San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-04-03

senseless, ungracious yearning, indeed, in the
face of the plenty that was aboard! But it
was the plenty, perhaps, that provoked it.
There was chocolate, which the Frenchman
potted and drank with hearty enjoyment; he
also devoured handfuls Of succades, which
he would wash down with wine These
things made me sick, and for drink was
forced upon the spirits and wine, the latter
of which was so generous that it promised to
combine with the enforced laziness of my
life under matches to make me fat; so that
sm Of opinion, had he waited for the ice to
release us, should have become so corpulent
as to prove burden to myself.
l mention this here that you may find an
excuse in it for the only act of folly in the
way of drinking that can lay to my &C.
count while was In this pirate; for must
tell you that, on returning to the furnace,
we, to refresh US after our labor, made a
bowl of punch, Of which drank so plenti-
fully that began to feel myself very merry.
forgot all about the matches and my resolu-
ton to test them that night The French
man, enjoying my condition, continued to
pledge me till his little eyes danced in his
head Luckily for me, being at bottom of a
very jolly disposition, drink never served me
worse than to develop that quality in me.
No man could ever say that l was quarrel
some in my cups. My progress was marked
by stupid smiles, terminating in unmeaning
laughter. The Freedman sang a ballad
about love and Picardy, and the like and
gave him Hearts of Oak" the sentiments of
which song kept him struggling his shoulders
and drunkenly looking contempt.
By this time was extremely excited and
extraordinarily merry, and losing hold of my
judgment began to indulge in sundry pleas
antries concerning his nation and country
men-asking, with many explosions Of laugh
ter, how it was that they continued at the
trouble of building ships for US to use against
them, and if he did not think the flower de
louse" Q naatsr symbol for people who put
snuff into their soup and restricted their alb
lutions to their faces than the tricolOr, being
too muddled to consider that he was ignor-
ant of that flag; and, in short, [ was so
offensive, in spite of my ridiculous merri
ment, that his savage nature broke Que. He
assailed the English 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 very ugly French word, babe me
come on and he would show me the differ
ence between a Frenchman and beast of an
Englishman.
laughed at him with all my might, which
20 enraged him that, swaying to right and
left, he advanced as if to fall upon me- I
started to my feet, and tumbled over the
bench had jumped from and lay sprawling;
and the bench overseeing 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 overpowered me, for
recollect no more.
When l awoke it was pitch dark. My
hands, legs and feet seemed formed of ice,
my head of burning brass l thought was
in my cot, and felt with my hands till 1
touched Tassards bald head, which so terri
fed me that uttered loud cry and sprang
erect Then recollection returned, and I
heartily cursed myself for my folly and
wickedness. Good GodI thought 1, that I
should be so mad as to drown my senses
when never was any wretch in such need of
all his reason as II
The boatswain's finder box was in my
pocket; CROPPED, found a candle, and lighted
it. 1t was 800 i'll the morning. Tassard lay
on his back, snoring hideously, his legs over
hanging the capsized bench. l pulled and
hauled at him; but he was too drunk to
awake, and that be might not freeze to
death, fetched a pile Of clothes out of his
cabin and covered him up, and put his head
on a coat.
Ny head ached horribly, but not worse
than my heart. went to my cabin and got
into my hammock, but my head was SO hot
and ached so furiously, and was so vexed
with myself besides, that I could not sleep.
The schooner was deathly still; there was not
apparently the faintest murmur of air to
awaken an echo in her; nothing spoke but
the near and distant cracking of the ice. It
was miserable work lying in the cabin sleep
less and reproaching myself, and as my burn
ing head robbed the cold of its formidable
ness, l resolved to go on deck and take a
brisk turn or two
The exercise improved my spirits; stepped
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 explosion of a twenty-four
FOUNDER The schooner swayed to a level
keel with so sharp rise that lost my bal
ance and staggered. I recovered myself,
trembling and greatly agitated by the noise
and the movement coming together without
the least hint having been given me, and,
grasping a backstay, waited, not knowing
what was to happen next. Unless it be the
heaye OF an earthouaka I cao irnaoina No