The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-20

thutS tho cause OF these here Gains and
contrary gales, and then have locked
him up with nothing to eat until he
should have been coaXed by famine into
correcting his Immature and into giving
US the brcczcs we wanted.
'.Onc black night we were ratching
along under recfcd topsails cnd the
forecoursc. / was at the wheel. The
bark having her nose to it put spite
into tho wind, and 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 n sudden the mate, who was
standing ut the weather rail just abreast
of the sllylight, gives sort of Shrek
and then fell a-yelling; but there was
no time for mo to catch what he said;
for whilst his cries were still ringing,
just caught sight of a hinge lump of
blacl1ness oozing out over the weather
bow like blacker night still coming
down through the darkness upon us
with one spark ofEght 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.
,ff' "She went clear, and vanished, leav-
ing us sinking She had torn out our
bows and wrecked our spars forward,
but she never showed a 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
was it, and God knows how we man
aged. The boats were slung in the old
fashioned style, Dangling overheard at
the ends of davits, and steadied by
gripes. Had they been slowed as the
fashion now is, every soul of us must
have persisted. The vessel was ND in
the wind without way, rolling briskly,
and the curl of tho foam off her sido
to the smite of the sea showed us men
who werc standing on tho starboard
side the outline of the boat as we
lowered her. We entered her in scram-
bling fashion by the tacl1les-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 rcd
wine, which fellow amongst us who
had acted as steward had brought along
with him, and nothing to cat but as
many broken bits of ships bread rs 'ud
make about seven whole biscuits.
1.-THE outlook was not very encourage
ing, but as you know, was always of
very hopeful disposition and there
fore determined to make q brave fight
for life. There was one thing that
encouraged me and that was the thor
oughly stnunch 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
any effect. needn't tell you that this
wasn't the first time that I had made
tight for life against terrible odds, for
you know all about it. Well, the con-
sequence was that it occurred to me
that l was tho proper person to take
command of the little party of cast
aways, 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.
$50 l put the question to the men
whether they were willing that
should act as captain, and n cherry.
'Ay, ay, SIR was the answer l got
from all of them excepting Hal Wes-'
colt, huge mulatto of tremendous
strength and not extra good temper.
Hal was a splendid-lool1ing fellow phys
ically, and put me in mind of one of the
bronze statoots that I've seen cm 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
Mt some trick played upon him. Then
these muscles would knot and twist
and his great round chest would hcave
like an ocean swell. Hal and had al
ways got along pretty well together,
fact which | attribute to my pair of
keen black eyes which, as You used 10
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 good
turn. always made it point to keep