Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-03-22
CHAPTER xxx.
VALUE THE LAD1NG.

had been so much to engage my mind, that
it was not until was seat ed at supper il the
old cook room, in which | had passed so
many melancholy hours. that found myself
able to take a calm survey Of my situation,
and to compare tho various motions Of my
fortunes. | could scarcely indeed believe
that J was not in dream, from which I
should awaken presently, and discover n.y.
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 ahoat, my encounter with the whaler, as
visionary and vanishing as those dusky forms
of vapor winch mad swormcd in giant shape
ever my little open boat
But even il confirmation had been wanting
in tho sable visagc Of Billy Pitt. who sat near
the furnace munching away with prodigious
enjoyment Of his food. oud bringing his can
of hot spiccd wine from his vast blubber lips
with n mighty sigh = deep delight, | must
have found it in each Kissing leap and roar
ing plunge Of thp old Iiratical bucket, so full
of tho vitality Of the wind swollen canvas, SO
quick with all tho life instincts of vessel
storming through the deep with buoyant keel
and under full control. Oh heaven. how diff
ferent from the dull amhling of the morning,
the sluggish pitching and rolling TO the weak
pulling of the spritsal!
| 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 I was resolved,
if my hopes were to miscarry the nlsfort-
une should not he owing to wurt of vigi Alnce
on my part; and there happered an incident
which. i.lcyit.oiy tended IL sharper my
watchfuness, rnouGa 1 was perfectly con.
sciors it was a million to cne against It's 90,
curing a second time
| came on deck to relieve Wilkinson at
midnight, after half hours nodding dozs
by the furnace below. He went to his cabini
| stood under the lee of a. cloth seized in tho
weather muin rigging. Pitt arrived. and |
told him he could return to the cook house
and stay there till | called him The helm
being dashed and the schooner doing very
WELL nothing wanted watching IN particular,
yet | would not have the deck abandoned,
and meant to keep a 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 n roaring. welter-
ing shadow, FACILITATING upon the eyes in roll
ing folds Of backness, with the quick cxpir-
ing flash Of foam TO windward On a sud-
den, looking over the weather quarter, me-
thought | discovered II deeper shade in tho
night there than was elsewhere perceptible.
1t was like a great blot Of ink upon the dark
ness. Even while | speculatod it drew out in
the shape o. Il 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 paraly2cd by the ter
rble suddennes5 Of thai appariton and
the imminence Of our peril. 1t all happened
while you could have told thirty Tn. great
black maSs surgcd up with the water boiling
about the bows; she brought a thunder along
with her in her rigging and sails cs shs
scared to tho crowns Of the seas she was
sweeping before. | could not toll what can
vas She was under, but her speed was q tull
ten knots, and as I did NOT SIC her till she
was close She looked TO come upon lis with
Single bound. She passed rs to windvard
within stones throw. and vanished like a
dark cloud melting into the surrounding
blackness. Not cieam OF light broke from
her; you heard nothing but the boiling at
her bows ana the thuuderous pcnline Of the
gale in her canvas. Y quarter turn of the
wheel wCsld lavc sent us to the bottom, and
her, no doubt, on top Of us. Whether she
was the Susan Tucker or some other yehaler,
or big South sea man driven low and got-
ting what casting she could ont of the gale,
know not. She was Us complete a mystery
of the ocean niaht as any spectral fabric,
and heavier terror to me than phantasm
worked by ghosts could have proved
l knew such a thing could not hoDren
again, yet when l 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 gale moderated at sunrise; and though
it was gloomy, true Cape Horn morning,
with dark driving clouds, the sea dusky
olive, 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 it,
heading her east northeast, and under a
reefed topSail, mainsail and staySail the old
bucket stormed through it with the sputter
and rage of line-of-battle ship. There was
a logreel and line on deck, and l found
sand glass in the chest in my cabin in which
| had met with the quadrants, perspective
glass and the like, and l kept this log reCli-
larly going, making point of departure on
the chart the American captain had given
me, which l afterwards found TO be within
two leagues and half of the true position.
But for three days the weather continued so
heavy that there was nothing TO be done in
the shape of gratifying the mems expecta-
tons by overhauling what was left of the
cargo. Indeed, we had no leisure for such
work; all our waking hours had to be strictly
dedicated to the schooner, and in keeping a
lookout for ice. But the morning of the
fourth day broke with fine sky and brisk
breeze from a little to the east of south, to
which We showed every cloth the schooner
had to throw abroad, and being now by dead
reckoning within few leagues of the mer-
idian Of 60 degs,, shaped a course north by
east by my compass, with the design Of get
ting a view of Staten Island that | might
correct my calculations
When we had made sail and got our break
fast, told Wilkinson and Cromwell Pitt
being at the tiller) that now was a good OPP
poltunity for inspecting the contents of the
hold; and mot to he tedious in this part of
my relation however l may have sinned in
this respect elsewhere) we carried lanterns
below, and spent the better part of the fore
noon in taking stock. From a copy of tho
memorandum made on that occasion 's'iil
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