The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-17
The Plague at Sea.

we made sail dead ahead, close upon
the outskirts of retreating night. In
twenty minutes we heard the report of
firearms from her deck and saw that her
nag was at half-mast in token of dis
tress. A murnur of excited sympathy
ran through the great throng upon the
deck of the ic. There was another,
OF disappointment, when the purser told
US it was Spanish brig. It was as if
we had wasted our compassion-a inn
pulse natural to the Saxon breast, born
OF the fierce blood of those who peered
through the stormy passes of the Alps
into the Elysian fields of Latin foes.
The steady throbbing of the screws
slackened and ceased as we closed upon
the quarter OF the helpless brig. In a
light western air, she lay with topsails
backed and her jibs and spanker idly
swaying to and fro. Four men were
on her deck, and as we approached low
cred boat astern, hauled it slowly
alongside, and entering it left the ship.
She was apparently deserted. They
rowed painfully toward our steamer,
and we gathered on the port side, where
the rope ladder had been hung, to catch
the first glimpse of their faces. This we
could not do; the four wore wide SOM
breros and bent to their oars feebly but
persistently, never looking up. Our
Captain hailed them impatiently-t they
only waved their hands between the
clippings of the oars. They We're now
alongside, and the bow oarsman clutched
the ladder and began to climb to the
TIuT, nth fO1l l. Ill
three hanging like spiders on the mar
row way, resting at every round. The
most intense excitement was visible in
every face that watched them from the
--ic's deck. Our Captain hailed them
from the bridge, and as before each
man waved hand in mechanical way
| Then the Captain came to the ladder.
| awaiting their coming The fourth man
sat still in the boat, but those who no
hced saw him bending forward as he
| sat until the broad brim of his hat
touched the gunwale, and the black
locks of his hair showed from behind.
He seemed helpless or asleep, but at
traeted little attention as the others
climbed closer to the deck.
| AT last the uppermost had his hand
| upon the steamers rail; few more
steps and he would be on deck. Alum
dred hands were ready to aid him in
what seemed task beyond his power.
But the captain thrust them all away,
and reaching forward lifted his,hat from
his head. A general exclamation of
| horror broke from our eager group.
| There, and not two feet from the rail-
looked upward the visage of Death-a
yellow, shriveled face, and eyes that
of wasting life. Long and matted hair
and moustache sweeping down made
the picture beyond fault. 1t was the
| look of the baser man, after the divine
and human elements of his nature die
away in hunger, thirst, or bodily distress,
leaving in his useless frame the reptile
only, from whose depths the strict OAR
winians claim ascent. An impulse of
terrible dread seized all who looked into
the sallow face, askant in all the fear
OF sudden death.
The captain motioned back the man
He trembled like a leaf and spoke for
the first time:
''iiedad, CicleS!'
| Que Quleft v.
And the answer came in concert al
most from the three.
I'VE are dying, senior. ="
''Of WHAT"
1--WE 90 not know"
But the captain knew, and we shrank
rs ii from flame at the words:
"They are dying of yellow fever"
Ii we had doubted this, the next mo,
ment would have proved his Judgment
p right The man remaining in the boat
rose suddenly from his seat with a quick,
+ sharp cry, ''Santo Dios!" and fell upon
n his back, dead
The captain ordered the others back
E promising aid on board their brig. They
= swore they never would return, and be
gan climbing with the haste of despera,
ton, Never will | forget the struggle
that ensued. The leading .Spaniard
clinging with both hands to the rail
held back by the broad hands of the
captain, seemed the active personifica
ton of the plague, doing battle with the
!. lives of all on board. He was like one
= mad; he cursed and snapped his teeth
filling the air with bitter oaths, drawing
/ his feet under him to the highest roun(
g he could reach, and throwing all hi.
n strength into a final effort. He made
it, and was thrust down again by the
same strong hands. But his feet hat
been drawn so close to his body tina
they slipped from beneath him TO
a single instant he hung above the 9th
ers Then he fell, striking the next maj
;. and the third, and carrying them witt
n him into the sea. They sank like plum
kmets; in moment more there were bu
three broad hats floating upon the place
of their descent.
The captain consulted with his first
officer, well-thrown pig of iron crashed
through the bottom of the boat, and TIN
bell rang out Full speed ahead"
When the sun came up the Spanish
brig stood for an instant against its disl
and disappeared in the dazzling radianc
o of its later ays.-C F. Alien, in the N
4 7. Graphic.