Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-04
CHAPTER XII.

| CHAPTER XII.
Il A LONELY MONT.
had pipe of my own in my pockets
fetched a small block of the black tobacco
that was in the pantry, and with somt
trouble, for it was as hard and dry as glass
Clipped of bowlful and fell a-putling witt
all the satisfaction of a hardened lover OF
tobacco who has long been denied his fnvorit
relish
| Ny pipe being cmptied, threw some NOR
Goals into the furnace, and putting a candl
in the lantern went aft 10 take another view
| of the little cabins, in one of which | re
solved TO sleep; for though the cook room
would have served me best while the fir
| burned, | rcckoncd upon it making cOldel
habtation when the furnace was black than
those small compartments in the stern. The
| cold ON deck gushed down so bitingly through
the open companion hatch that | was fain t.
close it l mounted the steps and with mucl
| ado shipped the cover and shut the door, by
| which of course the great cabin, as | call tn,
| room in which the two men were, was
| plunged in darkness; but the cold was moi
| tolerable, and the parcels of candles in the
| larder rendered me Indifferent to the gloom.
On entering the passage in which were the
doors of the berths, noticed an object that
| had before escaped my observation-l mean
a small trap hatch no bigger than Il man
| hole, with a ring for lifting it, midway down
| the lane. | suspected this to be tho entrance
| to the lazarette, and putting both hands to
| the ring pulled the hatch up. L shifted eau
| tiously, fearing foul air, and then sinking
| the lantern by the length of my arm peered
down, and observed the outlines of casks,
| bales, cases of white wood, chests, and so
forth. | dropped through the hole on to "a
lnft hlaI
above the deck, and then with the utmost
caution stopped and threw the lantern light
around me- But the casks were not powder
barrels, which perhaps a little reflection
might have led me to suspect, since it was
not to be supposed that any man would stow
his powder in the lazarette.
As was in the way of settling my mis-
givings touching the stock of food in the
schooner, | resolved to push through with
this business at once, and fetching the chop
per went to work upon these barrels and
chests; and very briefly | will tell You what
found. First, | dealt with a fierce that
proved full of salt beef. There was Il whole
row of these tierces, and one sutficed to ex
press the nature of the rest; there were up
ward of thirty barrels of pork; one canvas
bale ripped open was full of hams, and of
these bales | counted half score. The white
cases held biscuit. There were several sacks
of peas, "A number of barrels of -four cases
of candles, cheeses, a quantity of tobacco,
not to mention variety of jars of several
shapes, some of which l afterward found to
contain marmalade and succadoes of differ
ent kinds. On knocking the head off one
cask found it held a frozen body that by
the light of the lantern looked as black as
ink; l Clipped off a bit, sucked it, and found
it wine.
I tpu ca f1,or tad Inv In ciFrlf nff
wonderful plenty that fell upon my knees
in an outburst of gratitude, and gave hearty
thanks to God for his mercy There was no
further need for me to dismally wonder
whether was to starve or no; supposing the
provisions sweet, here was food enough to
last me three or four years. was SO over
joyed and withal curious that | forgot all
about the time, and flourishing the chopper
made the round of the lazarette, sampling its
freight by individual instances, SO that by
the time was tired had enlarged the list L
have given by discoveries of brandy, beer,
oatmeal, oil, lemons, tongues, vinegar, rum
and eight or ten other matters, all slowed
very bunglngly, and in so many different
kinds of casks, cases, jars and other vessels,
as disposed me to believe that several pratt
cal rummagings must have gone to the crea-
ton of this handsome and plentiful stock of
good things.
Well, thought l, even if there be no more
coal in the ship than what lies in the cook
house. enough fuel is here in the shape of
casks, boxes and the like to thaw me pro-
visions for six months, besides what l may
come across in the hold, along with the ham
mocks, bedding, boxes, and so forth, in the
forecastle, all which would be good to feed
my fire with This was a most comforting
reflection, and recollect of springng out
Al nfal, init
a caper as ever 1 had cut at any time of my
life
replaced the hatch cover, and having re- |
solved upon the almost of the four cabins |
as my bedroom, entered it to see what kind |
of accommodation it would yield me. hung |
up the lantern, and looked into the cot that |
was slung athwartships, and spied couple |
of rugs or blankets, which pulled out, hav- |
ing no fancy to lie under them The deck |
was like an old clothes shop or the wardrobe
Of a travelling troop of actors. From the /
in this and the adjoining cabins /
that there had been a rush at the
ast--a wild overhauling and hinging about
Of clothes for articles of more value hidden
among them. But just as likely as not the
disorder merely indicated the slovenly indif-
ference of plunderers to the fruits of a pillage
that had overstocked them.
The first garment picked up was a cloak |
IF sort of silk material, richly furred and
lined; all the buttons but one had been cut
off, and that which remained was silver. 1
spread it in the cot, as it was soft thing to
lie upon. Then / picked up a coat of thu
fashion you will see in Hogarth's engravings
the coat collar broad fold, and the cuffs
% the elbow. This was as good as a rug, and
put it into the cot with the other
l swept the huddle of things with my foot
INTO corner, and lifting the lids of the boxes
Jaw more clothes, some books, collection of
mail arms, a couple of quadrants, and
iundry rolls of paper, which proved to be
,harts of the islands of the Antilles and the
western South American coast, very i'll di-
yested. There were no papers of any kind to
the vessels character, nor journal
% acquaint me with her story.
was tired in my limbs rather than sleepy.
md went to the cook room to warm myself
1t the fire and get me some supper, meaning I
o sit there till the fire died out and then go
o rest; but when put my knife to the ham
found it as hard frozen as when had first |
net with it-so with the cheese, and this /
hough there had been fire burning for /
oursl l put the things into the oven to |
haw, as before, and sitting down fell very +
ensiye over this severity of cold which had