Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-05-25

with fear than rage, throwing behind
him, as he stepped upon the cabinelad-
der, the rope's-end which had SO vexed
him.
Sailors in general are superstitous
beings. Whatever cannot be easily made |
out or accounted for on natural principles,
is laid to the account of the SUI ernatural.
Our captain was no better in this respect
than his crew, for he was as illiterate as
they, except in the matter Of navigation,
and as rough and untutored. He evident
ly believed his. ship was haunted, and
that spirit from the Vastly deep had al
mind to torment him by its interferences.
His fears was increased not many days
after. On retiring to rest, at the end of
his evenings watch, his slumbers were
disturbed by loud and fearful cry,
which seemed to enter the cabin by the
side-light, which was left open for ven
tilation. The cry was heard by the Sec
ond officer, who was on the quarter deck,
and by Chester, who was at the wheel,
neither of whom could throw light upon
the incident to the captain, who had
rushed on to the deck in State Of terror,
and demanded in vain for the production
| Of the offender.
From that day it was clear to all that
| Captain Phillips was tormented by appre-
tensions of coming disaster. An idea was
fixed in his mind that his ship was visited
by spirit from the invisible world, which
preferred to make itself 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-perched apparently on the top of
the mainmast- utter the insolent laugh
or the dolorous warning. On these oc-
casions the poor man would rush off to his
cabin with blanched cheek and lettering
limb, and there abide until the gale in
his moral sensibilities should subside!
That it was angry with no one but the
captain was clear, from the fact that it
never took notice of the conduct of any
other person. The mate or boatswain
might act as they liked, or the men might
jibe and call each other hard names no
matter-the voice was not heard-neither
laugh nor moan fell upon our ears. But
most of those who lived in the forecastle
were far from being happy; many ofthem
shared the fears of the skipper; and I saw
that they would much rather have braved
1 his wrath than to be tormented as they
were by the ''voices of the night" or the
ebay" Myself and Chester were excep-
tons. What his opinion was, he would
not say; he met all my questions by adroit
evasions. AS for myself, I had no ex-
PLANTATION to give.
Thus matters went. on until we were
within two days 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
seamanship on the part of Chester, and
being the worse for liquor, he hurled a
belaying-pi 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 cal
Chester back to the deck. Getting NJ
answer to his call, the mate went below
when he found the poor fellow delirous
Returning to the deck, he reported hin
to be in dangerous condition.
This filled the captain with fear. HI
ordered that every attention should b
paid him, which was done. That nigh
! it became necessary to have all hands OF
deck to reef, and while we were on tn
yards an awful cry, like that Of a maniac
arose from the bows of the vessel, and tn
, next moment several of us saw a human
:, form on the rail near the fore-swifter, ant
then loud splash was heard in tn
water under our lee. -
The captain and chief officers, WIN
were on deck, rushed to the side. A ha
was seen for moment bobbing ON tn
creast of wave; the maniacal scream
was repeated, when Captain Phillips
] himself uttering cry, fell senseless o
the deck. The mate then hailed us VIII
! were on the topsail yard:
sCome down from aloft! Clear ava
q the small boats''
We thought he was as near beside him
/ self as was the captain; and so he wa
}. for the moment, for when we had game
s the deck, he was ready to counterman
the order
o Every thing was awful beyond expires
sion; the wind and the water were rag
t ing wild; it was impossible for a small
u boat to live in SO rough a sea, so, making
avirtue of necessity, the search for tn
e poor maddened fellow was abandoned
q amid VOWS of vengeance against the cap
tain and tears for our lost messmate.
d Forty weight hours after this we entere
D the port of Hilo. A vast change ha
|, came over the crew. The captain, know
Ii ing their peculiarities, had supplied thel
d with money and cop1ous ibations (
whisky; so, instead of reporting him
!" the consul, as they had declared the
would, they were ready to shout his prai
e es all day long. In this, however, di
is not agree; but unable to bring the tyra1
It to justice single-handed, I resolved
1T quit the Niger.
y did SO. After hiding in the Woo
1t several days, 1 was caught and brcugl
back to the ship. AS my adventures as
/ Of my story, pass them by, and take I
q, the thread of my narrative.
h. We set sail on our return voyage. Ca
,e tain Phillips was an altered man. +
or abstained from spirits; he controlled h
4, temper, and this, with the addition of
I fine steady breeze, made our lives {
d board happy. But, alas! we were door
ed to sad ending up of the voyag
t, Keeping too near the land, and a SOU.
ur laying hold on the ship we were driv'
tn on lee shore. 1t was just after mi
night when we struck, and the darkne
as was terrible; and, leaping out of my ha,
of mock, ran on deck. could see not