Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-18

| pair of keen black eyes. which. as you used to
say, were bright enough to be seen in the dark
| like a cats eyes. TSen. again. Hal knew that
| wasn't afraid of HIM as the other men were
| and so he never attempted to brow beat or bully
/ me; in fact, he was ever ready to do me a good
| turn. / always made it point to keep my eyes
| fixed hard ard full upon Halls face when talk
| ing to HIM and the consequence was that
! finally succeeded i'll getting the same sort of
control over the huge animal. for such he was,
in plain words, that the trainer gets over a lion
| or tiger. IEstinctively he felt that was diff
| ferent from the usual run of men, which am.
| head even when youngster at school, and SO
| was always the chosen ringlesder in times of
| mischief or danger.
well. that's neither here nor there; all
that need tell you is that the big black fellow
! was afraid of me, but, sir, would you believe
| 1t, when the other men sent up their CHEEKY
| Ay, ay, SIR WCscott never opened his mouth,
| never drew a muscle. saw it and it made a
| deep impression upon me. 1t was just as IL a
| lion-tamer upon entering the cage had caught
| q glimpse OF one of his animals crouching and
| sulking in the corner and refusing to obey his
| CALL It's hardly necessary for me to tell you
how / acted under the circumstances. MY
mind was made up III an instant. l heard a
| voice ringing in my ear above the scream of
| that nasty sea which was tossing our boat
about like cork in mill-race. 1t said: Whip
| him up to the scratch or you're lost So,
letting fly my leg. gave the swarthy giant a
| sharp kick OH the shin and fixed my keenest
| glance upon him, full in the face.
/ "'Hal Wescott,' said i, If you're agir me
for captain of this boat, say so, man.
| That glance was too much for him. He
| WINGED like dog under the lash, and turn
ing his bloodshot eyes away he muttered out:
That's all right, mcssmate, I'm for you; /
votes ay, ay. sir.
| The men seemed to draw long breath as
| they heard these words
! "'Good enough replied Now, men, listen
| to me. We're in a bad way, very bad way.
We haven't any water Mt all. and only about half
| a dozen biscuits half OF which are soaked with
sea water, but IL dry them as soon as the sun
comes out. Its more than likely that we're in
| fer long fast before we're picked up; but I've
! been in just such a fix before this and if you'll
| be patient and follow my instructions to the
/ letter FL be able to save you all. Now, il you
don't know j must tell you one thing, and that's
this: man can go without food, or, better
said, with an uncommon small allowance for
several days If ne let's sea water alone. Mind
what say, If he lets sea water alone. When
| thirst comes on you must grin and bear it,
| for once you begin to drink sea water you're
doomed. It'll transform you into raving
screechlng lunatics, and IN your madness you'll
as likely as not fall foul of some one OF your
| messmates as a famished beast would of a fat
sheep. But bark We, men, L continued. laying
my hand on my revolver, Tn determined to
sec fair play in this business. and as the car
tridgeS OF my revolver are waterproof. the wet
ting they've had won't do EN- a bit of hurt
Dye hear that: And give You fair warning
that If any one OF you attacks his nessmate OF
tries to rob him of his ratlons I'll shoot him as
l wOnld any other wild beast
The men, Hal Wescott included, gave me a
hearty cheer and promised me implicit obedi-
ence.
''Our first bit of luck was heavy fall of rain.
So rigging piece of sail cloth in such way as
to catch as much water as possible proceeded
to empty the red wine. one bottle at time.
into the sea and to fill 1t with water, cork it
again securely and pack it away carefully in the
boats locker, upon which took up my posi-
ton.
Now it was that that great black brute Hal
Wescott first showed his teeth if l may be per-
mitted to express myself SO, and blg white,
sharp and animal-like teeth they were, too,
take my word for ii. When Wescott caught
the low gurgling sound of tho wine al it
| spurted like rill of life blood into the sea a
strange look came over his broad. bronze-coi-
ored face. his little pig eyes glowed with q
wicked fire. his lips twitched convulsivelv and
his huge hands opened and shut with q snap in
the iron knuckes. He was like thirsty beast
suddenly reused by the trickling sound of
water. l could hear the big fellows tongue
| fairly click between his massive jaws as he
watched my movements
when the time came for me to take up the
second bottle and uncork ii Wescott could hold
his rcbelllous in dis no longer in control With
| half scream, half groan, ne burst out:
For God 8 sake, captain, give ME a drink
o that. Don't waste it. I'm burnin' up inside
I'm all on fire, captain, swear 1 am! can't
stand it Captain, for the love of heaven, don't
say no. just give me taste of it, Just q taste!'
Il needn't tell you, sir, that even a few
mouthfuls OF that wine would have transformed
the big mulatto into a fiend incarnatc. Poured
into his fasting stomach 1t would hate set
| stream of fire III his blood and wouldn't be
here today to tell you this story, for he would
have Drained every mothers son Of us sure as
| fate. So in an Instant l determined what
course of action to pursue. and in that brief
space OF time | said my prayers. felt for my
| pistol and bid Uncle Bob and you goodbye
''Siience. sirr roared, with ali the strength
l could muster, as | turned upon the writhing
/ twltchlng monster. whose face-already fright
| fully distorted with suffering-was now made
still more repulsive by ill-disguised rage, which
| burned in his red eyes.
1T took all my self control to keen nv gaze
| riveted upon the man without finching, but 1
was succe .ul. and the nula1O crouched down
| in his corner again like a half-cowed half
| defiant tiger. Things went passably well now
| for day or so. The men obeyed me cheer
| fully and bore the pangs of hunger with won
| derful calmness. l kept Wescott at the bow Of
the boat SO L could have my eye upon HIM.
Next to me was the steward-neycr strong
man and hence the first to sink silent and life
less In a heap on the bottom of tho boat
I'VE had now been washing about for three
days. Hunger was beginning to give our faces
that Wild, haggard look which robs the human
| countenance OF ali traces of a soul and leaves
nothing behind but the dull, distrustful glare
| of the animal.
''But thirst was the thing I most dreaded
In spite of the few thimblefuls of water which
doied out from time to time it was only too
| PLAIN TO be seen that wouldn't be able to keep
| the poor fellows from drinking the sea water
| many days longer. In their titful sleep they
would dream OF coming upon sparkling rills
ana cool fountains, shaded by far-reaching
| boughs. heavy with dark green foliage. and
when about to plunge their red and swollen
| lips into the cool and limpid pool it would
| move away from them like o painted curtain
drawn slowly aside only to uncover darkness,
blackness, nothlngness, Their screams and
prayers as they awoke were pitifuL Sitting
| bolt upright their haggard faces half fayed by
the action OF the scorching sunlight and brine,
would be turned upon me, and hard though
! they s:rove to control themselves could hear
| the low dull whisper: Water! Water Water
| ''Wescott, strange to say, bore his sufferings
| more patiently than had anticipated. was
! touched by what seemed to me his devotion,
/ his obedience, and spoke kindly to him. But
/ he paid no attention to any one or anything,
/ lying like huge beast, curling mp in the bow
| OF the boat.
/ 'Ah, sir. those were terrible hours. l shud-
| der as l call them to mind, and the recollec-
/ ton OF them makes me more grateful than ever
| to old Uncle Bobert for making it possible for
| me to quit the sea forever
| I'VE had now been four days knocking abou.
In this terrible fashion, when one morning
| was aroused by a shrek and cries Of Captain,
| drawn up to its last hole in order to keep NV
| moor cOllaDsa1 stornach from, itaalf ~