The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-07-18

1uC uCdbu Va tuC iOluiCi 10 oVnAcusoa w
the fever, and that of the latter to mea-
sles. All amusement is denied. Yester-
day shot q sea gull and one or two bon
itas, and this morning the oldest emigrant
aboard came, cap in hand, on the quarter
deck, and woke me from my hammock
with the petition that I would shoot no
more, as he felt convinced that it would
bring US bad luck. The mortal remains
of the slaughtered gull had, he said, been
floating about the bark all night. Two
"mare-maids" had also been seen to go
by. "Ancient colored individual" said
"Where we lay
Were there lamentings heard i the air:
strange screams Of death;
And prophesying, with accents terrible,
OF dire combustions, and confused events
New Matched to the woeful time! Did the
Obscure bird clamor the lvelong night ?"
He said that they were, and furthermore
averred that an ancient dame, full we'll
reputed for veracity, had seen aspectre
dire backed like shark, but very like a
horse {probably having some connection
with the, mare-maiG) about the ship,
which, she supposed to be the disembod-
led and distorted spirit of the gull. This
is an actual occurrence, and bears but
what was said somewhere in the misty
past of this letter about the negro's
hghost" and "Ku Klux" factories The
latter is not available here, and they re-
turn to the former, repeating these ehorri-
BILE tales to each other.
I find on the sheets of my "copy"
strange thumb marks, which lead me to
believe that somebody is surrept:-
tiously engaged in reading this commu-
nication. 1 sympathize heartily with
whoever it is, as Pve had that job to DO
myself.
May 26.-Last evening, just before
dusk, black clouds began to pile up above
the western horizon. Before long the
the CLASSY surface of the sea was ripping
into wavelets, and just as darkness was
coming on a welcome and body and soul
refreshing gust of wind Came from the
west, being Immediately followed BY a
steady breeze, which filled the hanging
sails, and awoke the vessel from her
lethargy, and-sent her gliding, along
"likea thing Of life,n leaving behind her
in the phosphorescent water long, shin
ing trail extendingsinto the night. The
clouds promised rain, and arrangements
were made to secure as much water as
possible. Everybody seemed to be tax
ing in great draughts of the fresh air,
which went rushing down through the
wind sails and doors, scattering the close
and fetid atmosphere tween decks, and
filling every piece withsthe very elixir OF
life. Cheerfulness and activity replaced
the apathy and languor eugendered by
the weeks calm, and in few minutes
all hands had gathered about the decks,
ard the joyful noise of old-fashioned
hymns and choruses was heard from a
hundred voices. The breeze held until
about 8: O'clock this morning, when it
suddenly changed to the east, filling the
lsthe wrong way, ("takiug her aback. ."(
The helm was Immediately put hard
down! the vessel brought before the
wind, and all hands put to work Chewing
up everything. In the twinkling of an
eye, amid the believing and crashing Of
thunder, the bowling Of, wind, and the
flashing of lightning, which followed
each other very rapidly, 'jG,s
THE TORNADO
broke upon us in all its grandeur. The
excitement and exhilaration of the next
few minutes amply compensated for the
weary days of calm and discomfort. The
wind roared, shrieked and whistled
through the rigging, the thunder dis
charged itself in peal after peal, the sails
beat with dull monotonous thuds or
cracked like a thousand whip lashes, the
rain pelted and ratified, and the cries Of
sailors and orders of officers could be
heard family as the wind swept them
away. The continuous vivid flashes OF
brought out alr the surround
ings in momentary tableaux-the dark
figure of a sailor far up in the rigging
would be brought into startling relief
the captain at the helm standing out in
flash and swallowed up by the darkness
"a group fssailofs in nSthe. attitude of
running or hauling at a rope, disappear
ing before the motion or gesture could be
completed-a knot of passengers crouch
ing under some shelter, with anxious,
startled faces. All of these things would
come. and~go with almost inconceivable
rapidity,>- leaving themselves photo
graphed on the mind with their back
ground of intense, sudden light and sur
rounding of dense darkness. What
added to the weirdness of the effect was
that the storm had come so suddenly that
there was no sea, and the Azor, amid all
the crash and confusion above, ran as
noiselessly through the water as if she
were phantom ship, the spectral effect
being heightened by the balls of pale
electric light which lodged on the end of
each yardarm, and on the top of each
mast, IA phenomenon very common in
these regions The two outer jibs went
as an attempt was being made to haul
them in, rope parting. A large piece
of one of the. sails (now becoming lite.
,raHy5a t.hyingp Fjib) went flying away.
This sight being witnessed by one or two
OF the steerage passengers who had come
ON deck, they rushed down stairs and
gave the alarm to their comrades, who
awakened by the uproar, were gathered
there in the darkness, that the sailors
had lost control of the vessel, that the
sails we're all going to pieces, and that
inevitable destruction awaited the entire
party, Then to the other noises were
added those of praying and iwailing and
shouting. The sailors, however, with
wonderful self-denial, calmed the excite
ment, and that much of the trouble was
done away with. In a few minutes
everything was sunny, and the Azor was
running by the wind under bare poles.
The sail arranged to catch the water had
been torn loose and was lodged up in the
rigging, and no entreaties or commands
could get the passengers to go out and
catch. the gallons of the precious fluid
pouring from the roof of the poop. So
we got no more than two or three buck
etsful. This may partly be accounted for
by the experience of,one of them. In
the beginning of the storm, after catch
ing large bucketful on the quarter
deck, I discovered that it was still Slight
r. n IL