The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-10-30

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SAILOR ARTIST
but the captain wnn4td him not to modest
them, although he would not say he did
not wish them harmed. This convinced
me he was superstitious.
Ward disrcgarded the shippers warning,
for one day he shot one Of the birds, which
fell into the sea, and asked the captain to
lower u boat and pick it up. This Skipper
Waldron promptly refused o do, saying;
~ warned you not to harm them, but
you have seen fit to disregard me There
is no telling what may come of your fool
ish act.
The steward, an Italian with restless
eye, glarcd at Ward as if DESTROYS Of cut
ting his throat.
"You bringa da curse on da schooner-rl"
he cried wildly. 1--WE never live to see da
port Of Hayana-r-r,'
Within an hour, there fell close calm,
and we lay beneath II SKY that had grown
bruzcn. rs if from the reflection Of Il dis
taut couhagration. while the whole sur
face Of the ocean was like liquid brass !
never saw anything like it before, its as
pect being really awful and awe inspir-
ing. The captain was alarmed and the
crew huddled together like frightened
sheep, muttering to each other and cast
INK sulltl ElbllNtS lbNdlNl NNIu ana my
self who were standing forward by the
port rail.
l acknowledge l did not know what to
make of it, and plainly said so. Wards
face was white, but his voice was steady
when he spoke.
II should say it is the forerunner of n
tempest or typhoon,' he observed. "Look
at the sun. That is Il sight never to be
forgotten"
The sun, dim and indistinct, as if par
TALLY yelled, was wading through sea
of blood. The remarkable change in sky
and sea was appalling.
Happening to look round as we stood
there, detected figure that was creep
ing from cover to cover, approaching us in
a crouching posture. \ moment later the
Italian steward sprang ont and rushed at
Ward, literally shrieking
THROW him over! He bringa da cursen'
1t was his intention to pitch the young
artist from the deck to the water but
grappled with him. and the captain ran
forward to give me a hand Together we
dragged him to the galley, where, after
time, he became quiet and submissive.
The calm continued until long after the
sun had set and night fallen, and through
the darkness the sky above us held a red
dish tint There was no moon, and there
seemed TO be no ripple on the surface of
the deep, although from beneath the keel
Of the schooner came uncanny gurglings,
and there Were strange sounds deep in her
vitals. The voices of all We're hushed and
we seemed waiting and watching for some
thing awful to occur.
Past midnight the faintest breath of a
breeze arose. and there was smell of sui
phur in the air. This breeze soon died out,
and then along the horizons rim played
flashes Of lightning, while at intervals
there was a faint and sullen muttering
rumble Of thunder. Still we watched and
wated-fOr what?
could not sleep, and so / paced the
deck with some Of the others. The captain
spent great deal of his time with his
wife, trying to calm her fears. More than
once, as was pacing up and down, some
one Of the sailors would come and look
into my face with burning eyes, mutter
something and turn away.
At length, utterly exhausted, all but the
regular watch sought rest | do not know
how long had slept when was suddenly
awakened by wild, weird cry that froze
the blood in my body. | sat up and lis
tened, but save for that terrible cry all
was still. Being unable to sleep again ]
arose, and as | was about to 20 on deck,
found myself face to face with the captain
did you hear it?" he asked
"Hes, l replied. "What was it,"
He did not know, and we went up to-
gether. The regular watch was on duty,
and when we questioned them they all
acknowledged they had heard the cry, and
one man said il was followed by "A splash
near the stern. The man at the wheel had
heard both the cry and the splash, but not
one of them had ventured TO investigate,
being badly frightened.
Our investigation brought no result, but
m the morning it was discovered that both
the Italian steward and Frank Ward, the
passenger, were missing, A thorough search
Of the vessel failed to discover a trace OF
them, and then, looking into each others
eyes, horrible suspicion came over us.
THAT explains it 4" said Captain Wal
dron huskily. "Now we understand the
meaning of the cry heard in the night
We shall never see either of the men again. "
And we never did.
With the coming Of another day fair
breeze arose, and the reddish tint had al
most entirely left the sky As soon as the
men learned Ward was missing, their con
hdence seemed 10 come back TO them, and
there was 10 hesitation about obeying the
shippers orders. BY nightiall the heavens
had resumed their natural hue and but
for the memory Of the weird shrek and
the missing men it would have been as if
nothing had happened aboard the Rover.
In due time we reached the port Of Ha-
vana in safety, encountering no unusual
storm. We found the wonderful appear
ance Of the heavens had been noted
throughout all that part OF the world, and
some months later new volcanic island
was reported as having arisen from the
bed of the sea / 500 miles away.
But the mystery Of Frank Wards disap-
pearance is a mystery still, 1t is probable
the steward, deranged by fear, found an
opportunity 20 leap upon him and hurl
him into the sea, and that the artist
dragged the Italian down in his clutch.