The morning call., 1893-03-05
CHAPTER xvI-TCoxr1xUEDI.

and silent. BetwiXt the giant windlass and
the hawse pipes W ere stretched the massive
links of the chain cable. heard the tramp
Of a few soldiers overhead, marching to
and fro TO keep themselves warm.
Take you that end of the hatch cover
and lift with me-" said Will In voice of
excitement, looking behind him.
put my hand to the cover and between
us we raised it. The hatch was little more
than a man hole, big enough to admit two
men at a time.
Now look" cried viii. "Have you the
heart? It's not too Iatel See how black it
isl And you may be obliged to remain
down there a fortnightw
Give me your sketch of the inside"
said l.
He quickly handed it to me. looked at
It and then put it in my pocket and with
out another word l put my foot on the lad
der of rungs nailed 10 the bulkhead. and in
q moment was at the bottom.
Keep that hatch open while ! take a
short look" softly exclaimed.
The mans calling me-" be answered.
"Pll come again If possible, later on" and
he closed the hatch.
The blackness was utterl I had heard
tell of dark rooms In which Jail prisoners
were locked up for punishment but no dark
Jail cell could be blacker than the blackness
Of this ships storeroom. | stood for some
time motionless under the hatch where l
had stopped when Will shut me down; 1
hoped to get the use of my eyes and imag-
ined tha: this profound dye of blackness
might be owing to my coming out of the
light into it; the silence was that of burial
vault; l heard the swift beat of my heart in
T1,Nr ,rd l.
small delicate worms of fbers of fire began
TO tremble and crawl upon the blackness;
l knew them to be the phosphorus in my
vision and needed them not, but winked
with fancy of extinguishiug the strange
flames
1 now moved little way forward, stoop-
Ing with my arms outstretched and touched
what l might know by the hempen smell
and the feel OF the stuff was mass of
twine. 1t was dry and l seated myself upon
IL. l will not say thai l was without fear;
my heart beat very fast and yet even at
this early affrighting stage-for il was not
only blackness, it was loneliness also-I
Tejoiced in the thought that l was in this
hiding place at last. that every difficulty
had been overcome, that a most heart
breaking burden of anXieties had fallen from
me with nv descent into this hold, and
that presently my dearest and l would be
together In the same ship with future of
possibilities before US such as l could only
have sighed for and weDt for and grieved
myself into the grave for had l remained at
home.
then bethoueht me; suppose the hatch
should be suddenly opened, I shall be dis
covered. carefully lighted one OF my little
wax candles, and holding 1t up, looked
around. The fame was small, but it en-
abled me TO see as much as / needed WiPs
drawing of the interior was exact; to the
lett were the casks and coils of rope and
bolts of canvas, and in the middle more coils
CT rope and a mass of twne and a quantity
Of canvas buckets. lanterns and so forth,
and TO the right were the fresh-water casks
and the sails. Candle in hand l easily made
my way to that part of the sails which Will
had cut adrlft. l looked and beheld slowed
in the place VIII had indicated quantity of
black bottles and TINS, and sack which l
put my hand upon and found half full of
ships biscuits.
Still keeping the candle burning I seated
myself on the lOOsened portion OF the sail
and found l could easily draw canvas
enough over me to conceal me in an Instant
at the first alarm, or to keep me warm when
l slept. l then blew out the light and re-
placed the candle in my pocket, very CRATE
4
vide me with the means OF seeing when l
needed my eyes.
had often tried TO conceive how 1t would
be with me when l should come into this
hiding place, but never could l have real
lied the truth. The blackneSs WAS at first
insupp0rtable, and again aud again my hand
sought my pocket for candle, bat re-
strained myself when / reflected this was
but the beginning and thai il | burnt out
my stock OF candles quickly | might have to
for VA Or fan gfaaTa farFN Ttu,,s Ff-4
night in this blackness. / comforted my
SELF however. by rejecting that there
would be noise enough overhead to relieve
this awful oppression OF stiffness aud loueli-
ness when the crew came on board.
l use the word oppression; il was physi-
cal; my spirits were easy My conscience
slept; what had | done that IL should re-
buke meP was proving myself faithful
to the man had sworn to be true to and
whom l loved with all the heart which was
my intelligence l was offending no father;
Erlevlng no mother. And as 10 my uncle
and aunt knew this: that while chose
to bold myself betrOthed to a convict it was
all one TO them whether l followed him in
my own fashion or waited at home for his
return.
BY and by thought would make an ex-
pertinent; and creeping out of the sail and
cropping about, touched a tin of preserved
meat In those times provisions were not
delicately timed as they are now. 1t was
joints, cooked legs Of mutton, roast sirloins
of beef. in tins Some of the tins VIII had
slowed for me with the aid of his corrupted
lumber or rlgger were of the size of small
drums; others were little; these contained a
sort of soup well known at sea, called soup
and bouili. The first tin 1 touched was
one OF them; 1 opened it easily with the
kDife and found the contents solid enough
10 be removed in wedges. 1 then felt for
biscuit and made my first meal.
I tyo nj 10 liUh n aanA In -, IL t.
the pannikin; / counted fifteen quart bot
ties of water, one of which l opened, being
thirsty. Ali these things were well hidden
within the embrasures of the timbers, and
by the ropes and other matters which fenced
them round about. l CROPPED my way into
the sail again, after blowing out the candle,
always taking care to command as much of
the slack OF the canvas as would enable me
TO hide In moment if the hGtchzshould be
lifted.
Here now was I. fairly warm, tolerably
provided for, suffering from nothing worse
but then TO be sure nothing worse in its
way could well be iHagined-than an over
whelmlng oppression OF silence, and
blackness deeper than blindness. How
does the ordinary, the average stuwaway
manage? | remember wondering. He
sneaks in his rags into dark. rat-hidden
holes and fingers without food or water for
days. fet 1t is contryed; the stOwaway
is the commonest incident of ocean life.
OVhOe,hto' ihuOou' no 10 iOuuu skelelOn
at the bottom of a chain locker; but it is
the rule with him to emerge ribbed. gaunt,
half nude. He is then set 10 work, and
lands wel-lined with ships beef aud pork
to flourish, perhaps, in country where be
is wanted.
On sudden l heard a strange noise. l
had been some hours in this place when |
caught the SOUND. 1t was q sort of duh
tTemble. regular in its pulse, with metallic
note threading it. pricked my ears and
strained them hard, and my heart then be-
gan TO beat fast; no, / could not mistakel
1he sound was the tread of many shackled
feet passing over the deck and descending
the hatchway and coming into the prison.
whose foremost bulkhead partitioned off
The hiding place In which / lay. The noise
continued like flowing Of water: l heard
no voices, not the dimmest echo of human
cry, nothing but the dim thrill of the tramp
of many feet heavy with irons.
Parhaps on hoUr nav non, hoyo