The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-02

like.
What game, sir? Let me have your
meaning"
.'An internal mUtiEoGs game" be
roared. Don't talk to me, sir,
know you! I've had my eye upon you
You'll play false if you can, and are
trying to smother up your rebel mean
ings with genteel airs! Get away, sirI'
he beloved. stamping his foot Get
away aft! You're a Jumping, useless
incumbrance! But, by thunder! Ill
give you two for every one you try to
| give me! So stand byr'
And, apparently half mad with his
rage, he staggered away in the very
direction in which he had told me to 60,
and stood near the wheel, glaring upon
me with a white face, which looked indie
scribably malevolent in the fur cap and
ear-protectors that ornamented it.
| was terribly yexed by his rudeness,
which l was pOwerlesS to resist, and
regretted my indiscretion in entering
the forecastle after the polite resolu-
! tons | had formed. However, Captain
Coxon's ferocity was nothing new to
me; truly | believed he was not quite
! right in his mind, and expected, as in
| former cases, that he would come round
a bit by-and-by, when his insane tenn
per had passed.
! The gale, at times the severest that /
was ever in, lasted three days. during
which the ship drove something like
eighty miles to the northwest. The
| sea on the afternoon of the third dav
was appalling: had the ship attempted
to run. she would have been popped
| and smothCred in a minute.
The fury of the tempest and the viO-
lence of the sea, which the boldest
could not contemplate without feeling
that the ship was every moment in more
or less peril, kept the crew subdued,
! and they ate rs best they could the
provisions without complaint. How
ever, it needed nothing less than a
storm to keep them quiet; for on the
second day a sea eXting uished the gal
ley-iire: and until the gale abated no
cooking could be done; so that the
men had TO put up with cold water
and biscuit. Hence all hands were
thrown upon the ships bread for two
days. and the badness of it. therefore.
was made even more apparent than
heretofore, when it's wormy mOldiness
was in some degree qualified by the
nauseOusness of bad salt pork and
beef, and the sickly flavor of damaged
tea.
As l had anticipated, the captain
came round little few hours after
his insulting attack upon me. | think
his temper frightened him when it had
reference to me. Like others of his
breed he was 4 bit of a cur at the bot
tom. NV character was a tritle beyond
him. and he was ignorant enough to
hate and fear what he could not I'M
derstand. Be this as it may, he made
some rough attempts at rude kind of
politcnesS when | went below to get
some grog, and condeScended to say
that when | had been to sea as long
as he, would know that the most
ungratcful raScalS in the world were
sailors; that every crew he had sailed
with had always taken care to invent
some grievance to grOwl Over-either
the provisions were bad, or the work
too heavy, or the ship unseaworthy;
and that long ago he had made up his
mind never to pay attention to their
complaints, since no sooner would
one wrong be redressed than another
wou' d be coined and showed under his
nose.
took this opportunity of assuring
him that Ihad never willingly listened
to the complaints of the men, and that
l was always annoyed when they spoke
TO me about the provisions, as had
~ NJ hot 70 Il hat
Ter; and that, so far as my wishing to
stir up the men into rebellion, my con-
duct had been uniformly influenced by
the desire to conciliate them and rep
resent their conditions as very tolcr-
able, so as TO repress any tendency to
disalfection which they might foment
among themselves.
To this he made no reply, and soon
we parted; but the next day he was
sullen again, and never addressed rae
save to give an order.
On the evening Of the third day TIE
gale broke. Next morning l found
the weather bright and warm, with
blue sky shining among heavy white
clouds and the ship making seven knots
an hour under all plain sail. The decks
had been washed down and were dry
and comfortable while the ship had q
habitable appearance which was quite
4 change from the hundred hours of
severe work and constant storm. 1t
was half after nine O'Clock and | was
standing near the taftrail sweeping sea
and sky with the glass when suddenly
there leapcd into the field of vision the
hull Of a ship, deep as her main-chains
in the water, which came and went be-
fore my eye as the Ions seas lifted or
dropped in the foreground. l man
aged to keep her sufficiently long in
view to perceive that she was totally
dismastcd.
Its wreck said I. turning to the
man ct the wheel; let her come tc
again and luI a point. There may be
living creatures aboard of her"
Knowing what sort of man Captain
CoXon was. | do not think that
should have had the hariihoOd to huff
the ship point ont of her course, had
it involved the bracing of the yards;
Tor the songs of the men would GER
tainly nave brought him on deck, and
might have provoked some ugly in
science. But the ship was going free,
and would head more westerly with
out occasioning further change than
slightly Slackcning the weather. braces
of the upper yards. This l did quiet
", and the dismant!ed hull was
brought right dead on end with our
flying jib-5oom. The men now
caught sight of her, and began to stare
and point, but did not sing out, as
they saw by the telescope in my hand
that perceived her. The breeze I'M
happily began to slacken somewhat,
owing, perhaps, to the gathering heat
of the sun; our pace fell off. and full |
hour passed before we BROUGHT the |