San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-02-14

Overheard with itr' said Trollope,
who was standing in the gangway. But
decently, boys. He was one Of us. !"
They put him over feet first and let
him 60 The body dropped, with soft
splash, and vanished in vivid flash Of
sea fire, whose track those who watch
ed thought themselves able to follow to
q depth of fathoms.
Its shuddering work." said Han
key. Its gone beastly cold, hain't it9"
He entered the cuddy and mixed
glass of brandy and water, which he
drank. The time passed slowly. Some
of the men sat down to cards, but they
could not play. They lighted pipes and
cigars and went ON deck and mooned
about the poop conversing in tones sub
dued by the black silence that was all
about them. They could not somehow
on this first night of piratic possession
settle them selves down into true sea
routine. From time to time the figure
of one or another might have been seer
in a posture Of drinking at the cuddy
table. Davenire was one of these, when,
something after 8, Weston came below
for q draft.
Mark" says Weston, "I've been
thinking over that key at the bottom of
the sea- Suppose q fire-any sudden
trouble-should we be able to force t..
door as quickly as Trollope fanciesT
Let's try an experiment, said
Davenire.
He locked the door Of the cabin in
which Mrs Peacock had slept and then,
putting his foot and shoulder against it,
strained.
"Shall / help?" said Weston.
81 can manage it," answered Dave
nire in a voice of suffocation, and at the
instant Of his speech the door, driven by
his irresistible muscle and weight OF
"beef, as sailors say, flew OPEN This
satisfied the two men. They returned to
the table, and while they drank tum-
bier of cold grog apiece they talked
cheerfully of their prospects.
On deck the silence of the fog black
ened sea was soul subduing. 1t forced
the men to speak in low voices. A cough
startled, laugh would make an echo in
the invisible heights. Old splicers, old
spouters, hearts whose backs had been
curved to the shape of shells by years OF
leaning over yards and kneeling upon
decks, would have made nothing of such
night as this. They would have found
nothing to awe them in it. They would
have seen nothing terrifying in the soft
green sheets Of fire which ran in folds
from the ships side every time she
leaned, lighting up the fog as fire lights
ND its smoke. But our nine friends were
not Jacks in a professional sense. They
were educated men; they were gentle
men born and bred. Two or three OF
them who claimed to be did afterward
prove to be highly connected" They
were men of sensibilities, Of taste, cul-
tiyation. Some were very well read.
They were Just the sort of people to be
moved by this vision of wonderful
hushed blackness, in the midst Of which
they hung floating on fire.
"Where's William" said Trollepe,
who sat upon the foremost skyIght
smoking a pipe.
Shannon roared out the name. The
man answered and came aft.
What do you think of this weather."
said Trollope.
why" answered the man slowly,
81 can't say that I've been a thinking
Of it at all "
"Is there wind in !.
The man standing in the cuddy sheen
turned his head about with leisurely
motion. as though seeking for the wind.
There's no look Of wind" said he,
"but don't say this muck amt going
to draw up presently and fall down
again in water"
Would you advise that the ship
should be left to lie under such canvas
as she now has2"
tSee your tswps'l halyards clear. and
there'll be nothing to hurt" answered
William.