The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1875-09-11

hoVo Fdudute tfeiSHts Que WAS cdlteC
as the inscription in gold and colors o
Henry Clay, bound for Japanese waters
and like ourselves awaiting the emu Q
the CAIN.
i l was standing near the taffrail, on
sultry aitern DON. when the surface Q
the sea was as smooth and unruffled as
mirror, and looking up at the savag
heights that frowned on the wester
horizon, my mind now dwelling on tn
barbarous tribes that still, in thei
| rugged Businesses, bade defiance alik
TO Chinese cunning and European civil
lzatlon, and now revertlng to quie
Cleavestead, where, doubtless, my Dor,
was thinking OF and perhaps praying fo
me, when felt a twitch ut my sleeve
ana looking round, saw beside me leal
little old sailor, whose jaunty jacket o
white duck contrasted oddly with his
| weather-beaten complexion. Jerry was
Droken-down man-of-war's man, once
petty officer on board Queens ship
put whose drunken habits had caused
him to lose his rating, yet who, whel
the best man on on board The barque
Many chat had I had with Jerry, Du
now there was an anxious expression il
his twlnkling eyes that had never seer
In them before; noticed, too, that thert
was an ugly cut on his lett eyebrow
from which the blood was trickling.
"Hlst! speak low, Mr.. Harland," said
the man, in cautious tones. "pd rather
not be overheard in what have TO- say,
lie said, when he gave me this''-point
ing to the cash on his broW-"that 1t was
to cure me of croaking."
ga smart knock it must have been,o
said |, perpleXedly. "Who gaveftp"
"Hush! the skipper" whispered the
sailor. "He's like a madman, when deep
in liquor, and he has been at the rum
bottle since noon. He gave me that
with his brass ckle-dusters, because
l made bold to call his attention to what
you see out there in the 6ffing." And
as Jerry pointed, 1 could family distin-
guIsh long, low, leaden.tinted line on
the far horizon. "You're seaman, sir.
Do you know what's meant by that?"
asked Jerry, turning in his mouth the
quid that he was sucking. was obliged
TO confess that l did not. "Nor by thatf"
he demanded, as the smooth surface Of
the sea, a mile or so out, suddenly be-
came blackened and ruftled.
MOT l, my old friend," answered; !;
sunless it indicates the coming wind"
"There'll be wind enough, your honor"
said Jerry, dryiy. "You are seaman,
Mr.. Harland, as 1 said before, and ought
to have an eye for what's coming"
IL was in vain, however, that swept
the horizon with my practiced glance,
endeayoring to descry the ordinary fore
runners OF dirty weather. The old sea-
man gave grim chuckle, as if in eXulta-
ton at his superior acuteness.
you've seen what a gales like, Mr..
Harland, OF course, and black sqpall,
and u white one, maybe, though tnat's
scarcer. Did you ever see what ty.
phoon was likeY
GA typhoonW repeated after him,
cudgelng my memory as TO what had
neard concerning this, the legendary
terror OF the China seas.
'No disgrace to you, sir, that you've
not" returned Jerry in the same eau
tious tone as before. "By Heavens mer-
cy, they are oftener talked of than felt!
He,n Jerking his thumb toward the
hatchway OF the captains cabin, "never
came in for one either, and struck me
and cursed me for q Jonah, when ]
begged him to let 60 another anchor,
that we might have at least a chance OF
riding it out. You'll see pitiful sight,
sir, presently-that is, II you are spared.
Them junks and proas might as well be
nut-shells when the rollers set in. And
look at the Yankee captain, how he
keeps his ship, the canvas brailed, not
reefed, and cloth enough setto carry her
and all on board into The next world, as
it's likely to do before morningp'
The old man shutfled off, and I felt ex-
ceedingly uncomfortable. With Captain
Harris, since he had given way to his
habits of drunkenness, / was
not on very cordial terms, nor could /
hope to bring the sullen, half-intoxicated
of the vessel to take precau-
tions against the coming evil. Nor was
l quite sure that the evil would after all
come to pass. The cats-paw that had
roughened the water had passed away,
and all was bright again, save where the
leaden.colored streak lay to seaward. l
opened my heart, however, to the first
officer, Mr.. Ernst; but although the civil
spoken young Germ IN heard me patient
ly to an end, and looked intently out for
signs of storm, could not induce him
to press his advice upon the skipper, or
to take on himself the responsibility Of
dropping another anchor. On one point,
a minor one, l did prevail. The topsails
were hanging loose from yard and clew-
line, and these, at my request, the mate
caused to be olose-reeied, step for
which, an hour or two later, we had rea-
son to be thankful; when, on a sudden, a
great hustle and noise began among the
Chinese Junks in the harbor. We could
hear drums and gongs and wild .outcries,
and could see the pig.tailed mariners
beating their breasts and gesticulating
with every mark of terror and dismay,
while from the seaMard came the leaden-
colored cloud-bank, swollen until it rose
skyward like moving battlement, and
preceded by Kissing sheet OF snow
white foam.
"The typhoonl the typhoonr cried a
hundred voices. and then the babel OF
tongues was oyerpowered by the terrible
roar Of the mighty wind as it reached us,
tearing up the sea as the steam plough
cuts its furrOw through loose sand, and
throwing US on our beam ends with a
violence that made every timber in the
Saucy Maid quiver and groan like some
hurt animal. We righted, however, after
a time, and then indeed did witness al
spectacle such as the oldest seaman bait
rarely beholds. Masts were swapping
on every hand, as easily as though they
had been the dead branches on u storm
beaten tree; cables were parting, bull
warks being washed away, and all the
sea around was strewn with wreck, ,
hencoops. boats, and loose
spars, mingled together In peli-meh con-
fusion.
Worse damage than this had, however,
already been effected by the first onset
81 the typho0n, for half the native craft
had foundered ut their moorings, while