Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-07-07
AN OCEAN MYSTERY.

It had been 6 sort of breeding day sinc4 dawn; thick, heavy, oppressive. with light breeze that was like steam for warmth and damp, and very quiet surface of ocean. Not so much as the head of cloud had shown anywhere; yet the sky was as dingy as the atmospheric thickness could make 1t, with tho sun in the midst of it like red hot warm ing pan and 8 wake under him in the thick and sluggish water that might have passed for drippings of blazing oil slowly settling. At sundown, when the shadows entered this weather, it fell pitch dark. No man aboard the ship that lay motionless in the heart of it ever remembered deeper blackness. There could have been nothing in the most stepping and lowering of electric storms to fling more ebony complexion upon the deep than the night air now held. The wind, too, died out whom the evening came down, and the vessel that had been slowly rippling through 1t all day was brought to dead stand, with scarce heave enough in her frame to put life into the up and down canvas
 The ship was few degrees south of the equator, an old fashioned cargo vessel out ward bound to an Australian port with purple faced old Poplar man for 8 com mander. The round shanked chap, coming on deck after brief spell below in company with Q bottle of whisky, stood minute or two in the companion way, staring blindly against the blackness, then after 6 little groped over to the mate, one side of whose figure was just visible as he stood between the pinnacle and the wheel, by the sheen of the light there touching it. 'Weu, well, |" he exclaimed, snifhng up at the air as though he would smell what he was unable to see, " how is this end, now, dye think, Mir. Jonesl Glass stands high, too. A man might marry . negress in this night and not know her for . side of bacon, let alone the color. Cor bless me, color! Why, you might make a hole in this darkness to lie down in"
 He took view of the compass card, heard what the mate had to say on the subject of tho weather, and, after smoking a pipe, re paired below for second dram, telling the mate that he would take forty winks on one of the cabin lockers, and that he was to be at once called if there came change, no mat ter what form 1t might take The mate watched the crimson faced old gentleman mix himself a ''second mates nip"-he was plain ill view through the open skylight-and then the worthy skipper stretched his fat figure along locker, and his snoring pres ently arose into the darkness with sound like to the rushing of water up and down a beach of shingle.
 The man at the wheel nodded; there was scarce stir in the tiller chains; no twitch of the spokes to hint to the fellow to keep bis head up. Forward in the blackness the still ness was that of coffin. In what corners the watch on deck had coiled their bodies away no man could have imagined. The mate paced the deck slowly, often coming to stand at the rail, lost in wonder at the phe- nomenal stiffness out upon the black shadow of the ocean. There was something soul sub duing in a night of such darkness and still ness as this. It made one walk lightly, as though there were a listening spirit in the air to be ve1ed by the rude creak of board It was time to speak only in whispers, al you'd notice when at long intervals the mate addressed the fellow who was at the wheel sounding his inquiry but a little above his breath. This went on till about II o'clock ship, ocean and sky blended yet into one i'm. penetrable shadow, charged with the mighty pulseless pause, as though the night with sucked in breath, hung motion. less in expectation. "Harki did you hear thatf' cried the mate, suddenly whipping oui shrlu with the amaZement that was in him. "Ay, sir" answered the man at the helm, ir broad awake voice; ''there it is again" Ii was a sound of laughter out on the water ofl the starboard bow; whether human or not was scarcely to be guessed. The blackness and then the great ocean solitude out oi which it rang, would have put wild un earthliness into it, even had it been mslodi .ous as girls laugh; but there was an edge in it that owed nothing to, the mystery of the night-sn indescribable animal like harsh ness, a senlblance of human merriment shocking by reason of its mirthlessness anc ! a note running through it as of the mixed of hn la lyol oy,A $ba mo if 1t didn't sound like some swimming baboon a-hailing of us," cried the helmsman "Swimming baboon in your eye," answered the mate; ''some drowned mans ghost, nor, like, fooling round, maybe, in hope of beinl laid by drink"
 The laugh again sounded, a sort of un earthly carousing, hallooing, like the mean ,ingless bawling of some drunken rascal stag gering home in the small hours. What tn deuce is itF' said the mate "Ain't that , winking of fire out there where the noise is sirF said the helmsman. The mate peered
 "Ay, sure enough" said he; "what is it now
 It looks like the sheen of phosphorus to tn
 dipping of an oar. ListenT They both ben
 their ears. The long, demoniacal, bloo
 chilling laugh came floating off the water t
 the ship, and then a man cried out suddenly
 in the blackness forward, Here's some on
 hailing of usl" The mate put his head int
 the skyfight and sang out to the skipper, wh
 rolled of the locker and came on deck. B
 this time the watch, disturbed in their mar
 had uncoiled themselves and were at tn
 rail Every man was invisible to his fellow close together as the sailors hung, but tn darkness did not hinder them from speaking and their voices rose in 8 sort of grumble hoarse with wonder, not unmixed with ar prehension.
 "What is it, MT. Jones7" asked the car
 tain. There's some out on the wate wonder, laughing" answered the mate "Isten, sir; now you have it." It coul
 scarcely be any longer doubted that th sounds were uttered by human being.
 was a mans lunatic laughter, senseless
 bowling counterfeit of mirth, and this tim
 it was followed on by an articulate cry
 though the fellow was too far off to be il
 telligible. 'Why, yes; sure enough" erie
 the captain, "there's some one out there, br
 what the deuce is he finding to laugh at, an
 what's his craftf' He raised his voic' Anybody make out what that chap yonder
 afoat ina" "He's heading for us," exclaime
 one of the men, "his voice has growed { clear ag'in since first heard" "It'll be
 boat, l allow" exclaimed another mai '.fancy heered tho grind of an oar ill tho pins just now, and there's flash of water I times"
 | For some minutes there was a dead stl \ sy~A