The Red Cloud chief., 1880-02-19

vas 1e1t 0Pe0 TOR TeafRatbOn. The CRY
ives heard By ~ Second officer on the
SAAfter deck and BY Chester, who was
u the wheel, neither Of whom eOuld
throw light upon the incident b. wv
Captain. who hid snshe4 81 D b edeck
IN . state IT terror and demauded h
vain for The pruductson OF the offender.
From thai day Il was clear - IL thai
Captain Phiiips Wa ss.sssnented by ap-
prehendoas 81 coming disaster. An
hea Was fixed in his mind that his ship
wa visited by q spirit from the invisible
world, which preferred to make Itself
heard rather than seen. And this idea
was strengthened by the fact that whes
he was on deck and tecasne aaEfFsss ii the
conduct II any 81 Tie snen, especially
when his anger wa made manifest in
uaths or blows, the unseen but ever NJ
liant visitor from afar svosie, perched
apparently on TOP o. the mainmast, ut
Der the i"eolant laugh or decorous warn
irg. On these occasions the poor sssn
would rush off to NJ CABIN with
blanched chee& :nu lettering limb, and
there etide until the gale in his moral
disabilities should subside. That it
was angry with no one else but the Cap
tain was clear, from the fact that II
never took notice of the conduct Of n
other person. The Mate or the Boat
swain might act "a they liked, or the
men might jibe and call each other
hard namcsi no fiatter-the voice was
not heard-neither laugh nor moanf fell
upon u ears.
But most of those who lived in the
f~orecastle were far from being happy;
many Of them shared the fear Of our
skipper; and / saw that they would
rather have brsyed his wrath than to he
tormented as they by the voices
of the night" or day. Chester and
myself were exceptions. What his
opinion wa, he would not say; he met
all my questions by adroit evasisns. As
for myself, ] had no explanation to give.
Thus matters vent on till we were
within Two days. sail oi the islands. All
the while our Captain had been kept
from tyranny by his fears Of the voice,
but now, exa,perated by some fault in
seamanship on the ras. uf Chester, and
being the u-e.se Tor LIQUOR, he hurled a
belsysng-pin at him which struck him
on the head. Clapping his hands there
on, he rushed to the f~orecastle. 1t was
evident that the skipper expected to hear
the voice, for he looked nervously aloft:
but as all was silent In that direction,
his courage returned, and he desired the
second officer to call Chester bask - the
deck. Getting no answer to his call,
the Mate We!;t below, where he found
tho poor fellow delirious. Returning to
the deck, he reported him to be in 4
dangerous condition.
This filled the Captain with fear. He
ordered that every attention should be
paid him, which was done. That night
it became necessary to have all hands
on deck to reef, and ~h!!!e we were on
the yards, I'll awful cry, that of a
maniac, arose from the bows of the yes
sci, and the next moment several of us
saw a human form on the rail hear the
foreswitch, and then A loud splash was
heard In the water Ghder our lee.
The CAPTAIN and chief officers who
were on deck rushed to the side. A hat
was seen for a moment bobbing on the
crest Of a wave, the maniacal scFeAfn
was repeated, when Captain Phillips,
himself uttering a cry, fell senseless on
tho deck. The Mate then hailed It's who
were on the topsail yari-
"Cone down from aloft! Clear away
the snnll boat"
We thought he was as near besids
himself as was the Captain, an1 so he
for the moment, for when we gain
en- the deck he vas ready to counter
liland the order. Every thing wss SW4l
beyond express;oa; inc wind and
water vcro raging wild it was impossi-
BILE for a boat to live in so rough a sea,
so, making a virtue of necessity, the
search for the poor maddened fellow |
abandoned, amid vows of VEN
geance against the Captain, and tears
Tor our lost messmate.
F~Orty-eixht hours after this we enter
ID the port OF Hilo. A vast change had
,omc over the crew. The Captain,
knowing their peculiarities, had sup
Dlied them with iiioney and cOpiOus liba-
ions ef whisky; so, instead of report
ny him to the Consul, as they declared
hey would, they were ready to shout
MS praise all day long. In this, how
,ver, / did not agree; but, unable to
BRING the tyrant to justice single-handed,
resolved TO quit the Niger. / did so.
After hiding In the woods several days l
vas caught and brought back to the
hip. As my adventures as a fugitive
ire not essential to the unfolding of my
tory, l pass them by, and take up the
bread of my narrative.
We set sail on our return VOYAGE.
Capt. Phillips was an altered man. He
i5stained from spirits, he controlled his
emper, and this, with the addition of Al
inc. steady breeze, made our lives on
BOARD happy. But, alas! we were
doomed to q sad ending up of the voy-
Igc. Keeping near the land, and a
quail laying hold of the ship, we were
lriven ON q lee shore. 1t was Just after
midnight when we struck, and Che
darkness was terrible, and, leaping out
f my hammock, 1 ran on deck. l
ould see nothing, ave the wild waters
acing over the deck. l cried out to
ny shipmates, but got no answer. 1t
ras % possible TO reach the after part
f the vessel, where the lifeboats were
CPSs Sos oSsiuS Ou tuC AnlpulcC "a Tue
moment, l leaped into the sea. Catch
1g hold of a friendly rock, l was saved.
came after . weary waiting.
he first thing Isaw was the dead body
T poor Capt. Philips, and not far from
that of our Chinese cook. The fest
'ere saved.
We made our way to Portland, wkefef
were paid off; thence / proceeded to
an Francisco. / had often asked my !
elf whence came those strange voicosrfl
nd fearful words which had so alarmed
Ir Captain and put mostof theereWin q
error, and had so opportunely saved
he from the vengeance of the CaptaiA.li
ut it was beyond my power to answer
ne inquiry; neither could the Mate I
or any of the survivors throw !
~ light thereon. Had we known what
entriloquism was, we might have had
herein a solution of the mystery; but I {
I'D never heard of an adept in the art, !
either had any of my shipmates. Poor {
hester, when with us our most intAlli-
emit shipmate, seemed to be as much In I
Re dark as the rest of as, although he ]
not in the least bit put out by the /.
SsUrToNCe. I