The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-02-11
THE MYSTERIOUS BOX.

IHE MISIEhIOUS 0OAs
We noticed him, 1 remember, from
the very first; and we had three good
reasons for doing so. In the first place,
he was the very last passenger to come on
board, arriving, indeed, just when the
bell was ringing as signal to clear the
ship.
In the second place he was rather a
misunderstanding fellow altogether
tall, gaunt, sallow and stern, with a
long, lean face, and cool, gray eye,
and, as we all declared, manifest air
of mystery about him, even from the
beginning.
Last, but by no means least, Of our
grounds of suspicion, was the fact that
our mysterious fellow-passenger brought
on board with him an oblong, wooden
box, very much like an overgrown pistol
case, of which he seemed far more care
full than of the well worn portmanteau,
which was the only other article of bag
gage which he seemed to possess.
It was evidently not very heavy, for
one sailor shouldered it with ease. 1t
could not be called inconveniently large,
for when its master begged to be allowed
to keep it in his state-room instead of
slowing it in the hold, neither Captain
nor purser made the slightest objection.
twas not labeled " Glass, with Care, /"
or anything of that sort, as we could all
see for ourselves, and yet its master S
nervous anxiety lest it should be dam
aged, or even bumped against anything
hard, was so marked that every one be-
gan to have dismal suspicion as to its
possible contents,
But Just at first we had something
else to think about, for the first three
days of our voyage were perfect chap
ter of accidents.
To begin with, we were thrown late
at starting by having to wait more than
an hour for the mail. Then, when we
were Just outside the Narrows, ON came
a fog as thick as buckwheat porridge,
which forced us to lie-to till late in the
afternoon, keeping up all the while 9
chorus of bells and fog-horns, worthy Of
a Chinese wedding.
And as soon as the fog cleared, it wa:
succeeded by a pour of rain which in.
spired facetious saloon-passenger to
ask the captain, at dinner-time, whether
fishing was allowed on the after-deck.
At length the rain went off in its turn,
and now we began to hope that this was
the end of our troubles; but we soon
found it to be only the beginning OF
them.
The red and angry sunset on the Sec
ond night, the ghostly haze around the
full moon when it rose, the short, I'M
easy painting of the wind, all foreboded
further mischief; and the older "salts''
looked meaningly to windward and
prophesied "dirJy weather."
The prophesy was not long in full
filling itself. About midnight / was
awakened by crash as if twenty cart
loads of bricks had tumbled through the
roofs of as many glass-houses, and
found myself standing bolt-upright in my
berth. like soldier in sentry-box.
The next moment / had a fine per-
spective view of my toes high overhead,
while kind of waterfall of cushions,
blankets, pillows, soap, towels, boots,
and what not. went pouring through
every part of the room.
Then burst forth deafening chorus
of shouts. groans, screaming women,
crying children, the rattle of dishes, the
crash and jingle of broken glass, and we
were fairly in for it, at last.
For the next twenty-four hours, in the
graphic words of our old boatswain,
g everything blessed on board was in
side-out and upside-down." Plates
and cups, knives, forks and spoons, ed
died ceaselessly from side to side of the
table. 49, t,.,
Hasty feeders stuck their forks into
themselves in place of their meat, the
soup meant for the mouths of the guests
emptied into their laps instead; and lust
as one dignified old gentleman was
raising his coffee-cup to his lips as SOL
emnly as if he were taking poison, the
ship gave sudden lurch, and the boil
ing coffee flew like fountain-iet into
his spotless shirt-front, making him
wriggle like a speared eel.
But by the morning of the fourth day
the gale seemed to have spent its force,
and we were at liberty to turn our at
tention once more to the mysterious
passenger and his equally mysterious box.
The former seemed quite as anxious
to preserve himself from contact with
anything on board as he had been to
preserve his package, for he never spoke
to any one, and always answered as
shortly as possible when he answered
at ally whenever any one spoke to him.
As for the box itself, it was greater
puzzle than ever. The stewards re-
ported that he had warned them a.
earnestly against touching it, or even
going near it, as to imply that the con-
tents, whatever they might be, were
something very dangerous indeed. But
as if he had his doubts whether even the
fear of some unknown peril would be
strong enough to keep them from med
ding with the precious package, if they
got the chance, he spent most of his
time below, and as he had taken whole
state-room for himself or, rather for
himself and his box) there was no risk
of any one disturbing him there.