New-York tribune., 1884-02-03

half mile distant from the ship, it exploded with
the stineing crash of burst OF thunder that went
rolling along past us In roar and died away out
upon the CLASSY distance IN n moan ~ thousalu
glowing fragments leaped for breath like an out
rushing of broken fire from the mouth OF volcano
and the panied dazzled, affrighted eye was met Dy
wave OF darkness, in the midst OF when ,nere was
presently to be seen faint bluish-whlte iiiinous
smoke that hung in a SORT of ring around that PII
of the AR In which the meteor had vanished unt,l
the moonlight ovcrpOwered the spectral thllg VIII
its pearly tlm and once more the stars Eeio shiiS =
and tie sea tcnderly taking the light OF then hs ~
softly heaved, while the ship melted BACK lhto tnc
moonlit phantom she had resembed, and the ocean, an
line ran round in a soft, black sweep against lno
distant gloom. o.,
All sorts OF EXPLANATIONS now broke forth from
the people on the ma IN and quarter decks, "h,o NJ
the passengers aft closed round anlel anu NJ.
sharpest and apparently the most impressed qnes-
tioner being Aunt Damaris. drew oil to Whero
Florence stood near the foremost skylight;
"What did yOu think of that, my darling. RS Il
display of lireworksp
never saw anything moro terrible and splendid.
What could it have been. Jack r
a meteor" | said; i" and should think rs largo
q one az ever fell
"Oh, listen TO Captain Jacksonw she exclaimed ;
he is trying to frightcn Aunt Damaris." H.,
The passengers made q block OF dark shauoW
against the rail in the gloom Of the mlzzen,t0psali,
that the swing of the ship had brought eetTINt
them and tho moon, and out of the midst OIL mem
came the loud tones of the navy man " " hal say
is that if that body had struck the snip iar, II
would have knocked us into cooked nat uOu3led
us up and sent us to tho bottom oi the 9e" W u ~
the stock Of human bones there" . IL
"Oh. how dreadful how fcarInlly dangerous the
sea is" heard Mrs Marmadukc Mortimer say;
" 1t ia fearfully dangerous whipped OUT AHnt In
DamariS's s9w-liko tones " but don't believe tIaI
that meteor would have done 50 much harm had 10
struck u.s. 1t soft fire, nothing hard about 1t at
all il would have enyelOped MS like flash ol hghl-
ming aud, perhaps, have cracked mast; put rs ~ ~
splitting the ship consider such ideas nonsense;
If il was soft fire." said Mrs. Jackson, jeeringiy;
pray what made it burst like bombshell ana
with the noise OF thunderbOlt ana now Ca'hO 10
THAT don't prove it was hard" said Daniel.
Lightning's soft fire. Miss Hawke calls IT, nut
Whatever it was" observed Mr. Thompson
Tucker, ! hope it won't occur again These ap-
pearanccs may be interesting to witness from an OH
seryatory but lm one 0t those persons "ho c"u
Had Il struck u.s." cried Captain Jackson, ",you
wouldn't have wanted to SWIM. 19u Woulnn W M nan We =
known what hurt you; IL would have smashed US US
oi into iclly-fsh and thered have been nothing
left ahOat but few hats. - -
"Just now it was TO have made bone, OF us anu
now we were to have become ielly-tsh,' said Aunt
Damarls. Captain Thompson. can't you GNpIalh
to this gentleman the nature oi those hcry DVuieSi
SO that if another should fall he need not ieei
They're like cats and dogs" whispered TO Flor
cnce /" It's lucky yOur aunt Ism { man; We q haNo
them fighting in dark corners long before we are up
"ut. she can protect herself" replied Florence,
laugh.,s; but it's q thousand pitios she should
render herself unpopular. III makes tnllS9 tlllG7
very uncomfortable for me: Mrs. Jackson Is barely
civil and you may notice how the others leave aunt
and me alone, instead of joining us as they do one
. So much tho better for rs. sweet said j;
What more could want than that you aud l
should be left utterly alone -,
She put her hand into mine and thus we stood,
listening to the voices proceeding from the block of
shadow near the quartcrbOat IL Is needless To say
that Captain Jackson had witnessed the fall OF a
meteor twice the size of the one had left behind,
hon be had the honor of commanding ii. VI. -.
CocksparroW. Z" II was in n gale OF WIND, blowing
great guns; we were hove 70 under the lee ccW 9l
the clOsc -rccfed mantOpsal making ab0mnaDle
weat her of it; it was in the South Atlantic, IN
longitude about two degrees west Composants
were burning nj our yardarInS and the AR was
chokefu of electricity. just before midnight a
meteor of immense size rushed down from out oi the
clouds And then lc went on to describe the phe-
nomenon We had just seen. greatly exaggcratng ITS
dimensions. | knew Daniel too well to suppose that
aThat was wonderful meteor. Captain Jackson,
at least eight times larger than the one hat dropped
close aboard of us, north OF the MOZalnDquc Cuah-
nal tho ye-se being a small bark i'll which was an
apprentice IL fell at two bells IN the middle
watch it took ten minutes 10 drop ana tne OiaEo a
chief mate. who came on deck with his sextant,
Thinking he had mistaken the time and that 1t was
just before noon; all the cocks started on
and met the cook coming along to light tho galley
Z. DO yon believe that Jack 2. whispered Florence.
@lfsas frue as the navy mans yarn,' SAID ].
What dreadful fbs sailors telp she exclaimed
. .Captain.n SAID Mrs. O'Brien, is It likely do
Won SUPPOSE that metcOrs arc pieces OF the sun
droppiup off and tumblinC upon the earthT Inc
tboucht'S lust come into me head captain
No ma'am" sayH Daniel, thcre are too many
meteors 10 mako that theory possible; the sun
would have crumbled Out long since, and we should
ali bc as blind rs the sh which live three thousand
fathoms deep under our keel here.
. What makes 'cm flame, thnT asked Mrs.
: Frriciionr replied Mr. Thompson Thicker; they
catch fire by rattlng through the ar 80 ia Iast;; u;
WHY. suppose now, Captain Jackson, that one oi
those bodies would traNel at tho rate OF three OF
four mules minute"
. Don't know. Pm sure" replied the navy man
lint he fact Of their travelling at all proves that
tbey are operated on by laws of gravity and consc-
Gnentiy have weight in them; Were they soit hic'
rs Miss Hawke here says, why, damme they d "a
M as fire does: they couldn't come down
"Then will you tell me-, cried Aunt l'aniarls
scornfully how lightning that Is merely IRE WIN
ont weight in n, falls down out OF the clouds /
Oh that's q cOuy ulsiOn--thats a matter oi eicc-
trfcitV another affair altogether. answered cap
tam Jackson; and probably afraid OF beng
cornercd by the old lady he said something TO ms
wife about the dew. and stalked OIL Aunt Damarl'
ioined Florence and mo- eXclaiming very audlby
~ She approached Us: ~ cOuyulsiOn No wonder
he's given u2 the sea Fancy such an ignorant man
"a that in charge Of q ship-Of-waT.' Florence
Leggcd her not to speak So loud, while went tC
pick ND the capszed chair and umbrella; but she
had had enough Of the deck and after a brief stare
oround at the beautiful breathlesS night, she tool
nv darlings arm and went below.