The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-06-11
ciples il laid to the account Of the super
natural. Our captain was no better in

natural. Our captain was no better In
this respect than his crew. for he was az
lllteratc rs they, except in the matter Of
navigation, ard as rough and untu,ored.
he evidently believed his ship was
haunted and that sllrt from the vast
deep had mind to torment him by its
irterferenccs. His fears were increased
MOI many DAYS after. On returning to
res! at the end of his evenings watch his
slumbers were disturbed by loud and
fearful cry. which seerned to enter the
cabin by the side light. which was left
open for ventilation. The cry was heard
| oy the second officer on the quarter deck
and bv Martvn. who was at the wheel.
Neither of them could throw any light
upon the incident to the captain, who had
rushed on to the deck in a state OF terror
and demanded in vain for the production
Of the offender.
From that day it was clear to all hands
that Capt. James was torinented by
apprehensions Of coming disaster. An
idea WAS fixed in his mind that his ship
was visited by spirit from the invisible
world, which preferred to make itself
heard rather than seen. And this idea
was strengthened BY the fact that when
he was on deck and became angry ut the
conduct of any of the men. especially
when his anger was made manifest by
! oaths or blows. the unseen but ever Wig
liant visitor from the afar world, perched
apparently on top of the mainmast. ut
ter the insolcnt laugh or solemn warn
ing. On these occasions the poor man
wonld rush off to his cabin with
banchel cheek and tottering limbs, and
there abide until the gale in his moral
sensibiites should subside. That it was
angry with no one else but the captain
was clear, from the fact that it never
took notice Of the conduct Of any other
person. The mate or the boatswain
might act az they liked, or the men
might give on call each other hard
names: no matter-the voice was not
heard-neither laugh nor moan fell upon
our ears.
But most Of those who lived in the
forecastle were far from being happy;
many of them shared the fear of our
skipper, and saw that they would
rather have braved his wrath than to be
tormented as they were by the voices
of the night or day. Martyr and my
self Tere exceptions. What his opinion
was could not say; he met all my ques-
tons bv adroit eyasions. As for myself,
had no explanations TO give. Thus
matters went on until we were within
Two days sail Of the islands. All the
while our captain had been kept from
tyranny by his fears of the voice. but
now, exasperated by some fault III sea-
mansbip on the part of Martyr, and
being the worse for liquor, he hurled a
Delaying pin at him which struck him on
the head. Clapping his hands to his
head he rushed to the forecastle. 1t
was evident that the skipper expected
t. hear the voice for he looked nervously
aloft, but all was silent in that direc-
ton. His courage returned and he
desired the second officer TO call Martyr
back to the deck Getting no answer to
his call the mate went below, where he
found the poor fellow delirious. Return
ing to the deck he reported him to be i'll
a dangerous condition. This filed the
captain with fear. He ordered that
every attention be paid him, which was
done. That night it became necessary to
have all hands on deck to reef, and while
we were on the yards an awful cry, like
that of q maniac, arose from the bow OF
the vessel and the next moment several
of us saw human form on the rail near
the forecastle and then loud splash was
heard in the water under our lee The
captain and chief officers who were on
deck rushed to the side. a hat was seen
for a moment bobbing OH the crest of
wave. the maniacal cry was repeated,
when Capt. James, himself utterlng a
loud cry, fell senseless OH the deck. The
mate then hailed us who were on the top
sail ward: Come down from aioft Clear
away the small boatn'
We thought he was as near beside HIM
self as was the captain; and 50 he was
for the moment, for when we gained the
deck he was ready to countermand the
order Everything was awful beyond
expressions; the wind and water were
raging wild it was impossible for boat
TO live in so rough sea, so, making a
virtue of necessity. the search for the
poor, maddened fellow was abandoned
amid VOWS of vengeance against the cap
tain and tears for our poor, lost mess
mate. Forty eight hours after this we
entered Hilo. A vast change had come
over the crew. The captain, knowing
their peculiarities, had supplied them
with money and copious hbations OF
whisky; so, instead of reporting him TO
the consul, rs they declared they would,
they were ready to shout his praise all
day long In this, however, did not
agree; but. unable to bring the tyrant to
Justice single handed, resolved to quit
the Enrique. did so. After hiding in
the woods several days | was caught and
brought back to the ship. As my adj
ventures as q fugitive are not essential to
the unfolding of my story, | pass them
by and take up the thread Of my nara
tive.
We set sail on our return voyage.
Capt. James was an altered man lie
abstained from liquor, he controlled his
temper, and this, with the addition of
fine steady breeze, made our lives on
4 d. al doomed