The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-04-22

and was trying to make his duty hard
J for him.
AT last March, by and of brooding
! gerous state of mind. as the incident L
am going to relate will show:
1--WE were in the Indian Ocean. ana
! the latitude was one in which we migt
expect sudden and stiff squalls, when
one night, when we were going along
with fair wind on the quarter and the
topmast-studdingS set, Mr.. March
had the first watch, from eight to
twelve. just before eight bells mid
night he noticed a small cloud on the
horizon. 1t was apparently of little &C
count but no man knew better than
he that it was his duty TO caS the atten-
ton of the officer who relieved him TO
it, that he might watch it vigilantly.
Well, SO far mad his hatred of Norris
gone by this time that he said nothing
to him, but went below, leaving the
second mate, scarcely half awake yet,
on the poop.
Fifteen minutes later / was flung out
of my cot by the sudden heeling of the
ship. and, as | scrambled up the COM
panion-way, heard the crash of small
spars and the Stating of loose canvas.
A heavy, black squall had come up with
the swiftness all sailors are familiar
with, and struck us on our beam-end.
We had To let go the lee-maintopsail
sheet before we righted, and that half
hours work gave the carpenter and sail
maker plenty TO do until we reached the
Sand Heads. OF course, when ! heard
all the facts, | gave my chief mate a
pretty severe dressing down; and he was
very penitent, and full of promises of
reformation; and / must say that until
we left Calcutta, bound here, he did his
best to act fairly and nationally. He
never could be sociable with Norris,
however, and cold civility was the ut
most he could bring himself to. The
second mate, who knew nothing of
March's prejudice. naturally supposed
that what he saw was the mates regu-
lar gait, so to speak, and you may be
sure / did not take the trouble to en-
tighten him.
Once in awhile / would sound March
gently to see if he was getting over his
feeling of dislike, fear, suspicion, or
whatever it was, but i soon perceived
that it was useless to look for any
change in this respect He was frank
enough about it, but all he could say
was that he had tried to throw it of but
could not: that, as time passed, indeed.
it seemed as if he was coming nearer TO
some dreadful occurrence; he did not
feel sure that his own life was in peril,
only that he was mixed up in something
dark and awful, in which Norris was TO
be chief actor. Clearly the man was
becoming more morbid every day, but SO
long as he carried on the duty of the
ship and got into no difficulty with the
second mate. there was nothing to be
done, and / had satisfied myself that
there was still less use in saying any
thing.
Things were in this state when we
came into Port Louis, and while we lay
in the Tier, March's humor seemed to
grow blacker, and it looked as though he
had less command over himself. He did
one thing at this time which nearly lost
him his berth, and but for the difficulty
of replacing such man in little hand
basin of port, / think i should have
let him go. We had cask of rum aft,
and we had Hindoo cabin steward, who
had been stealing this rum and selling
it to the men in the forecastle. March
found out what was going on, and in
stead of furnishing the rascally
steward, he tried to make me be-
lieve that the second mate was the
guilty party-and no doubt he thought
this the more easy, because the second
mate had been keeping the key of the
store room, it being part of his duty to
weigh out the provisions to the ttHaddL
or foreman of the coolies. 1t was in
evitable, however, that i should suspect
any charge made by March against
Norris, and so / said nothing at first, but
went into the forecastle, and, by little
judicious diplomacy, soon got at the
truth. j sacked the unfaithful steward.
as a matter of course, but did not think
it necessary TO make any explanation to
the chief mate. The facts spoke plainly
enough for him, no doubt.
sit may be imagined that this frustra-
ton of his little plot did not mitigate
his animosity to Norris, and / made up
my mind that i should have to keep my
weather eye open all the way home.
However, the sailing day arrived; We
hove up the anchor, and drifted out Of
the harbor on the ebb tide. You know
that the holding ground (anchorage) Of
Port Louis is heavy, greasy, blue clay.
1t is about as dirty bottom IS know,
and when the anchor comes home it
generally brings up a ton or two of this
sticky mud, which ..lso is plastered over
portions of the cable, and which covers
windlass, deck and every thing with mud
before the anchor is slowed. Wei, on this
occasion, the anchor was sent home short
apeak, but the crown was just out OF wa
ter, when / gave orders that some OF the
hands should leave the windlass and
help the boys in making sail. In getting
in the cable we used jigger, q small