The Bessemer indicator., 1894-02-03

tn0 BoutneuSt, Wntcn ptoW IiBut IN
their teeth. hurliuR sea after sea
laundering over the deck, bending the
strong masts like whips and smashing
nearly all tho glass and crockcry on
board.
On the morning Of the third day
matters looked 30 threatening that
the officers began to hint at tile advis..
ability of running for Cape Town, and
living snug in hnrbor until the gale
had blown itself out But the captain
Of the britannia. though happily less
Obstinate than, his terrible Dutch
predecessor, had d pity firm will of
his own; and, confident as lie was in
tho power of his stout bark to weather
form, he determined not to lose
time BY runun,. into port, =, ,ee,,ng Ger, an
tain that the gale woula ~. '."e"
longer!
Sure enough, hbott hooa on the
fifth day the violence of the stofm be;
gan to ablte and by evening the wind
.7ns frllitir 80 rapidly that they
thought the dahssr osst and got some
sail on her once more;
But they soon found that they were
rejoicing too soon. During the night,
indeed, all went well, but early on the
following morning tho wind all Mt
of1ce .shifted round to the northeast
and II 'ica<c sqnall from that quarter
struck the vessel with q sTddauness
which hardly gave the crew time tr
prepare for it.
For few moments NIL was confu-
sion. The shin heeled over, the sea
swept the deck everything was let 20
on the run; nnd the howl and scream
of the wind, tho roar of the waves the
fierce hiss and pattcr OF the binding
rain, tho orders honrscly bawled by
the officer of the watch, the slirill pipe
OF the DO, .wnin's whistle. the tramp
ling of many feet to and TO acros. .no
planles of tho deck, the ccaseless rat
tie of chains and blocks, and the harsh
crenlsing md complaining of strained
timbers made n ma adeninp din.
But fortunately no one was serious
ly hurt, and after awhile the disor-
der abatcd, aud everything was got to
rights again.
Toward evening, however, fresh
signs of mischief began to show them
selves to windward, and, Just about
nightfall. tile first officer Iwho hap
peued to be on duty at the time)
thought he saw tokens of another
squail at hand, and ordered Il couple
of men aloft to take in the naintop
gallant sail.
The foremost of the two hnnds-a
bold, active young "Geordie" from
the good old north country, who was
one of the smartest scamen aboard.
had just swung himself up by the fut-
tocls-s shrouds on the maintop. when
he suddenly uttered loud cry of ter
ror, and came scrambling back again
in such frantic haste as almost to
knock down his comrade, who was
close ut his heels.
''1ihllc, Jiml whatever are yc tip to,
you young fool?" growled the old man.
'D'yc want to knock me overboardo"
But poor Jim was in no mood for
talking. He could only manage to gasp
out, in tones tremulous with horror
The devil himscl's up in the main
Top! l seed him with my own eyesr
Such an annoufcement, made in the
ghostly twilight, with Il look and tdne
of overwhelming terror, by one of
the brnvest and most reckless men in
the whole ships company, was quite
enough for Jim's companion, who,
catching the infection of his mess
mates panic, went down again faster
than he had come up, the two men
almost tumb'ing over each other in
their hurry to escape.
Whats this, noo?' roarcd the first
officer, n hard headed old Scotsman
''Ge looms, did no send yer to TAX IN
sail? Hoo daur ye shirls yer work like
that?"
AK yer pardon sir--wa amt n
shirkin' of our work nohow," an
swered the elder culp lprit, stung by the
rcproach; but you can't expect us to
face old Nick; he's up there in the
maintop; jim here seed him hisself"
81 did indeed, sir; l seed MN MS
plain Us sec you now" added Jim
forgetting that such comparison
was by no means tiattcring to his
superior officer.
Mr.. MacNab looked nonplusscd.
The terror of the two men was evi-
IDENTIFY genuine, and with all the cour-
age md shrcwdness OF his race, the
old Scot had not n little of its super
stition likewise. He cast piercing
glance up to tho mnintop; but amid
the fast falling shadows of night
nothing could he distinctly made out
Prudently refraining from making
any comment on the sailors story,
the mate ordered two other hands
aloft upon the same duty. They went
up manfully enough, but scarcely had
they reached the maintop when back
they came again in hot haste, with
faces as pale as death, loudly dccar-
ing that the devil was there, and no
mistake.
BY this time the alarm had become
general. and SO manifest was the
unwillingness of the boldest men
among the crew to make third ap-
proach to the dreaded spot that there
seemed to be nothing left but for Mac
arose among the seamen.
"Send the pnrson nloft! It's his busi-
ness to tackle the devil, you lnow!"
But there was no need to send him
Partly from curiosity and partly from
that native daring which had made
him foremost in every peril VIXEN at
school and college. Mr. st .Tohn was
already springing upward from rat
line to ratline and in another moment
had disappeared into the shadow of
the maintop. And scarcely had lie
reached it when there startcd IL, in
front of him with hoarse, unearthly
cry. amid the deepening gloom.
horned, black, shaggy head, with two
glittering eyes!
1t would be rash to affirm that Mr..
st. John was not startled for mo-
ment by this grim apnarition but in
another instant he had recovered his
coolness and had guessed the real
truth.
BILLY" he called ont. extending
his hand; and he instantly felt it
carcssed by the warm, moist tongue
of the ships goat, which las was nfter-
wards discoveretl) must have been w.
ing fast asleep where the ,opsail hal
wards were coiled, and when the yard
had been lowered in haste, MS the
squnll struck the vessel. coil of the
halyards had got cnught in the goats
horns, and the weight of the descend
ing yard had hoisted it up, and landed
the poor brute in the maintop. where
being half stunned and wholly
frightcned--it had remained ever since.
oil lnx