The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-09-21
ICE BOUN D.
By w. CLARK RUSSELL.
Author Of "TAe Wreck Of the Grosvenor, .
"JaeA; C s:as M! W |. tsa Be
By W. OZARK RUSSELL,
CHAPTER xxx

eJaeks CoNrtship,n my Watch Be-
ioto. n''zhs Lady Maud Etc
CHAPTER xxx.
VALUE THE LADIsa
The day had been so fun of business, there
had been so much to engage my mind, that
it was not until I was seat ed at supper In the
old cook room, in which had passed so
many melancholy hours, that found myself
able to take a calm survey of my situation,
and TO compare the various motions of my
fortunes I could scarcely indeed believe
that was not in dream, from which
should awaken presently, and discover my
self still securely imprisoned in the ice, and
all those passages of the powder blasts, the
liberation of the schooner, my lonely days in
her afioat, my encounter with the whaler, as
visionary and vanishing as those dusky forms
of vapor which had swarmed In giant shape
over my little open boat
But even If confirmation had been wanting
in the sable visage of Billy Pitt, who sat near
the furnace munching away with prodigious
enjoyment OF his food, and bringing his can
of hot spiced wine from his vast blubber lips
with a mighty sigh Of deep delight, must
have found it in each Kissing leap and roar
ing plunge Of the old piratical bucket, so full
of the vitality of the wind swollen canvas, Sc
quick with all the life instincts of a vessel
storming through the deep with buoyant keel
and under full control Oh heavenl how diff
ferent from the duh ambling of the morning,
the sluggish pitching and rolling to the weak
pulling of the spritsaill
was up and down a good deal during the
night. But for the treasure ] should have
II 4 hod 81.
successfully to this point that was resolved,
If my hopes were to miscarry, the misfort-
une should not be owing to want of vigilance
on my part; and there happened an incident
which inevitably tended to sharpen my
watchfumess, though ] was perfectly con.
scious it was million to one against its 90
curing second time
came on deck to relieve Wilkinson at
midnight, after half hours nodding doze
by the furnace below. he went to his cabin;
stood under the lee Of cloth seized in the
weather main rigging. Pitt arrived, and !
told him he could return to the cook house
and stay there till called him. The helm
being dashed and the schooner doing very
well, nothing wanted watching in particular,
yet would not have the deck abandoned,
and meant to keep a lookout turn and turn
about with Pitt, as Wilkinson and Cromwell
had She snow had ceased, but it was very
dark and thick, the ocean a roaring, welter-
ing shadow, palpitating upon the eyes in roll
ing folds of blackness, with the quick expir-
ing fash of foam to windward On sud-
den, looking over the weather quarter. me-
thought discovered deeper shade in the
night there than was elsewhere perceptible
1t was like great blot of ink upon the dark
ness Even while specialized it drew out in
the shape of a ship running before the gale
She seemed to be heading directly for u.s.
The roof Of my mouth turned dry as
desert sand; my tongue and limbs re-
fused their Office; could neither cry nor
stir, being indeed paralyzed by the ter
rible suddenness of that apparition and
the imminence of our peril 1t all happened
while you could have told thirty. The great
black mass surged up with the water boiling
about the bows; she brought thunder along
with her in her rigging and sails as she
scared to the crowns of the seas she was
sweeping before. could not tell what can
vas she was under, but her speed was a full
ten knots and as did not see her till she
was close she looked to come upon us with
single bound. She passed us to windward
within stones throw, and vanished like a
dark cloud melting into the surrounding
blackness. Not CLEAN of light broke from
her; you heard nothing but the boiling at
her bows and the thunderous pealing Of the
gale in her canvas. A quarter turn of the
wheel would have sent rs to the bottom, and
her, no doubt, on top Of us. Whether she
was the Susan Tucker or some other whaler,
or a big South sea man driven low and get
ting what casting she could out Of the gale,
I know not She was as complete mystery
OF the ocean night as any spectral fabric,
and a heavier terror to me than a phaptasm
worked by ghosts could have proved.
knew such thing could not happen
again, yet when called Pitt talked to him
about it as though we must certainly be run
down if he did not keep a sharp lookout;
and when my watch below came round at
4 O'Clock, was so agitated that was up and
down till daybreak, as though my duty did
not end till then.
The gale moderated at sunrise; and though
it was gloomy, true Cape Horn morning,
with dark driving clouds, the sea a dusky
olive, very hollow, and frequent small quick
squalls of sleet, which brought the wind to
rs in sharp guns, yet as we could see where
we were going, got the schooner before it,
heading her east northeast, and under a
reefed topsail, mainsail and staysail the old
bucket stormed through it with the sputter
and rage of ine-of-battle ship. There was
q logreel and line on deck, and found a
sand glass in the chest in my cabin in which
had met with the quadrants, perspective
glass and the like, and kept this log regu-
larly going, making q point of departure on
the chart the American captain had given
me, which I afterwards found to be within
two leagues and q half Of the true position.
But for three days the weather continued so
heavy that there was nothing to be done in
the shape of gratifying the mems expecta-
tions by overhauling what was left of the
cargo Indeed, we had no leisure for such
work; all our waking hours had to be strictly
dedicated to the schooner. and in keeping a
lookout for ice. But the morning of the
fourth day broke with fine sky and a brisk
breeze from a little to the east of south. to
which we showed every cloth the schooner
had to throw abroad, and being now by dead
reckoning within few leagues of the mer-
idian Of 90 degs., shaped course north by
east by my compass, with the design of get
ting view of Staten Island that I might
correct my calculations.
When we had made sail and got our break
fast, told Wilkinson and Cromwell pitt
being at the tiller) that now was a good op-
portunity for inspecting the contents of the
hold; and mot to be tedious in this part Of
my relation, however may have sinned In
this respect elsewhere) we carried lanterns
below, and spent the better part of the fore
noon in taking stock From q copy of the
memorandum made on that occasion still
In my possession), discovered that the YAM
kee captain had left US the following: Thirty
five casks of rum, twenty eight hogsheads of
claret, sixty puncheons of brandy, forty casks
Of sherry, eighteen cases of beer in bottles,
together with a number of "pieces' of gin,
as it is called. In addition to this were the
stores in the lazarette, besides a quantity of
several kinds of wine in jars, ETC., elsewhere
enumerated, besides all the ships furniture,
her guns, powder, small arms, ETC., as well as
the ship herself. I took the men into the
run and showed them the chests, opening the
little one which stood stocked with small
arms. and lifting the lids of two or three of
the others. They were perfectly satisfied;
fully believed the chests to be filed with
small arms and nothing else, and so we came
away and returned to the cabin, where. to
please them, l put down the value of the
cargo at venture, setting figures against
each article, and making out a total of e2. $40.
This, of course, included the ship.
SHOW muchn dat be a man. nassau
asked Cromwell
six hundred and sixty poundsn 7 an.