The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1882-08-02

oAtI PAoyAhS VIA.
did go.
Zone night. ali, sir, I shall naver
forget that night the moon was at her
full, and sat looking at the reflection in
the water like a queen with q silver
crown ON, and d veil Of white iight hoat
I'd away of on the sea. so that 1t looked
like a bride waiting for her husband.
For the first time in mauy days l saw
the pretty German girl aid her sweet
heart on deck together. I could not
keep my eyes from her; she looked for
all the world like q sweet angel just
lent cut Of heaven for q little. It was
my watch, and my duty to bid them be-
low; but l don't know why it Was, |
couldn't do it. They went forward
ard sat at the bows. There
were barrels there and plunks atop, so
no one could walk back and forth easily.
l couldn't hear anything they said, of
course, but I cav by their gestures
that they were talking very fast. Some
times he would go close up.to her, and
she would put out her hand and pub
him away, then cry rs if her heart would
bl eak. This went on for some time
when ut the last she seemed TO grow
c. liner. I saw her throw herself into
s arms. l saw him kiss her again aud
again; then she seemed to wrench
herself awsy, and quicker than l can
tell, over she went.
81 don't know how l got there, or
how the who!e ship seemed to swarm 50
suddenly with life. I remember catch.
ing ct a dark body that was going over
her DO r distracted brother, and bis
falling back into my arms dead as a log,
after giving a great cry. That scream
brought the captain and two mates.
The captain asked, angrlly, what was
the row?
"'That little German girl is ove
board | SAID ; aud if I had any sort OF
a ". apon that was dead sure Id have
laid him at my feet. He knew how |
felt, he knew. the scoundrel! the villain !!
His face changed. his very voice was
different, as he ordered Bout ship
"One of the boats was down, and we
supposed, through some mismansge-
ment, it swamped, for W SAW nothing of
boat or lover or girl and SO that Wa.
the end OF that. It was a changed com
pany afterwa,d. The shock killed the
poor sick woman, and she was buried
the same day, for sailors can't bide a
corpse on board ship but declare to
you, sir, that though we put weights in
that coffin, it stood up on end and fol-
lowed US until midnight. never saw
s1ch o sight before I hope never to
again. There it was right after us, and
the sailors watched it with pale faces
no ole daring to say o word to the cap
tain, who swore if any one but looked at
him.
I've all made rs if the girl had
fallen overheard for the sake of the poor
creatures who were lett. They %coniec
tined everything. as folks will who g.
wild with grief. But l think her
brother understood, though he was sick
with br+ lin fever all the rest of the voy-
age. Her mother, poor creature, came
ZEAL dying herself, and I am sure her
heart must have been nearly broken.
1t was hard to see that ~ine-luoking old
grandfather tortering round w%ringing
his hands and shaking his gray old
head, while the tears run aud run-may
| never see the like againl
Next voyage we shipped d green hand.
I never suspected till we'd been out
three days that it was the German girls
brother. Then l knew ne meant mis-
chief. l told him | krew him, but he
begged so hard | kept his secret. How
often since I've wished I hadn't, though
it might have been no better for him. !
was sure there was going to be ore
trouble, and it t'me soon. He didn't
know the ropes and I think the captain
suspected who it was aud kept on his
guard, for he was mighty careful not to
anger him. But one day his tenn
per gave way, and if it hadn't
o bin as it WAS I shouldn't much
blamed him neither, for l like
good %seamanship as we'll as the next
man, and the German lad was as
contrary as a mule. The irst thing We
knew the captain struck the man, and
the next they were struggling together
on the deck. Well, sir, We saw blood,
The captain had got at his knife and
run the poor fellow through the heart
He never spoke after that, and none OF
us could say anything, because the cap
tain killed him in self. defense. I was
that horror struck that I vowed Td
rever step foot in that ship again !; ard
never again I did, although Captain
Tim offered ne double wages. SIR. t
Was q God cursed ship after that. Mis-
fortune went with it every voyage, and
seemed to strike everybody but the
captain. That always seemed strange
to he. He lost men and the own RS
lost money, but he always came off scot
free.
"Wel!, sir, I am coming to The
~queerest part Of my story. / Was once
inspecting IN insane asylum with u
friend of mine from the old country.
he wished to see q case OF raving in
sanity, I've ing about to write a box in
which he wanted to describe something
of the sort. We had several cases,
when the keeper said, pointing to a
double cell:
"'There is the worst subject in this
or any other establishment. He is an
old ~sea-captain, whose madness is SO
alarming a. about midnight that, in
spite of all our precautions, we expect
every morning to find him a corpse. We
are obliged to keep him in this closet,
the walls of which are lined that he MAJ
not dash his brains ont. He has been
here nearly a year, and imaglnes that he
is pursued by a girl, and held under
water by her till his breath leaves his
BODY
"Well the door was unlocked, and
there, despite the hideously-altered and
haesard face, I saw my old captain
Tim Tullive T.
Then" said T, speaking for the frs.
time, cat last God had smitten him."
swell, I suppose that's not for us to
continued the narrator, "for l
haven't come qlite to the end of my
"Some thres years after the little
&c nan beauty threw herself over in
way L ubsO gOlo JOuS "oo VA
duty in a foreign harbor, and strollinx
into a street I found q little shop pre-,
sided over by a woman who was the liv.
ing image of poor little Gretchen-I
believe | haven't spoken her name be.
:o.e. 1 went in, ard she stared at me-,
and I stared at her. I felt myself grow
pale, but she flushed S,sv red, which
put me- moro in mind OF Gretchen than
ever. So l said to her in German, to
make sure. that she reminded me of q
lass l had ono known.
ooh! she cried. 4 was sure I
couldn't be mistakenly you were so kind
to me one :, when I was on board ~:
l Chester Bell
"Then,' l said, completely aston
aud catching my breath, 1T is
really Gretchen!
"'Yes, indeed, I am really Gretchen,
and my husband is not yet at home; he
has gone to look after our bit of land