The Republican journal., 1897-12-23
warm and pleasant the bright

delightfully."- warm and ipeasant, the bright
suns rays danced about the ship and
marked the surface of the waves with
paths Of cleaning light.
Ia the evening we sat in the moonlight
and watched for Hatteras light Precisely
at the time predicted by the captain we
caught the first sight of this powerful
4 flash light; and we knew, as we'll by the
rough sea as by the light. that we were
off Hatteras.'
And 50 the days passed. 50 little is
/ there to see when once in the arms of the
4 ocean, outside of the little world On board,
lat the minutest incident disconnected
/ with the ship becomes Of intense interest
On the second day We saw schools of fly
/ ing fish and watched their movements
We watched the porposes swimming and
/ playing alongside the ship We watched
| the birds that follow the ship from shore
4 to shore We watched the patent log tell
off the miles travelled, and the crew MAX
ing an altitude, and the engines working
constantly under the potential energy of
their coal-food, everything pertaining to
the ship we watched with the interest of
people who had nothing else to do
On the second day we passed another
returning whaler BY this time | had
made the acquaintance of the first mate,
an honest, kindly, jovial son of Erin.
Seeing me at times with pencil and note
book he took me for a journalist; and,
rather pleased with the compliment. |
had not undeceived him. l confessed
that | was preparing little sketch of the
voyage; and at once he was an interested
and kindly assistant. He was anxious
that the passing of the whaler should be
recorded and ventured to suggest how
the incident should be related. l would
put it this way he generously suggested,
with his typical Irish accent, and bis
kindly patronising interest. in the after
noon we sighted another whaler. This
whaler had caught hunchback whale
which she was towing alongside. 1t was
said that the whale would yield sixty
barrels Of Of .
But" 1 said "she hasn't any whale
in tow" 'Well, never mind" he re-
piled; she might have Just caught one;
they frequently catch hunchbacks in this
latitude -
But how am l to say she had just
caught a whale when she hasn't any
alongside, when there is no sign of
whale?" | mildly returned.
20! my dear sir, he replied somewhat
impatiently; you must have some Incl
dents to enlven your story. You are
new at story writing, aren't you?'
| confessed the impeachment.
''Well, | thought So he added. ''Y on
must not be bothered with conscientious
/ scruples about trihes. Newspaper men
never are. ] have helped many with their
stories. I know them we'll They don't
require an affidavit to establish every de-
tail. They must have some incidents or
the story is fiat and worthless" He left me
repeating with emphasis: "The whaler
has just caught a whale from which
sixty barrels of Oil have been taken"
| caught from his manner that he judg-
ed | should be a failure as story writer
on account of my ridiculous insstence
upon abstract truth. Slowly from cur
view there glided northward the return
ing whaler, which might just have caught
whale, from which sixty barrels Ct oil
might Just have been taken
We awoke the morning of the four! i
day, and found our ship skirting the
Florida coast. For hours we sailed with
the reefs to the west and only a mile or so
distant. Lines of green water Indicated
coral rock close under the surface; fire.
quent light houses pointed out the perils
of navigation; the warm southern sun
shone over ocean and the tropical vegeta-
| ton of the island reefs. We passed Cape
| Florida; and, still bearing southwark,
rounded the numerous islands that rise
but a few feet above the oceans surface,
and push out for miles in long straight
lines into the waters of the gulf. Finally,
swinging to the west, we reached Key
West, our only stopping place between
New York and Galveston, about sunset.
As we reached the bar, a storm struck
US. 1t had been threatening all day, and
now suddenly burst forth in fury. The
rain poured in sheets, the night fell with
inky blackness. Under the circumstances,
channel passage, and was forced to take
the ship out into the gulf to await the