, 1875-05-08

Rsaah.

one OF q party OF about = score OF
haRpg fellows who escaped from
the beat and dust Of the city, by
starting OF on . fishing expedition.
Our clipper built schooner, the
0thello, was TO use the language
Of Sam Weller, "a VERY suspi
cious looking sort Of a thing"
About q fortnight had been
spent on st. Georges Banks, where
we hauled in and salted down a
good number Of mackerel, when
It was unanimously agreed that
we should put for the Bay of
Fundy, and accordingly our craft
was brought up to the wind and
off she started. The next morn
ing we were enveloped in one of
those dense fogs which are so fire.
quent on the Banks during the
summer months, and for FIVE days
the misty shroud clung to us with
the tenacity of a hungry creditor.
The wind had been light and vari-
bic, but still we had kept very near
our course, and as we had the Gulf
Stream to help us on, we knew
that our craft must have made
headway, but we had
very little idea of our exact local
ity, for a total absence of the sun
for a hundred and twenty hours,
with variable winds, in the vicin-
ity of the Gulf Stream, puts all
quadrants and chronometers out
Of use,
Where are we? asked the cook.
That's the question, answered
the skipper.
On the morning of the sixth day
all handswere electrified by the cry
of Sail, hol and quickly tumbling
upon deck we crowded toward the
bows, where we got a view of the
stranger. She was a pink-sterned
schooner, with a decided Cape
Cod cut Of her jib, and as the fog
gradually lifted, we got fair view
Of her. 7s1
Perhaps this fellow can tell us
where we are, suggested the skip
per, as he rolled up his fist and
applied it--a Ia speaking trumpet
to bis mouth. Schooner, ahoyl
As soon as the skipper's voice
reached the stranger, some half
dezen bushy heads appeared over
her rail, and after a hurried con-
sultation, their respective owners
scattered like a mess of scared
sheep. In a few moments two
heavy sweeps were showed over
the sides and began to work for
dear life. There was hardly a
breath Of air, and ere long the
Cape Cod representative was out
Of sight in the surrounding fog,
which still hung within a few
fathoms of water.
That's a smuggler, suggested
Bill Bells, as the end Of the main
boom lost itself in the fog.
Smuggler, or not, she's Just out
FROM port, and consequently must
know pretty nearly our where
aboutA said the skipper, with a
ohagrined look, as he went aft;
and if we can catch breath Of
wind, we'll hunt him up.
I'm going aloft to see if / can't
look over this fog, said our old
Sook, as he started for the fore
shrouds. There was a wicked
twinkle in his eye, as he spoke,
but as his eye always twinkled,
pethaps it didn't mean anything.
His mission proved OF no effect
for on his return he reported that
the fog was thicker aloft than it
was below. In the course of an
hour, however, things began to
wear a more favorable aspect, for
4 smart little westerly breeze
sprang up, and the dense fog be-
gan to roll of. At length the
escaped schooner again hove
in sight but she was not alone,
for we suddenly found ourselves
in the midst Of a very respectable
Of Cape Cod fishermen.
Now wen find out for certain,
said the skipper as he hailed the
schooner again.
But the result was no better
than before, for no sooner had the
fog entirely rolled off than the
Cape-Codmen began to haul their
wind and scatter; some of them to
the eastward, some to the south
ward, and some sharp on the wind,
while the aforementioned schooner
put to the northward. This latter
was our own course, and so we
determined to overhaul her. Our
sheets were eased off, and as the
clipper bent to the breeze, she cut
the water like a dolphin. In a
few moments the schooner run up
her fore and main gaff-topsails,
and fell off a little from the wind.
But her efforts to escape from US
were of no avail, for we over
hauled her hand over hand, and in
the course of fifteen minutes We
had come near enough to hail her.
i