The herald., 1894-12-11

In that man has excited your suspicion,
| sir?''
II heard him muttering the other
day." said he when he was at work on
sail stretched along this poop. Every
time l passed he glanced askance at me
and muttered. l don't like the man S
looks. He has hanging face. Then
again yesterday afternoon he was OBJ
served to go forward as though he was
just come out of the cuddy."
"Who saw this, sir?"
/ ''It's so, - he answered abruptly with
short, spiritless stare at me and then
stepped to the pinnacle. In the course of
, that morning / asked the steward if it
was true the man Jackson had been seen
to walk out of the cuddy. He answered
that, happening to come up through the
steerage hatch, he had seen Jackson GO
ing forward close from the cuddy front
as though the man had just stepped
from the cuddy itself.
"Well, but said /, you were in the
steerage and had he been there with
an anger you'd have seen him, wouldn t
/ you?"
81 don't think it was him that did
it, said the man.
looked hard him, for, to be sure, if
the thing was not the work of stow
away-of some one hidden in the steer
age-it must at least be the act of a per-
son living aft with access without sus-
picion to the cabins.
Well, nothing happened for three
of I
Der, it being very beautiful. glowing
forenoon watch, the wind light breeze
right aft, and the ship swaying upon
the delicate pulse of swell with scarce
more than steerage way on her, the car
penter came from the pumps, where lie
had been sounding the well, and stand
ing under the break of the poop, with
the sounding rod in his hand, called up
to me:
There's three foot of water in the
hold, STRIP
The steward was on the main deck
when this was said and instantly ran
into the cuddy. The captain was walk
ing aft. / bawled the news to him, and
added that if the ship had not been
scuttled afresh she had sprung a leak.
He told me to call the carpenter ON to
the poop and just then the steward,
white as a sheet, came rushing up the
companion steps, crying out as he
sprang through the hatch that he could
hear the water running into the ship i'll
the same cabin where the holes had be-
fore been discovered.
The captain ran below as swiftly as
his stiff, angular figure would permit.
| and the boatswain and carpenter and
steward followed. On entering the cabin
we Immediately heard a loud noise of
cascading waters.
1t was high morning, and there was
plenty of light This time the would be
scuttler had given himself as little trou-
BILE as possible. He had simply knocked
out the plugs from the ships side, leav
ing the holes in the skin open.
The carpenter rushed forward for tools
and broom handle to serve as plugs.
Once again the leak was stopped, and,
as on the former occasion, on returning
on deck the pumps were manned and
the hold freed from water.
But now the sailors grumbled furi-
ously. First they insisted on jackson
being released, next on the ship being
narrowly searched.
From 10 O'Clock till four bells in the
afternoon watch we were employed i'll
overhauling the vessel. We probed every
nook and Granny of her from the fore
peak to the lazaret, diligently seeking
likewise for any signs of hidden man
in the storage. All to no purpose. The
villain, whoever he was, must certainly
be one of the ships company.
For my part, l suspected the steward,
and so did Shirley, the carpenter Mat
thews did not know what to think. The
captain stalked apart, gloomy and 81
lent
That evening in the first dog watch l
was in my cabin smoking pipe, turn
ing over in my mind some scheme for
protecting our lives by stationing a
watch day and night aft and wonder
ing If Captain Jortin would see his way
to some arrangement of this sort, when
the steward knocked on my cabin door
and walked in.
The fellow addressed me oivilly, with
He said Captain Jortin had just given
him instructions to lock me up in my
cabin, where | was to consider myself
as under arrest OH suspicion of attempt
ing to scuttle the ship. My meals would
be served regularly. I'm sorry, sir, y"
added the fellow, "to have to do this
duty"
So saying, he closed and locked the
door, and heard him withdraw the key.
l sprang from my bunk, put my pipe
down and stood overwhelmed with sur
prise and CONSERVATION. To be merely
suspected of such crime was to be pro-
fessionally ruined.
| thought the captain must be mad to
lock me up without first charging me.
Why did not he confront me and accuse
me in the presence of others and give
me a chance to prove my innocence?
Those holes had been bored by an auger.
An auger is tool not very readily con-
cealed in q small cabin Why had not
the captain caused my berth to be
searched?
Since | knew that was an innocent
man cannot express how great were my
grief and wrath as ! paced the deck of
my cabin that was now my prison, won
aerlng with a burning heart and with
throbbing brows who the real offender
could be; whether it was indeed the