Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-02-25

| and brine, would be turned upon me, and hard though they strove to control themselves, could hear the low, dull whisper: 'WaterI Waterl Waterg
 "Wescott, strange to say bore his sufferings more patiently than had anticipated. was touched by what seemed to me his devotion, his obe. dience, and spoke kindly to him. But he paid no attention to anyone or any. thing, lying lilRe huge beast curling up in the bow of the boat.
 "Ah, sir, those were terrible hours. shudder as call them to mind, and the recollection of them makes me more grateful than ever to old Uncle Robert for making it possible for me to quit the sea forever
 "We had now been four days knock ing about in this terrible fashion, when one morning was aroused by a shriek and cries of 'Captaini captainp The buckle of my belt had been drawn ur to it's hole in order to keep my poor, collapsed stomach from grinding itself to pieces, and had left the steward on watch and was catching few winlks o1 sleep, when that fearful shriek caused me to start up with jerk.
 tThe beast was 1oosel Yes, these words describe the situation exactly. While I had been sleeping the giant mulatto hSd walked up in a frenzy, which the others had made futile ef- forts to control, had filed 8 tarpaulin hat with sea water and taken long and deep draughts of it. In a few moments he was a raving madman, frothing at the mouth and tearing his own flesh with his glistening teeth. It was a sight to strike terror to the stoutest heart. What feared at first thought was that he would swamp the boat, for he threatened every moment to rise from his kneeling position. To turn the boat over meant quick and sure death for us all, for not one of us had strength enough to swim stroke. But no, the maniac had other ends in vlew. With a deep, prolonged growl he threw him. self upon the poor steward, and seizing the terror-stricl5en man with his huge hands he drew him into his lap as if he weighed no more than four stone.
 "Then felt my hair stifren and my heart struggle to keep up its beat, for horror of horrors, what did see2 That huge beast in human form with a rapid motion bent the stewards head back and then set those terrible teeth of his into the poor mans throat. In an in- stant was upon him. My own strength and vigor astounded me, but although rained blow after blow upon the mulat- to's head with the butt of my pistol, 1t had no more effect than the tapping of a lady's gloved hand.
 Meantime, the stewards face grew blacker and blaclIer. There was not an instant to be lost, and setting the barrel of my revolver at the mulatto's ear, I pressed the trigger.
 Ut seemed an age before heard the sharp crack of that pistol. I suppose my hand was paralyzed, but 1t came at last, and the big black monster dropped his prey, and rolled into a heap in the bottom of the boat. For a few mo- ments I saw nothing more, but gradu- ally pulled myself together and mal1- ing motion to the others to help me, we laid hold of the huge corpse and tumbled it into the water.
 "Ah, that was a fearful deed, but I never regretted it, sir, never!"
 Here Mir. Robert Ridley, retired mar incr, paused, drew long breath and then continued as follows:
 Towards nightfall we fell in with a vessel. We sighted her at sundown, and she was then a mere spot upon the distant sea, and we thought no more of her when darkness came; but next morning she was showing within an easy pull, and we then saw that she was a wreck, all three masts gone, and her thick shrouds trailing over the side, as though her hole was full of serpents crawling away from her. As we passed under her stern we read the name: Grace Tucker, Boston, She sat high u pon the water, and seemed new ship; anyway, her copper was new, and the wet flash of it to the sun might have been seen for miles.
 I've sprang aboard, all mad for wat CT, and then for food. Figure our joy when tell you we found a scuttle-butt full of cold water, with a dipper ready at hand to drink from. There was 2 dead man lying in the galley; he was a half-caste, and the atmosphere was So bad with him that two of us tumbled him over the side without ado. Aft was a long decl1house; I entered it to rum mage for food, and the first thing saw was the body of a man lying upon the deck stone dead, with a living dog sit ting alongside of him. When the dog saw me, he crawled like a dying crea, ture on to the mans breast, and feebly | showed his teeth. He was something after the breed of a water spaniel, but | his eyes were red, and seemed on fire and I felt scared somehow on seeing him alive, and, though saw how weak he was, had no heart to push past him lest he should fly at me.
 ''I called through the door to one oi my mates: 'Jacksonl JaclsonP mean. ing that between us we should secure the dog, but had no sooner uttered the word 'Jaclson,' than the dog crept of the dead mans bosom, and, weakly wagging his tail, comes to my feet and falls a-licking my shoe.
 ".'Why, Jackson, poor chap says I, batting him, on which he utters a sort of howl and looks up at me with his two fiery red eyes with such an expres. sion in his face that you'd have sworn