The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1872-05-24
SLOWED AWAY.

tumn she was disehSing a general
cargo at the railway pier, Williams
town, Port Phillip, and my dnty chief
ly consisted in keeping . watchtnl eye
upon the stevedores' at work in the
hold, for they were terrible fellows
for abroaching. cargo whenever they
could get a chance, and the quantities
of wine, beer, and spirits on board of
fered them many temptations.
n Notwithstanding my vigilance, casks
and eases were constantly sent on
shore void of contents, and / was re-
peatedly censured by the, chief officer
for not keeping a sharper look OUT
This CALLED me much, for1 was con-
fident the gang then At work were
not the. .depredators, as had seen sew
eral bottled ale casks dragged empty
from the places where they, had been
slowed, and | knew that their deple.
ton was owing TO some other agency
than the one suspecteda 5.-a
At last received hint from the
cook that there was always plenty of
grog knocking about in the torecastle;
so resolved TO sneak below, after
the matches had been closed at sunset,
and endeavor to catch some Of the in
.fdgrdate 6eiict0. as. r5
/ told the first mate the suspicious
l entertained, and he considered my
project good one; so, shortly after
nightiall, he lowered me down the
hatchwax The night was cloudy
and stormy, occasional squalls OF
wind and rain drowning every sound
on deck, but in the spacious lower
hold all was dark aud silent as the
grave. | groped my. way for some
distance, clainbering on hands aud
knees over chests, bales, and boxes,
until at last / found my progress i'm
peded by several huge cases of ma
ehinery, which barred up the passage
from one hatchway TO the other, on
the starboard side.
On the port side and amidships
small cases OF wine were slowed, and
as could easily lift them, l commenc-
ed removing the top layer, and crawl
ing ahead Us j did so. As lamp
would have betrayed my presence. TO
the thieves, | did not carry one, but l
occasionally lighted Que when lost
my way among the labyrinth of goods.
At last, on removing q goodsized bale.
! / found empty space before me, and
concluding l had arrived at the main
hatchway, whence all the cargo had
been removed, faced about and be
gan lowering myself by my hands
and feet to the kelson; but case l
grasped gave way, and was sudden
ly precipitated to the plank flooring.
the package falling upon my legs and
holding me down with its weight,
which was considerable. | tried 10
rise, but the effort was futile, and the
pain in my crushed limbs was excru-
ciating. The air was hot and sitting
and peculiar sickening odor hung
upon it, & atE Hd
/ After fumbling in my pocket for a
match, / struck the last one | had
against the iron band of the case
Directly it ignited, sheet of white
flame fitted around, and in its pale,
wierd light saw a CHASTITY skeleton
crouched in close proximity to where
! lay. l uttered a cry of horror, for
it was no chitnera. / was really in
the tomb of one who had once been
mortal, and the fame which had il.
lurnined the dark cavity where | was
bad been caused by the poxious gases
generated in the decaying body OF
the unfortunate man, who must have
been immured in living sepulchre.-
In frenzy of terror / uttered wild
screams for help. but only the echoes
of my own voice answered. and nc
other sound broke through the dread
stiffness save the hurrying rush Of
many feet, as swarms of rats fled over
and away from me. .7i@
/ Huge drops of sweat welled up and
stood in dewy beads upon my brow;
yet chill sensation shook every
nerve and muscle in my body.
could see nothing in the intense dark
ness but, as if lnred by fascination,
glanced in the direction of the ghast-
ly figure until my eyes were almost
out of their sockets. fancied j
could see the long, bony arm of the
skeleton thrust itself forth to grasp
me. the feshless face. the hollow tenn
lples, seemed clear to my sight, and
the white rows of teeth seemed tc
fmock and grin at me in my despair
FL was but q youngster, and / could
bear the horrible phantasy no longer
my oyerstrained nerves relaxed, and ]
swoned.- r,ft8 uilfo sf3 fses.z
How long ! remained unconscious
cannot tell, but when my senses re
turned heard noise short dis
tance ahead of where [ lay, and saw
a ray of yellow light CLEAN through
the interstices of some loosly slowed
packages On my right. Then the
sound OF mans voice fell upon my
ear, and by the tones of it / knew
, that sailor named Carstairs was in
the vicinity of where / lay. r.n.
OTIS good thing for us the mats
thinks it's the Jumpers as breaches
the cargo, or we'd never get a droI
t of this good liquor, / say, Bill, cam
we smuggle off enough to last tht
voyage homegs' I heard him say.
aCarstairsr I halloed,t in fainr
voice, that sounded strangely unnat
ural even to myself, -""Help! I'm jam
. med up in here fl9t3teH .Ysa
I heard a crashsof glass, as if bot
tie had been let fall.
{ "Billl Bill did you hear that?'
half shrieked the terror r-strieken sail
or. rea;sl II of sssl.a. - s
"'Tis summat opnat'ral; anyhow