Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-09-03

ed. He evidently believed that his ship
was haunted, aud that a spirit from the
vast deep had a mind to torment him by
its interferences. His fears were in.
creased not many days after. On retir.
ing to rest, at the end of his evenings
watch, his slumbers were disturbed by 8
loud and fearful cry, which seemed tc
enter the cabin by the sidelight, WI ich
was left open for ventilation. The cry
was heard by the second officer, who was
on the quarter deck, and by Chester,
who was at the wheel, neither of whom
could throw any light upon the incident
OF the captain, who had rushed on the
deck in state of terror, and demanded
in vain for the production of the of.
fender.
From that day it was clear 70 all that
Captain Phillips was tormented by ap-
prehensions of coming disaster. An idea
was fixed in his mind that his ship was
visited by spirit from the invisible
world, which preferred to be heard
rather than seen. And this idea was
strengthened by the fact that when he
was on deck and became angry at the
conduct of any of the men, especially
when his anger was made manifest in
oaths and blows-the unseen but ever
vigilant visitor, from afar, would
T erched apparently on the top of the
mainmast-utter the insolent laugh or
the dolorous warning. On these occa-
sions the poor man would rush off to his
cabin with blanched cheek and tottering
limb, and there abide until the gale in
his moral sensibilities should subside.
That it was angry with no one else but
the captain was clear, from the fact that
it never took notice of the conduct of
any other person. The mate or the
boatswain might act as they liked, or
the men might jibe and chaff each other;
no matter-the voice was not heard
neither laugh nor moan fell upon our
ears. But most of those who lived in
happy; many of them shared the fears
Of the skipper; and | saw that they
would much rather have braved his
wrath than to be tormented as they were
by the "voices of the night" or the
"day." Myself and Chester were ex-
ceptions. What his opinion was he
would not say; he met all my questions
by adroit evasions. AS for myself, l had
no explanation to give.
Thus matters went on until we were
within two nays sail of the islands. All
the while our poor captain had been kept
from tyranny by his fears of the voice;
but now exasperated by some fault in
seamenship on the part Of Chester, and
being the worse for liquor, he hurled
belaying-pin at him, which struck him
on the head. Clapping both hands there
on, with yell he rushed into the fore
castle. It was evident the skipper ex-
pected to hear the voice, for he looked
nervously aloft; but when all was silent
in that direction his courage returned,
and he desired the second officer to call
Chester back to the deck. Getting no
answer to his call, the mate went below,
when he found the poor fellow delirious.
Returning from the deck, he reported
him to be in a dangerous condition.
This filled the captain with fear. He
ordered that every attention should be
paid him, which was done. That night
it becs ne necessary to have all hands on
deck to reef, and while we were on the
yards an awful cry, like that of maniac,
arose from the bows of the vessel, and
and next moment several of us saw a
human form on the rail near the fore
swifter, and then loud splash was heard
in the water under our lee.
The captain and chief officers who
were on deck rushed to the side. A hat
was seen for moment bobbing on the
crest Of wave; the maniacal scream
was repeated, when Captain Phillips,
himself uttering a cry, fell senseless on
the deck. The mate then hailed us who
were on the topsail yard: "Come down
from aloft! Clear away the small
boat!" We thought he was as near
beside himself as was the captain; and
SO he was for moment, for when he had
gained the deck he was ready to coun-
termand the order.
Everything was awful beyond express
sion; the wind and water were raging
wild; it was impossible for small boat
to live in so rough sea, so, making a
virtue of necessity, the search for the
poor maddened fellow was abandoned,
amid VOWS of vengeance against the cap
tain and tears for our lost messmate.
Forty-eight hours after this we en-
tered the port of Hilo. A vast change
had come over the crew. The captain,
knowing their peculiarities, had supplied
them with money and copious libations
of whisky; so, instead of reporting him
to the consul, as they had declared they
would, they were ready to shout his praise
all day long. In this, however, I did not
agree, but unable to bring the tyrant to
justice single handed, I resolved to
quit the Niger.
1 did SO. After hiding in the woods
several days, was caught and brought
back to the ship. AS my adventures as
q fugitive are not ESSENTIAL to the unfold
ing Of my story, [ pass them by, and
take up the thread of my narrative.
| We set sail On our return voyage
Captain Phillips was an altered man.
He abstained from spirits, he controlled
his temper, and this: with the addition
of fine, steady breeze, made our lives
on board happy. But, alas! we were
doomed to sad ending up of the voy-
age. Keeping too near to the land, a
squall taking hold on the ship, we were
driven on lee shore. It was just after