The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1877-07-31
AN ADVENTURE ON rAI INDIAN OCEAN.

| THE merchant ship Druid from Bonn
/ bay, for London, lay becalmed off
the West coast of Hindostan, between
Goa and Mangalore, where the Chants
Mountains were seen towering In savage
grandeur, thousands of feet In the air,
with wild torrents leaping down the
rocks, dashing through the dark green
shrubbery, and rushing with the din of
thunder.
" If the wind does not rise ere to-mor-
row morning, we will have to anchor"
said the captain to Robert Winfield
handsome young naval lieutenant on
leave of absence from the frigate sta
toned at Bombay. 81 don't want to
lay the ships bones on that coast, nor
do like to get too near 1t. 1 have heard
bad stories of the natives there, ut any
rate, / believe that almost every Hindoo
is a thief and murderer by nature"
Bell Upton, daughter of Major Upton,
who was on his way home from his
India regiment, on sick leave, heard the
words, and shuddering, drew closer to
her invalid father. A quick glance was
exchanged between her and the young
lieutenant, whose reassuring look SEEM
ed at once to dispel her fears. Major
Upton, noticing the glance, frowning,
said to his daughter, "Come Bell, let us
go below"
Winfield had been O suitor of Bells
since she came to vlsither father at Bonn
bay, some months before. The girl fa-
vored him, but not SO the major. The
lieutenant watched her admiringly until
she disappeared in the cabin.
No harm shall befall her, not while
live" he thought, as he now glanced
uneasily towards the coast. ave have
arms aboard, have we not ?" he added
aloud to the captain.
cay, ay, sir but it is not likely we
shall be attacked. We are full two
leagues from the coast, and before we are
near enough to be boarded breeze will
spring up, have no doubt"
A few hours later night closed around
the ship. Before II o'clock the quarter
deck was deserted by all save the officer
of the watch, who was now stretched
on the carpenters chest half asleep,
while the watch forward, as Winfield
could perceive by the light of lantern
in the fore rigging, lay reclining on the
hatch, some of them snoring. Not
feeling sleepy, the lieutenant, resolved
to go aloft on the mizzen top-sail yard,
and watch for the first sign of a breeze.
Arrived on the yard the gloom was so
intense that he could not see the waters
below although as he still gazed in that
direction-was it reality or Imagination I?
he thought he could detect the dim
outline of something shooting around
the ships stern.
He was about descending when, the
moon parting the clouds, flood of sill
very light was poured down on the ship
and water, revealing a spectacle that
filled the young man with horror "a
scene so sudden and unexpected that his
heart seemed to stand still. While he
was aloft, Bell Upton had come out on
the quarter deck, and now, with her
back to the rail, about two feet from it,
her head bowed as if in deep thought,
so that her beautiful white neck shone
like polished ivory in the clear MOON
light.
Unseen, unheard by the young girl,
Hindoo, with long, 1.-THE body, naked
to the waist, had clambered the side
from large canoe containing half
dozen of his companions, and had con-
trived to glide serpent-like, on the out
side of the ship until he had gained
position directly behind her, when he
drew large dirk, which he was now on
the point of plunging into the snowy
neck of the fair passenger, that she
might not give an alarm
The lieutenant's hand clenched the
yard like vice, as he beheld the young
lady's peril. He must save her = he
would save her, he thought; yet, how
was 1t to be done2 To give an alarm
would only hasten the girls doom to
descend, no matter how quickly, by
means of one of the backstays, would
be no use, as she must perish before he
could reach the deck and attempt to
stay the deadly hand.
Like alightning flash, the instinct of
love, the resolution to save Bell in some
way from his immediate attack, sent a
sudden thought through the brain of
the agonized spectator. The Hindoo
murderer, in his position on the outside