Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-13
PART /

the quaint bravery of the ships and
mariners of the last century made a
noDle and sparkling show of the marine
pageant The hour was a little before
Fundown, and the gush of warm red
glory past the giant headland went in a
tinosure of dark gold to the zenith, and
thence pale as amber to the eastern sea
line, with a hot crimson head Of cloud
here and there vaguely defined upon the
delicate radiance, whilst the horizon ran
with line as clear as though scored
with the sweep of the leg of a pair of
compasses.
II was evening in the month of Sep
tember There was scarce fewer than
B90 sail vessels gently straining at their
hemp cables to the easterly set of the
water. They had come together as if by
magic, for that morning the historic
tract of waters had stepped bare to the
white terraces of the Forelands; whilst
now the multitudinous shipping showed
like a forest upon the sea, gay with
huttering pennons, delicate as a bit of
DeIReiling with the wondrOus intricaeies
Soffhe rigging, -bFaiiant with its red sheen
of the waning lumInary upon the glass
and brass; upon the writing of gilt
work upon quarter galleries and castel
lated sterns; upon innumerable figure
heads of fantastic device; upon yellow
spars where the expiring flames in the
west trembled in veins of FURNISHED
brass.
An old-werld scene of this kind is not
TO be matched nowadays. The iron craft
has entered the soul of the marine, and
all is duh fiat prosaic. Ships of fifty
fashions filled the Downs that evening
There was the towering three-decker,
4 .1o- 1,o
galleries and spacious windows trembling
10 the lustre that rose 10 them from off
the running water, the red coats of ma
rlnes dotting the white lines that crowned
her adamantine defenses, shrouds as thick
rs cables soaring TO huge round tops from
which, higher nd higher yet, rose top
mast and topgali ant mast and royal-mast
into miracles Of airy delicacY, from
whose central spire languidly foated the
peEnon of the ship of the state. There
was the East Indiaman outward bound,
newly brought zap, scarcely less regal in
her way than the first rate, with John
Company : hon Sc flag at the main under
the dOg-vane that glanced like streak
of fire 20 the raining of the splendor be-
Yond the line OF coast, the red flag at
her peak, the ,yrin4ing lips of cannon
along her sid es, the glitter of uni
forms upon = her quarterback,
and rows IF } lively hearties aloft
.eHpon her ID, nail yards snuggin the
races of whit ;loths into lir F6f snow.
are was little bilancEr bound to
- Meditei sriggeG with a long
- - aer mainmast; the
the round-bowed
galley of 100 tons,
all, with ports for
most piratical look
fancy to follow on of
and a stagnated vessel,
this same galley is i'm
huge oars, as though she
deadly marine insect
Tiftly stirring to the i'm
a9.
full of light and life
al beach, so quiet was
re, so still this hour of
ould have heard a blend
BILE sounds softened into
,e-the strains of riddles
craft, the voices of men
- Ieasant noise of bells, the
IN re of winches and capstans
"a Is, the chorusing of lungs of
hg the canvas, the shrill
N oatswans' whistles. Then
II of broke the sudden harsh !
81 r of q gun from the line battle |
= u IL was instantly followed by the
q .5eful dropping of the many-colored |
~ uting to right and left, denoting the |
is !our of sunset: and now masthead and |
2 gaff-end showed bare of the bunting that |
Se'ad but little before made the mass of
dehipping appear like floating city of ban
IlzseTs; and high above the congregation Of |
laccnasts the towering fabric of the three
Ihdecker doomed grim and forbidding upon
y the darkness of the evening stealthilS |
q creeping like some dark curl of breeze |
out of the east.
H.
Whilst the sullen explosion of the gun
ewes eekoing along the Sandwich plains, |
large, exceedingly handsome brig, that |
had been quietly pushing her way into |
the heart of the shipping, helped rather |
by the tide than by the faint tanning |
aloft, hauled up her courses and let 20 |
ali halliards; and minute after her |
aehor fell from the cathead and she !
swung quietly TO the drag of her cable. |
She was from down Channel. a home |
ward beunder; but those were the am
bling days of trade; no fuss was made |
over what we 5-sw call prompt dispatch !
IT was merely a question of how the wind |
sat, and a six weeks detention in the |
Downs was accepted as a commonplace /
incident IN a voyage from the Thames to |
foreign parts.
A few minutes after the briggs anchor
had been let go, q signal was made TO the /
shore for boat. The twilight was vet |
abroad; the line of the land dark against
The rusty crimson of the west: the flag
was TO be readily deserted, and there was
a huttering OF air Sul to make a conspic-
luous thing of the bunting amid the con-
gregation of colorleSS Spars and maSts,
amid which, here and there, Won already
saw the twinkhng of a cabin lamp or OF
lantern swinging pendulum-like from
the forestry.
A tali young fellow of some three or
fonr and twenty years of age stood in the
gangway of the brig. impatiently gaz-
ing Shorewards. He was distinctly
handsome, spite of certain haggardness
ana hollowness that seemed 10 betoken
4 considerable spell Of illness. His eyes
were large, dark and lustrous, full of in
telligence, and a one should say of soft
ness also. He stood little above six feet,
but with the stocp of a man who had not
vet basarl a ble fr cff f,Srnsalf o,,T ,,fo /