The Morning herald., 1876-12-05

up the Falcon soon died out, and be1ore the
Falcon soen died out, and before the is-
land had been left far behind . calm sue
cesded, and there was nothing LETT but to
drift.
A calm in other seas is stiffness, here on
the Indian Ocean it is stagnation. The
calmness is like Egyptian darkness. 1t
may be felt. The stagnation ofthe waters
seems deep enough to destroy all life there.
The air is thick, oppressive, feverish; there
is not breath or murmur of wind; even
the swell of ocean, which is never-ending,
here approaches as near as possible to an
end. The ocean rolled but slightly, but
the II ght undulations gavea lazy, listless
motion to the ship, the spars creaked mo-
notonously, and the great sails tapped idly
in the air.
At such time the calm itself issuffi-
GENTLY dreary, but now there was some
thing which made all things still more
drear. For the calm was.attehded by a
thick fog; not moist, drizzling fog like
these of The North Atlantic, but asultry,
dense, dry fog; afog which gave greater
emphasis to the heat, and, instead ofalle-
WAITING it, made it more oppressive.
1t was so thick that it was not possible
while standing at the wheel to see the fore
castle. Aloft, all the heavens were hidden
in canopy Of sickly gray; beneath, the
sea showed the same color. Its CLASSY sur
face exhibited not ripple. A small space
only surrounded the vessel, and beyond all
things were lost to view.
The sailors were scattered about the ship
in groups. Some had assembled to the tops
with faint hope of finding more air; some
were lying flat on their faces on the fore
castle; others had sought those places which
were under the sails where the occasional
flap of the broad canvas sent down slight
current Of air.
The captain was standing on the quar-.
ter. deck, while Brandon was seated on
stool near the wheel. He had been treated
by the Captain with unhounded hospitality
and supplied with every thing that he
could wish.
"The fact is" said the Captain, who had
been conversing with Brandon, II don't
like calms any where, still less calms with
fogs, and least of all, Gains offthese infer
nal islands,"
"Why"
Because to the north ard is the Strait Of
Sunda, and the Malay pirates are always
cruising about, often as far as this. Did
you ever happen 10 hear ofZangorri",
"Yes."
"Well, all can say is, ifyou hadn't
been wrecked, you'd have probably had
your throat cut by that devil"
Cant any body catch him?''
"They don't catch him at any rate.
Whether they can or not is another ques-
tiop."
"Have you arms?"
eyes. I've got enough to give Zangorri a
pleasanter reception than he usually gets
from Workmanship; and my lads are the
bows that can use them"
II wonder what has become of that other
ship that passed me on the island" said
Brandon after pause.
'She can't be very far away from u.s."
replied the Captain, "and wemay come up
with her before we get to the Cape"
A silence followed. Suddenly the Cap
tain's attention was arrested by something
He raised his hand to his ear and listened
very attentively.
"Do you hear that?" he asked, quickly.
Brandon arose and walked to where the
Captain was. Then both listened. And
over the sea there came unmistakable
sound. The regular movement of oars.
Oars out on the Indian Ocean! Yet the
| sound was unmistakable.
"It must be some poor devils that have
escaped from shipwreck," said the Cap
tain, half to himself.
"Well, fire gum"
"No" said the Captain, cautiously, after a
pause. 1t may be somebody else. Wait a
bit"
So they waited little while Suddenly
there came cry of human voices-a volley
of guns Shrieks, yells of defiance, shouts
of triumph, howIs Of rage or of pain, all
softened by the distance, and all in their
unison sounding appallingly as they were
borne through the gloom of the fog.
| Instantly every man in the ship bounded
| 10 his feet They had not heard the frat
sounds, but these they heard, and in that
superstition which is natural to the sailor,
each mans first thought was that the noise
came from the sky, and so each looked with
a stupefed countenance at his neighbor.
But the Captain did not share the com
mon feeliog. 81 knew itv he cried. II
expected it, and blow my old eyes out if l
don't catch 'em this time"
"What p cried Brandon.
But the Captain did not hear. Instantly
his whole demeanor was changed. He
sprang to the companion-way. lie spoke
but one word, not in loud voice, but in
tones SO stern, so startling, that every man
in the ship heard the word:
Zangorri p
All knew what it meant. 1t meant that
the most blood-thirsty pirate Of these
Eastern seas was attacking some ship behind
that veil of fog.
.z. u. @l,o,,o1t