Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-05-09
CHAPTER xxx.
VALUE THE LADING.

The day had been so full Of business, there
it was not until was seat ed at supper in the
! old cook room, in which | had passed so
many melancholy hours, that found myself
. able to take calm survey of my situation,
and to compare the various motions of my
| fortunes. L could scarcely indeed believe
, that l was not in dream, from which l
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 afloat, 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 hotspicod 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, SO
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 dull ambling of the morning,
the sluggish pitching and rolling to the weak
pulling Of the spritsaill
was up and down good deal during the
| night. But for the treasure | should have
been less anxious, dare say. had come SO
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
watchfulness, though l was perfectly con-
scious it was a million to one against its oc
curing second time.
came on deck to relieve Wilkinson al
midnight, after half hours nodding doz
by the furnace below. He went to his cabin
1 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 lashed and the schooner doing very
well, nothing wanted watching in particular,
yet l would not have the deck abandoned,
and meant to keep 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, weller
ing shadow, FACILITATING upon the eyes in roll
ing folds of blackness, with the quick expir
ing flash of foam to windward. On a sud
den, looking over the weather quarter. me-
thought discovered a deeper shade in the
night there than was elsewhere perceptible.
4 a
ness. Even while specialized it drew out in
the shape Of a ship running before the gale.
She seemed to be heading directly for us.
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 a
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 us to the bottom, and
her, no doubt, on top of u.s. Whether she
was the Susan Tucker or some other whaler
or big South sea man driven low and get
ting what casting she could out of the gale,
know not. She was as complete a mystery
OF the ocean night as any spectral fabric
and heavier terror to me than phantasm
worked by ghosts could have proved
l knew such a 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
O'Clock was so agitated that was up and
down till daybreak, as though my duty did
not end till then
The oala ,,,r,,1o,-, -, -. -. - -.
it was gloomy, true Cape Horn morning,
with dark driving clouds. the sea a dnslv
ohve, very hollow, and frequent small quick |
squalls Of sleet, which brought the wind to |
US IN sharp guns, yet as We could see where |
We were going, got the schooner before IL