The morning call., 1892-06-05

catheads. upon the scuttlebutts lashed
! smidships: and though the seas repeat
edly break over them, they are always teIt
standing The helmsman with ms nara nstS
wrapped mp in mitts, rugged OUT In oiIsAlns
from his head TO his huge, weli-greaSed sea
boots and with the afteT-thatch OF his SOU
wester blown up by the gale and standing
out from his head like the tail OF gull,
gets the full of it. Nothing Of the man
is visible but fragment OF mahogany lace,
showing between the flannel eaTcoYeTs OF
his headgear ard a pair Of watering eyes,
which be would now and again wipe upon
his mitt when a pause IN the yaWs ana
cOme-tO's gives him chance TO raise one OF
his hands from the spOkes
How would some Of our summer-vater
mariners appear beside that salt water
sailor were they to have stood their trick at
the helm on such an occasion as this; gazing
to windWard as yOndeT skipper Is doing;
holding Oh like grim death 10 q backstay,
with the salt drying In crystals ID ms eyes
or making one Of that Oil-Skinned group
there 20 leewaTd Of the galley, stamping
their boots upon the deck 10 put life into
their frozen toes, ducking as a shrek in the
wind warns them of the passage of a sheet
of water over their heads; biting dOggediy
upon the tobacco in their cheeks, and grOwl-
ing as they reflect that anO Their three hours
must elapse before they are privileged TO
Quit the deck and take such warmth and
COlElOIA
whose darkness Is scarcely revealed by the
spluttering Oil-lamp, and whose beams and
stanchionS are decorated with draining
clothes2
1t was already blowing two or three ordi-
nary gales in one, and the lower tOpsails
were more than the brig could safely stag
ger under, though the captain held on, since
by beating 10 the nOrthWaTd he might hope
to get clear Of the ice. Of which, on the pre-
TiOus night and that morning, some mon
stTous specimens had hove in view. IN
deed. at one bell in the afternoon watch,
during a flaw iu a heavy sQuali Of snow that
was blowing In horizontal lines along the
sea, they caught sight on the lee bow Of the
greenish marble-like glmmpr Of a berg that
looked to be a mile long and as tall
as ST. PsuPs Cathedral. 1t vanished
but reappeared broad on the lee beam when
the squall passed and stood out in its COM
plete shape against the smOke-c0lOTed gloom
of the sky over the horizon, where. though
il was four or five miles off, the men on the
briggs deck could see the white, steamlike
haze of the spray that flashed In clouds
from its base and fed past Il in eddyiug
volumes, and almost imagine that they heard
the thunder of the shifting surges reyeT-
beTating in the hollOws and cayerns OF the
mighty frozen mass. But when it had
drawn On the lee quarter another squall
blew up and smOthered it, and alter that 1t
disappeared entirely
1t was at this time that the gale increased
in fury and the sea grew terrible The
weather was enough 10 blow the mRsts out
Of the vessel. and all hands were turned
up 10 stow both tOpsailS and bring the
brig to The wind under q small storm stay
sail. How is the aspect Of that Cape Horn
ocean to be described? TIE rage Of its
headlOng activities the long sweep of dark
blue heights. piebald with kissing and seeth-
Ing tracks Of foam blown along their CLEAN