San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-01-10

had no suspicious. He was of Mr.. Mat
thews' opinion. 1t was practical joke
with some deeper meaning in it than
fooling--as, for instance, it might have
been the work of one who disliked the
second mate and hoped to get him into
trouble.
go and send the second mate to me. "
Poole was eating his lunch in the
chief mates place. He arose nervously.
$50 it seems, SIR" let fly old Benson
in a broadside of sputters the instant
the young fellow presented himself,
'that you did not give me the whole
truth when l questioned you about your
knowledge of some of the passengers.
81 told you all then recollected,
sir. 4"
Ibid you tell me that you had shown
the arms chest and stated its contents
to the gentleman named Hankey when
he visited the ship in Sydney bay?'
81 forgot all about that, sir. / am
heartily sorry God knows I'd have
stove his boat in sooner than have al
lowed him aboard could have foreseen
this"
Benson's passion rose high. He thun-
dered and swelled. 'D'you know what
my power as commander is, sir?'
"Too well, sighed Poole, standing
upright like private.
''How am l to know you're not in
league with certain people in this ship
for some purpose that mean to watch
and Illustrate, sir? D'you know your re-
sponsibilities? If CATCH
His speech was arrested by sensa-
ton Of choking. 1t was over in a min
ute, but the second mate was greatly
alarmed and asked if he should procure
some brandy. The skipper waved aside
the question with stout hearted -four
ish of his arm and was about to speak
when he was again halted by his eyes
lighting upon the barometer close past
the second mate.
"That will do, sir" And the officer
left the cabin.
That afternoon, some while before
eight bells, film drew over the sky.
1t was laden with a delicate beading Of
cloud. In places it looked like netting.
The sun lost his shape and flooded twice
his diameter of sky with an oozing or
draining of sickly light. The sails OF
the ship took an odd, sulky glare Of
brass, and there being little wind they
sucked hard into the masts at every roll
upon the mountain swell out Of the
| south.
The glass had continued to fall.
There was storm in the face Of the heav-
ems, in the weedy smells of the sea.
The sun went out in blood red, smoky
glare and the night fell black as ink,
with light air out of the eastward
and wild moan in each gust, which the
heavy dip of the ship on the large swell
forced between her masts. But long ere
this she had been snugged down to a
few cloths of canvas Full of savage
beauty was the picture she made when
having rounded into the trough she
rolled her naked spars athwart that sui
len flare Of sunset in the far northwest.
The gale grew slowly. 1t sprang out
of the blsckness and filled the rigging
with 100 piercing whistles. 1t had an
edge of antarctic spite in it, and for the
cold of that first low blast there might
have been a continent of ice close
aboard. 1t freshened. The dashed seas
split in thunderclaps against the diving
and straining ship, and the darkness
was made q visible whiteness by the
foam that burst off bow and beam. At
Q in the morning it was blowing hur-
ricane The sea was running in black
hills, and the face of it was frightful
with the light of the storm. The slant
of the deck at each leeward roll was
steep as a roof. The helmsmen were
dashed to their posts. The captain stood
under the shelter Of square Of canvas
in the mizzen rigging belted to Delay
ing pins. The mate hung to leeward,
where the pitiless shrek and roar some
times flew high enough above his head
to yield him the sensation of lull.
In the gray of the morning the wind
slackened, yet it still blew living
gale. The discomfort was shocking. The
main deck was drowned and the cuddy
awash spite of the secured doors. The
ladies lay in their beds, speechless with
sickness and terror. Mr.. Dent, with
olinched teeth, wrote an account of their
condition and thrust the paper into
bottle, which he carefully corked; then,
with Keeling head and flying legs, he
gained the companion steps, rose upon
them to the height of his head, and,
watching his chance, flung the bottle
at the sea with such dexterity that it
struck the rail and went to splinters up.
ON the deck at the instant his wide
awake flew cleverly overheard. The
captain, holding by the rigging and
leaning in his girdle like man heav-
ing the lead, roared some words into
the wind at the colonial merchant, who,
catching no meaning and fearing for
his life if he trusted to his legs, slid
down into the ouddy and regained his
cabin.
This happened shortly before the
breakfast hour. The ship was then Ia