Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-04-29

csnsisued at the trouble Of building ships
for us TO use against them, and If did not
think the : flower de louse'' a neater SYM
Dol for people who put snuff into their soup
and restricted their ablutians to their faces
than the t~ricolor, being too muddled TO
consider that he was ignorant of that flag;
and, in short, I was SO offensive, in spite
ofmy ridiculous merriment, that his savage
nature troke out. He assailed the Euglish
with every injurious term his drunken
condition suffered him to recollect, and
starting up, with his little eyes wildly
rolling, he clapped his hand to his side, as
If feeling for a sword, and calling me by a
very ugly French word, babe me come on
aud he would show me the difference be-
tween q Frenchman and beast of an Fog
lishman.
/ laughed at him with all my might,
which 50 enrage6 him that, swaying to
right and left, he advanced as if to fall
upon me. / started TO my feet, and tum-
bled over the bench / had jumped from
and lay ~sprawlipg; and the bench over
setting close to him, he kicked against it
and fell too, fetching the deck a very hard
blow. He groaned heavily, and muttered
that he was killed. / tried to rise, but
my legs gave way, and then the fumes of
the punch ~oyerpowered me, for ! recollect
no more.
When / awoke it was pitch dark. MY
hands, legs aud feet seemed formed of ice,
my head of burning brass. / thought /
was in my cot, and felt with my hands till
I touched Tassard's bald head, which so
terrified me that I uttered q loud cry and
sprang erect. Then recollection returned,
and / heartily cursed myself for my folly
and w~ickedness. Good God! thought /,
that l should be so mad "a to drown my
senses when never was any wretch in sucb
need of all his reason as /!
The boats wain's finder box was in my
pocket; / CROPPED, found o candle, and
lighted il. II was 800 in the morning.
Tassard lay on his back, snoring hideously,
his legs o~verhargiDg the capsized bench.
| pulled and hauled ut him; but he was
too drunk to awake, and hat he might
not freeze to death, / fetched a pile Of
clothes out of his cabin and covered him
up, and put his head on q coat.
My head ached horribly, but not worse
than my heart. 1 went to my cabin and
got into my hammock, but my head was
80 hot and ached so furiously, and l was so
vexed with myself besides, that l could not
sleep. The schooner was deathly still;
there was not apparently the faintest mur.
muir of air to awaken an echo in her; moth
ing spoke but the near and distant crack
ing OF the ice. 1t was miserable work
lying in the cabin sleepless and reproach-
ing myself, and as my bnrniDg head rob.
bed the cold fits for~midableness, / re solved
to GO on deck and takea brisk turn or two.
The exercise improved my spirits; / step
ped the length Of the little raised deck
briskly, my thoughts very busy. On a
sudden the ice split on the starboard hand
with a noise louder than the exposition Of a
twerty-four FOUNDER. The sooner swayed
to a level keel with so sharp q rise that j
lost my balance and staggered. l recover
ed myself, trembling and greatly agitated
by the noise and the movement coming to-
gether without the least hint having been
given me, and, grsSpipga backstay, waited,
not knowing what was to happen next.
Unless it be the heave OF a. earthquake, i
can imagine DO motion capable Of giving
one such o ~swooning, n~suseating, terrifying
sensation as the rendiug of ice under q
fixed ship. In q few moments there were
several sharp cracks, all On the starboard
side, like the swapping Of musketry, and
felt the schooner very slightly heaYe; but
this might have been a deception of the
senses, for though / set q star against the
masthead and watched it there was no
movement. l looked over the side and
observed that the split I had noticed on
the face of the cliff had by this new rupt.
ure been extended transveIsely rightscross
the schooner's starboard bow, the thither
side being several feet higher than on this.
1t was plain thst the bed on which the yes
sci rested had dropped so IS to bring her
upright, and / was convinced by this cir
cnmstanca alone that if | used good judg-
ment in disposing Of the powder the weight
of the mass would complete its own dis
location.
The shock did my head good; l went be-
low and got into my cot, and after tossing
for hall an hour or so fell asleep. Iawoke
at 8 and went 10 the cook house, where l
found Tassard preparing the breakfast and
q great fire burning. l hardly knew what
reception he would give me, and was there
for not a little sgTeesbly surprised by his
thanking me for covering him up.
'You hsve a stronger head than mine"
said he; "the punch used you well. You
made me laugh, though. You were very
d~iverting."
GAY, much too dlvertiug to please my
self" said 1; and l sounded him cautiously
70 remark what his memory carried of my
insults, but found that he recollected moth.
ing more than l danced with vigor and
sang well.
/ said nothing about my contritior, my
going on deck, and the like, contenting
myself with asking if he had heard the ex-
plosion in the night.
mo" cried he, staring and looking
eagerly.
"well, thep," said !, there has hap
pened q mighty crack in tie ice, and l do
soberly believe that with the blessing Of
God we shall be able by blasts of powder
to free the block on which the schooner
rests"
"Goodr' cried he; ''come, let US hurry
with this meal. How is the weather?'
"Quiet, / believe. l have not been Oh
deck since the explosion aroused me early
this morning"
While we ate he said, Suppose we get
the schooner sfloat, what do you propoae?"
Why" I answered, sit she prove tight
and seaworthy, what but carry her homer
what! you and 1 slone?"
NO" said ], certainly not; we must
make shift to sail her to the nearest port,
and ship = crew."
He looked at me attentively and said:
"What do You mean by home?'
England" said 1.
He shrugged his shoulders, and exclsim-
ed in French: ITS NATURAL" then pro-
cseding in English: pray" said be,
showing his fangs, do not you know that
the Boca del Dragon is q pirate? Do you
want to be hanged, that you propose to
carry her to a port to ship menH"
81 have no fear Of that" said /; latter
all these years she'll be as clean forgotten
IS il she had never bad existence"
Look ye here, Mr.. Rodney" cried he,
in a passion, lets have no more of this
suiveling nonsense about years. You may
be rs mad as yOu please OF that point, but
i. sha'n't hang me. 1t needs more than a
few months to make men forget a craft
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