Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-04-04
CHAPTER XI.
SETTLING ACCOUNTS.

| III UruIu STeuIly sui Piioeu, poo Lao 1920
ture might portend more than it was pleas
ant to speculate on.
knew my man well enough to under
stand at once that he had not left me upon
any trivial motive nor to do good by stealth.
Too much Of knave to be fool on his
own confession consummate rascal, ig-
norant or contemptuous of moral scruples,
insensible to gratitude, insatiably avari-
cious, bold in planning and ruthless in eH-
ecuting, felt he must be bent on soDe
scheme that boded neither me nor the brig
any good. I recollected with peculiar and
not very agreeable sensations how he had
! pressed me in our bout on the evening be-
fore, and how on finding himself fairly
matched his chagrin had broken through
his well trained smiles and courtierlike air
of compliment.
TO be deprived Of his company was
cause for rejoicing, for his absence relieved
me of constant source of suspicion and
danger. But better present evil than
lurking enemy. With your eye on the foe
you can defend yourself, but when he may
spring upon you like. tiger in the jungle
at any moment from any quarter, back,
front, side or oblique angle, why, the fear is
ant to fret the nervous. And indeed the
legions of black thoughts came trooping
back upon me with such disquieting effect
that un- Christian as it may sound, Iwould
have given much to be able to run Abram
ben Alden through with my sword, and
there and then make an end of him. Brt,
as it was 1 could only conjecture, and con-
jecturing on matter of life and death is
positively the most unsatisfactory exercise
| Il. l,,,,,, s,l
You may be sure I kept sharp lookout
that day, remaining constantly under my
awning, save when I ran below to douse
nv head, which had feverish tendency, or
swallow q mouthful of food or drink. But
the day passed, and no boat or other object
hove in sight saw neither landmark nor
watermark nor even so much as the fash
of a seabird's wing-nothing but the dreary,
binding glitter of the eternal ocean plain.
The darkness came, came at stride, as
| Mr.. Coleridge says, for in the tropics there
| is no twilight, but leap from light to
darkness as if The night were lying in wait
and pounced upon the world as upon long
expected prey. Nhe stars came out, like
points of lambient iane in fleckless, gray
blue sky, and by and by the moon rose
with q sense of sovereignty, a majLsty and
magnifcence never equaled on land.
Higher and higher she mounted, her white,
unveiled radiance nearly obliterating the
stars in her path, and she smote with
almost as cruel stroke as the sun. There
is a promise to the righteous that the sun
shall not smite them by day nor the moon
by night. The shifting of the sun dwellers
in a temperate cline may partly under
~. r0ft tha
You must go to the east and experience
her adding, withering blight to COM
prehend the fact that hard Arabian moon
will drive strong man stark mad in sin
gle night if he lie unprotected from her
light. Even with me under my covering
she seemed to be sucking at my vitals
Weary with watching and to say the
truth more than trife worried, fed my
rats and went to bed lay long awake in
spite of fatigue and the soothing lullaby of
tapping waters. At length began to doze,
frequently starting up, however, with a
vivid impression of hearing Abram ben
Alden calling my name. Rising on my Ell.
bow would harken, painting with excite.
ment. But the great silence being unbro-
ken, save by the low, sweetly blended voices
of wind and water, would lie down again
to be honest, with something of the nervous
shivering of q frightened child.
Once l was constrained to get up and
look out, first on one side, then on the
other. But the deep serenity of nature
was undisturbed. The moon shone re-
splendently, aud the sea, gently crisped by
the breeze, sparkled like fretted silver or
elowed with phosphorescentf fire. The night
II ND n6n
nv face and head with wooing murmur
that would have been delicious had l been
in frame of mind to enjoy it, and far
aloft the stars palpitated in their azure
setting with sort of tender compassion.
All, mystery of mysteries, how came all
those splendors to be above me, and how
came Of all the millions on earth to look
up at them from such an utter desolation?
Did need the lesson of human feebleness
more than any one else? Was my pride so
stubborn, my disobedience so great that
had to be sent out here second and lone
lier Ishmael to be humbled and corrected?
If the sins were many, truly the punishment
was sore Faint and quivering, I leaned
against the side for support, and as
rubbed clammy face there was wrung
from my heart that piteous cry that went
up from Calvary-the cry which vents the
concentrated misery of a lost race, MY
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?"
And Immediately, as if by celestial i'm
pulse, my mind flew back to a heathery
braeside, and was Nesting from threat
ening perils in arms that compassed me
safely about-as one whom his mother
comforteth. The wounded animal seeks its
lair that it may die in peace; the wounded
spirit turns home that 1t may be strength
ened and solaced, were it only by mere rec
objection. But for that divine memory,
that swift flight through space and time, !
might have gone that instant and leaped
from the bulwarks into the flood below. 1t
was an impotent mood, the mood of a cow
ard, if you like, but let those who have been
similarly tried say If their hearts have
never failed them. And let those who have
never borne the stress Of misfortune be-
ware what fate has in store for them, and
remember that they jest at scars who never
| felt wound"
1 returned to bed by and by, falling
asleep at length on resolution to be up
next morning with the sun. AS it turned
out was astir in advance of my time
Just as the first glimn.er of dawn flickered
on the sea was startled by noise OF ropes
upon the ships sides, a scurrying of feet
on the deck and tumult of contending
voices in shrill confusion all round. Quick
as thought tumbled out of bed, threw on
my clothes, stuck brace of revolvers IN
my belt, grasped my sword and bounded
up the companionway. At the head there
was an abrupt and uncomfortable stop
page, for no sooner did my foot touch deck
than score of cleaning scimiters were
circling about my throat, preventing the
slightest chance of defense.
A throng of swarthy, fierce eyed, vocifer-
ating villains pressed and brandished their
weapons so truculently that could have
sworn to chilly sensation of steel in my
windpipe, though as yet no one had actu-
ally touched me. Divining that the rasculs
were Arabs, demanded in the Arab
tongue, and in rather gasping accents, what