Connecticut western news., 1873-08-29
y about the case in which so much in-

" aDOuG the case III WHICH 50 mucu III terest was centered.
 It was about three feet long, by afoo and half wide and deep, made of com mon deal, roughly put together, and with a narrow iron band round eacl end. The name of some dealer at Bey rout was stamped on it in black letters but so much defaced as to be almost il legible. Underneath that was printed Ward-room Officers, H. M. s. Aster. Outwardly, it was nothing. What could it contain? :-
 "Now,'' said the captain, when the two men were beside him, "give it 8 good swing, and launch it overheard. One, two, three, and over p
 A dull splash-the mysterious case was gone ! -'
 Down, down, through many fathoms of blue water it sank, and with it car ried secret of such dread import that it had blanched the cheek and palsied the hand of a man accustomed to the perils of the sea from his youth, and who, in the most critical moments of danger, had never before shown to those around him that the sensation of fear was known to him. ... d.. .... .-s-.-.. :,
 Down, down it sank, the waters closed over it, the mighty sea took it to her self, forever hiding it from the sight of men. The clear bright moon shone on the place the bubbles that marked the spot burst and melted away. The rest less ocean showed no trace of the place where the mysterious box was engulfed but the nipples danced to and fro in the moonbeams, as they had danced before, and the ship glided silently and swiftly away.
 I was sorely disappointed. I thought, of course, when the case was ordered to be brought on deck, that it would be opened before the captains eyes, and l should be made acquinted with the req son of his unusual excitement.
 The old carpenter started aghast.
 "Good Lord !" he ejaculated, "what has come over him? Depend upon it, he's seen ghost. ........-
 And he wiped the precipitation from his brow, for he was superstitious old man..
 "Ghost ]! Whats ghost got to do with 8 box of pickles?" sneered old Tom Rallies, the boatswain's mate-a privi- legged oddity. ''It's my opinion he's SOu0 SGdIh,
 "Them things in that 'ere box were n't hisn't to chuck overheard. He'll be a chuckin' my bag over next, !" grumbled another man-a discontented and insub- ordinate character.
 moved away. The conversation was not meant for my ears, and I had no wish to play the eaves-dropper.
 Full an hour did Captain Montague pace up and down the deck with the officer of the watch and for that space of time had to curb my impatience to hear the story which l knew he would have to tell me.
 Captain Montague had turned in as usual after giving his orders for the night to the officer of the first watch, and having nothing to disturb him, and being in good health. he was soon fast asleep. How long he slept he did not know but suddenly he heard loud cry of ''Fire!" Only half awakened, and not sure whether the voice was in the cabin or outside, he started up, and in- said -
 "Where ?"
 To which question he distinctly heard a voice d1a his cabin answer
 {" A case of inhammables in the fore most locker, starboard side of the car penter's stare-room, marked Ward room Officers,' has ignited."
 Just then the bell struck four times. He sprang out of bed; and searched for the owner of the voice; but no one was there. Then he rang his bell, and sum- moned the sentry outside, and ques- tioned him as to who had come into his cabin; but the sentry-a reliable man was certain that nobody had passed his post. The time, too, was close on eight bells. So, satisfied that he must have been dreaming, and rather ashamed of having agitated himself about nothing, he dismissed the sentry, and proceeded to turn in once more; but he could not succeed in quite dismissing the subject from his mind, and when he at last fell asleep again, he was visited with this fearful dream:
 The vessel was the victim of that most awful catastrophe that can happen to a ship at sea-she was in flames. He was on deck, amidst a scene of confu- sion and horror perfectly indescribable, enveloped in hot and choking smoke, through which the lurid glare of the angry flames cast dingy red light on the forms of dead and choking men; while on all sides the shrieks of anguish and despair, wrung from the scorched and drowning sailors, mingled with the roar of the flames and the splashing and hissing of the burning fragments of the vessel, as they separated themselves from her hull, and fell into the deep water.
 He awoke. Everything was quiet and peaceful. The moon was shining bright ly through the port, and the steady tramp of the sentry keeping time to the ticking of his clock was the only sound to be heard.
 Having steadied his nerves with a glass of brandy and water, and trying to dismiss the terrible recollection of his hideous dream from his mind, he again fell asleep; but only to suffer a repeti- tion of the horrible nightmare.
 This time he sent for me on waking, and excited my curiosity and apprehen- sion, as have related, by his agitated manner :; but still my assurance of the safety of the vessel was insufficient to banish the vision.
 A third time he imagined himself in GHo Durnlng snip , agaln ne was spec tator of all the horrors of the confagra- tion again was he standing amid that fearful scene of confusion and death, with all it's dread reality intensified :; again he saw hundreds of his own men dying fearful deaths around him, with out being able to render the least as- sistance, while the hot flames darted their forked tongues at him /; and again, as the dense suffocating smoke closed around him, did he find himself the victim of mad despair. Again, too, he woke to find it but dream, and all still and quiet as before.
 He could bear it no longer the vision was too palpable-too awful. He thought of the mysterious voice. Could it be 8 supernatural warning He did not believe in such things but then he dared not risk arepetition of the dream. So he rushed on deck, and sent for the