Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-02-24

"One black night we were ratchinG
along under reefed topsails and the
forecourse. was at the wheel. The
bark having her nose to it put spite
into the wind, and q nasty sea was
washing past. There was nothing to
see but the white water that would
flash out in the darkness alongside as
though the beams of an electric light
were travelling round and round, touch
ing the ocean in places as they travelled.
All on a sudden the mate, who was
standing at the weather rail just abreast
of the skylight, gives sort of shrek
and then fell a-yelling; but there was
no time for me to catch what he said;
for whilst his cries were still ringing,
just caught sight of a huge lump of
blackness oozing out over the weather
bow like a blacker night still coming
down through the darkness upon us
with one spark of light showing; but it
wasn't green nor red, and what it was
can't say. The next instant we were
in collision with some vessel; she caught
us on the bluff of the bow and slowed
us clean round with such a noise of
splintering wood, of washing waters,
and of human cries that I've only got to
recall it to feel deaf.
''She went clear, and vanished, leav-
ing us sinking. She had torn out our
bows and wrecked our spars forward,
but she never showed flare, never
shifted her helm, never SO much as
hailed us after she had slipped past.
She left us to our fate, and by that
token allow that she was foreigner.
We had to feel for the boats, so black
aged. The boats were slung in the old
fashioned style, dangling overheard at
the ends of dayits, and steadied by
gripes. Had they been slowed as the
fashion now is, every soul of us must
have persisted. The vessel was up in
the wind without way, rolling briskly,
and the curl of the foam off her side
to the smite of the sea showed us men
who were standing on the starboard
side the outline of the boat as we
lowered her. We entered her in scram-
bling fashion by the tackles-five Of US,
leaving six others of our company
wrestling at the port falls; amongst
them was the master and the two mates,
and us five were men-hands as the
term is. The moment the boat was lib
Grated she blew away; we never again
saw the others, nor did we ever hear
of them.
when the day broke we were alone,
nothing in sight, the hot sun rising,
nothing to drink but four bottles of red
wine, which fellow amongst US who
had acted as steward had brought along
with him, and nothing to eat but as
many broken bits of ships bread as 'ud
make about seven whole biscuits.
The outlook was not very encourage
ing, but as you know, was always of
a very hopeful disposition and there
fore determined to make brave fight
for life. There was one thing that
encouraged me and that was the thor
oughly staunch and seaworthy con-
dition of the boat in which now found
myself together with four fellow crea-
lures adrift, with an ugly sea running.
| say adrift, for there was no mast and
only one pair of oars in the boat, and
we hadn't strength to use them with
any effect. needn't tell you that this
wasn't the first time that had made a
fight for life against terrible odds, for
you know all about it. Well, the con-
sequence was that it occurred to me
that I was the proper person TO take
command of the little party of cast
Always, and see that fair play was the
rule of the day in dealing out the scant
supply of broken biscuits and red wine
which the steward had brought along
with him.
80 I put the question to the men
whether they were willing that
should act as captain, and a CHEEKY:
'Ay, ay, SIR was the answer I got
from all of them excepting Hal Yves
colt, a huge mulatto Of tremendous
strength and not extra good temper.
Hal was splendid-looking fellow phys
ically, and put me in mind Of one Of the
bronze statoots that I've seen 'em dig
out of the sand in the eastern coun-
tries. The muscles Of his arms and
chest were something fearful to look at,
especially when he was out Of humor
at some trick played upon him. Then
these muscles would knot and twist
and his great round chest would heave
like an ocean swell. Hal and had al
ways got along pref ty well together, a
fact which l attribute to my pair of
keen black eyes which, as you used to
say, were bright enough to be seen in
the dark like cats eyes. Then, again,
Hal knew that / wasn't afraid Of him
as the other men were, and so he never
attempted to browbeat or bully me; in
fact, he was ever ready to do me a good
turn. l always made it point to keep
eyes fixed hard and full upon Halls face
when talking to him, and the conse-
quence was that finally succeeded in
getting the same sort of control over
the huge animal, for such he was in
plain words that the trainer gets over
lion or tiger. Instinctively he felt
that was different from the usual run
of men, which am, as you know. ]
never was known to lose my head even
when a youngster at school, and so l
was always the chosen ringleader in
times of mischief or danger.
"Well, that's neither here nor there;
all that l need tell you is that the big
black fellow was afraid of me; but, sir,
would you believe it, when the other