OF her: she don't
seem to know her own mind that is all.
At ten o'clock she was bound for Val
paraiso or the Island. But now she has
come about and beating to windward."
"Bound for Easter Island?"
al Dunno"
"Keep your eye on her."
Gay, ny, SIR"
Captain Moreland told General Rol-
lesion that very few ships went 10
Faster Island, which lies in a lovely
! climate, but is miserable place and
he was telling the General that It is
inhabited by savages of low order,
who half worship the relics of masonry
left by their more civilized predeces-
sors, when Jack hailed the deck again.
"Well," said the captain.
~ think she Is bound for the Spring
box"
The soldier received this conjecture
| with establishment and incredulity, not
to be wondered at. The steamboat
headed n. W., right in the winds eye.
Six teen miles OF at least, II ship was
sailing N. f.
Nevertheless, time confirmed the
conjecture; the schooner, having made
| IL short board to the N. T., came about,
and made a long board due west, which
was as near rs she could lie to the wind.
On this Captain Moreland laid the
| steamboats, head due north. This
brought the vessels rapidly together.
When they were about two miles dis
tanI, the stranger slacllened sail and
1 T,1SE kn;,
her miZZpn. The union jack went up
the shrOuds OF the SprinYbOlI directly,
and she pursued her course, but grad
unlly slackened her steam.
General RUllcstOn walked tho deck in
great agitation, and now INDUCED in
wild hopes, which Captain MOrelWnd
| thought it best TO discourage nj once.
"Ah, sir" he said, "don't Won run
into the other extreme, and imagine he
has come on our business. Ii is at sea
rs it is ashore; II y man goes out OF his
| course to speak TO you, it, is for his own
sake, not yours. This Yankee has got
men sick with scurvy, and is come for
| lime juice. Or his water is OUT. Or
| halo, SavaGes aboard"
1t was too true. The schooner had IL
cargo of snvages, male aud female; the
males were nenrly naked, hut the TO-
males, strange to say, were dressed to
the throat i'll ample robes, with broad
and flowing skirts, and had little coro-
| neIS on their heads. AS soon as the
schooner hove to, the fiddle had struck
up, and the EAyages were now dancing
| in parties Of four; the men doing a sort
of monkey hOrnpipe in quick pace,
with their hands nearly touching the
ground; the women, on the contrary,
erect and qUeenly, swept about In slow
rhythm, with most graceful and coQuet-
| fish movements of the aims and hands,
| and bewitching smiles.
The steamboat camo alongside, but
at a certain distance, 10 avoid all chance
of collision; and the crew clustered ut
the side and cheered the savRges dane
| ing. The poor General was forgotten
at the merry sight.
Presently a negro in white cotton,
with face blacker than the snvages,
| stepped forward and hOSied board,
on which was printed very large: ARE
YOU.
Having ALLOW ed this moment to
sink into tho mind, he reversed the
board, and showed these words, also
printed large, THE SPRINGBoK?
There was thrilling murmur on
board; and, after pause of surprise.
the question was answered by u loud
cheer and waving of hats.
The reply was perfectly understood;
almost Immediately boat was low
cred by some novel machinery, and
were two men in it; the skipper and
the negro. The skipper came up the
side of the Springbok. he was loosely
dressed in some light drab. colOred
stuff and a huge straw hat; man
with long Puritanical head, a nose
inclined to be aguline, face bronzed
by weather and heat, thin, resolute
lips, and square chin. But for a GER
tain breadth between his keen gray
eyes, which revealed more intellect
than Cromwell's Ironsides were encum-
bered with, he might have passed for
one of that hard-praying, hard hitting
fraternity.
He came on deck, touched his hat, as
il 10 brush away a fly, and, removing
an enormous cigar from his mouth,
said, "Wall, and so this is the Spring
box. Spry little boat she is: how many
knots can ye get out OF her now2 Not
| that am curious"
about twelve knots"
| "And when the steam's off the bile,
how many can you sail3 Not that 1t is
my business"
Eight or nine. What iS!your busi-
ness ?"
Hum! You have been over some
water looking for that gal. Where do
ye hail from last?"
1.-The Society Islands. Did you board
me to hear me my catechism :"
"No, l am not one OF the prying sort,
| Whpra ara va bouD6 for now ?''