News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-08-19

SOulo nave Unsupported "AUiou' ahy
one seeing him, was mystery which
made me uncomfortable. We did not
have a squall, as on the previous night,
but the wind shifted three tImas. and
whipped to the south beferesit settled
down. had to fairly drive the men to
work with Delaying pin, and the sec
ond mate was of no earthly good to me.
When, after an hour or so, we had got
settled down to our course again, he
came to me and said:
Captain Day, we must take it as a
warning. Mr.. Barnes was twenty-seven
years old
Pooh! man, when daylight comes
we shall see everything explained. If
you are afraid, you can go forward with
the men,
"The threat to disrate him braced
him up little, but it was easy to see
that l had job on my hands made
up my mind that when daylight came
we would make thorough search of
the brig. If the missing man could
not be found, and vessel was in sight,
| would signal her and secure services
of a mate. If not, and the crew did
not recover from their funk, l would
hold away for Hayti and make a port.
AS the dawn came l put every man into
the search, and we didn't leave a rat
hole which wasn't looked into, but it
was all in vain. From all that | could
see with my own eyes, the man had
turned in, slept for could not say how
long, and then got up and disappeared.
The fact that we could not find him
abourd was proof that he had gone into
the sea, but why2 He was a sober, hon
est fellow, good sailor, and appar-
emily in the best of health. What could
the toling of the bell have had to do
with his mysterious disappearance
"Not sail of any sort was in sight,
and as the sun came up the breeze which
had held with us through the night be-
gan to die away, and by eight o'clock
there was a dead calm. | saw from the
broken up, and | called them aft and
made little speech, promising to speak
the first ship or bear away for Rico. |
gave them to understand that l would
do this to ship new mate, not because
the tOlling bell had upset me or / be-
lieved there was anything wrong with
the brig While this did not altogether
satisfy them, they had to make the best
of it. There were men among them
who could read the weather well enough
to understand that we'd get no wind
that day, and they wanted to escape
passing another night aboard. ] select
ed the oldest sal or to fill the place of
mate, and all day long we wallowed in
the ground swell without wind enough
to futter a ribbon l inspected the
bell, and | even took it down and hung
it up again, but | could make out no
reason why it should have tolled out
the death knells of my two officers in
that queer manner.
"When the sun went down l knew
that we should have breeze at mid
night, and l was fully determined to
bear up for Rico. We were, as you will
understand, broken up as to watches,
and you may also guess that, under the
circumstances, | did not feel like leav-
ing the deck for any length of time to
the sailors. At eleven o'clock. when
the first puffs came, we were all on deck
The breeze came out of the west, and |
held the brig up for the island l have
named. went below soon after eleven
to consult my charts, and / was Just
coming on deck again when we got a
hard and sudden puff from the south
ward which made things crack for
twenty minutes. There was occasion
for quick work, but none at all for
fright The old sailor was of little use
to me as a mate, and in the confusion l
think he deserted the quarter deck and
perhaps went aloft with the others
had neither seen nor missed him, nor
do believe that any of us knew the
exact time within quarter of an hour,
when that cursed bell suddenly changed
out. At the ry first stroke the men
set up mournful howl. and the man at
the wheel deserted his post and ran for
ward. l shouted to him, but he would
not halt, and with jump or two had
hold of the spokes just in time to pre-
vent calamity.
"Tolli TOLL Toll"
at was the widest, weirdest sound
you ever heard. 1t just made the chills
creep over me as l counted the strokes
l was then "a years of age. Was the
the bell tolling for my death2 After
the strokes had passed twenty-five my
heart was in my mouth as | counted
As the thirty-fourth stroke rang out q
child could have pushed me over. Was
that the last? No! Toll! Toll! Toll!
came the mornful sound, and | counted
up to forty three before the tongue
had ceased to move. | was not the vic
tim. Who was? When it was plain tt
the men that the bell had ceased ring
ing, they came aft in a body and de
manded that the long boat be hoisteC
out at once, and it was with the great
est difficulty that | could get one o
them to relieve me at the wheel
could not see that any one was missing
and so | replied to them:
go The bell has tolled again, SURF
enough, but what Cf it2 Are we not al
heref
60 No Sir, answered one. None o
of us have seen Davidson for the las
quarter of an hour
"DavIdson was the old salt who wa
acting as mate, and we at once began
search for HIM.
81 sent men aloft, and sent others be
low, but he could not be found. Hi
cap was picked up on the deck at tn
foot of the foremast, but as for the ma
himself, he had disappeared st a
mysterously as the Others | was thol
oughlv beat, sir, but at the same tim
! de- ermined not to give in. IOwned hal
of the brig myself, and l had a charte
which would put hundreds of dollars
my pocket. didn't propose to let tn
hobgoblins stand in my way, but | 500
found that the crew would. They wer
bound to leave her at once, and when
started for the cabin to get revolve
to back my commands. was seized an
tied hand and foot.
"' It's no use Capt Day, says one
the men to me as he assisted to dra'
the lashings you are a kind -hearte
man and a good captain to sail witt
but the brig has been given over to III
devil, and we won't stop in her.
And what will you dO9"
Hoist out the lOngbOat, take waite
provisions and compass and make &c
the nearest land. It's the only chant
to save our lives
"But won't 90 with you
" That is for you to decide, sir.
you don't go then we will leave you i
the best shape we can, knowing tha
we shall never see you again.
"They went at it and hoisted tn
boat off her chocks and got her ovel