The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-02-09
GHOST OR HUMANE

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Every ono knows thst all sailors, evan
the most intelligent, are more or less su-
perstitious, This is the Legitimate result
Of the Life which they lead-lonely, mo-
notonous and full Of the silent but awful
Influences Of the mysterious ocean.
1t was when was first mate Of the
Golden Scud that I was perhaps more for
chilly impressed with this great fact than
ever before. 1t was one of those calm,
dark nights which bring out all the dor
mant superstition that has lain awaiting
such an opportunity to torture your mind
with horrid fancies and hideous semi
dreams until you are in a fever Every
familiar coil Of rope becomes q hidden
Aend ready to seize and carry you to its
abode, where horrors reside too great for
the imagination to picture.
had the midwatch, and a light, quar-
tcring air gave the vessel Storage way,
but nothing more. There was heavy
swell setting on the port BOW and causing
the ship to rise and fall with a regular,
easy motion, yet it was heavy enough to
make the stern settle, as the bow rose,
with doleful swash, which seemed the
proper and fitting sound for such night.
The sky was overcast, and thick, heavy
clouds slowly passed athwart the moon.
The air was heavy and oppressive, and a
faint smell Of sulphur seemed to faint the
slow breeze which famed our brows. Or
dinarily I am most matter of fact and
could not be credited with a lively imagi
nation, yet tonight was prey to super
stitious dread.
l had walked the deck trying to calm
my excited mind, and after making q
search Of the sea with the glasses, and hav.
ing seen that every sail was drawing to
the best advantage, leaned over the quar-
ter rail trying to compose myself by
thoughts of home. My brain, however,
was in an unmanageable state and refused
to obey me. 1t would not settle on any
tangible horror but seemed to roam over
a wide field of horrible thoughts, In which
corpses kept reckoning to me from the wa
ter, and then, opening their mouths as if to
speak, would disappear, only to be fol.
lowed by others of even more hidcous
shape and appearance.
turned away with loathing, knowing
that, if let my mind rest on such fancies,
/ should become gibbering idiot walk
ed forward to the break Of the poop and
found the watch drowsily walking to and
fro or gazing with sleep laden eyes at the
sails and rigging. turned to go aft, and
ms did SO distinctly heard In q muffied,
uncanny tone, the words, "Golden Scud
ahoyp' The cry evidently came from close
alongside
was terror stricken. Cold perspiration
streaIped from all over me. My hair stood
erect, and my legs barely supported me-
With mighty effort l shook myself to-
gather, assuring myself that this was only
u more realistic illusion than the others.
Resuming my walk, arrived at the bin
nacle, and as glanced in to see if the ship
were going Tcourse' the man at the wheel
said, IT thought heard some one hail us,
SIR
was surprised but only more mystifled
than before. Could 10 have been real
hailP I hesitated to approach the rail, I'M
certain what fresh terror should encoun-
ter. 1 asked the men forward if they had
heard the hail. They answered that they
had, bnt each one thought that 1t came
from different direction. There was
nothing in sight, and all felt that some
thing very strange had happened. As VIC
eagerly strained our eyes to pierce the gloom
I heard the hail again, apparently from un-
der my feet, Golden Scud, a--!'' The last :
word was cut off and ended in glrgling
laugh, which sounded fairly diabolcal
The captain was called, and the watch
below came tumbling out of the forecastle.
explained the matter as best could, in
terrupted every once in awhile by the de-
moniacal hail. A AashlighS was shown.
1t revealed nothing, but only added to the
weirdness OF the scene and all of Us felt
relieved when it was eztingulshed. Some
of the halls were distinct, but muffled.
Others ended in that awful gurgle which
chilled our blood.
We searched in groups, being afraid to
separate, and gathered courage from each
others presence. Every horror that the
Imagination could concoct was suggested
by different individuals us solution. A
Norwegian named johnson collapsed under
the strain, and we were forced to secure
him.
Under such strain and excitement our
minds must either give way or resume
their normal functions. The captain was
the first to recover and GAINED lis by his ,
example. We were organized into small
sounds and distributed about the vessel to
The squad which was stationed aft soon
reported that it came from under the coun
ter We oil rushed ait, gathering courage
from our number, and waited silently to
hear the next one, which came soon, al
though it YVES rather feeble. Tho captain
Immediately answered the hail with u
hOarse Believing "Ahoyp' As the stern
voice rose on q swell the answer came:
"Scnd me line! Quickr'
A bowline was made on the tail Of tho
main brace and lowered over the stern.
For short time it hung Imply from the
rail, swaying with the motion of the ves-
sell
Then it was drawn under the stern, and
after a short time it swung out clear and I
dangling. On the end was an indstin-
guishable mass.
Although very dubious in our minds az
to the object we were about to haul up we
lay back with will, and soon II human
figure was brought over the rail.
1t was man. An audible, deep drawn
sigh of relief came from all hands as we
clustered around the newcomer, who lay
on deck, too weak to stand.
A stiff glass of grog revived him so that
he was soon ablo to answer the captains
question of "Who ore your"
He replied, "l'm Ole Hansen, SIR"
"Well, what were you doing overheard
We're you wrecked"
mo, sir l fell overheard from the fore
castle, sir, and caught the rudder chains,
Sir'
what ship are you from?"
why, this one, sir, the Golden Scud."
"Why, Mr.. Blake" said the captain,
burning to me, sis this one of our men?"
struck match, and holding it to the
mans face recognized the well known
features of the stupidest, clumsiest lout
ever saw, and whom unfortunately had
In my watch
was almost too disguised to reply, but
] managed to say: Eyes, sir. It's that
COMPOUNDED idiot Hansen Exchange.
kunthpr