Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-02-17

stinct; but once 1 had it in my hands
and found it fast, curiosity began to get
the upper hand. and I determined
should have one look through the cabin
window.
l pulled in hand over hand on the
rord, and, when judged myself near
enough. rose at infinite risk to about
half my height, and thus commanded
the roof and q slice of the interior of the
cabin.
BY this time the schooner and her
little consort were gliding pretty swift
~ through the water; indeed, we had
already fetched up level with the camp
fire. The ship was talking, as sailors
say, loudly, treading the innumerable
ripples with an incessant weltering
splash; and until got my eye above the
window sill l could not comprehend
why the watchman had taken no alarm
One glance, however, was sufficient;
and it was only one glance that burst
take from that unsteady skiff. 1t
showed me Hands and his companion
locked together in deadly wrestle. each
with hand upon the others throat.
l dropped upon the thwart again,
none too soon, for was near overheard.
l could see nothing for the moment, but
these two furious, encrimsoned faces,
swaying together under the smoky
lamp; and 1 shut my eyes to let them
grow once more familiar with the
darkness.
The endless ballad had come to an
end at last. and the whole diminished
company about the campfire had broken
into the chorus l had heard so often:
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest
Yo-ho-ho, and bottle of rum,
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle OF rum!'
1 was just thinking how busy drink
and the devil were at that very moment
in the cabin of the "Hispaniola," when
was surprised by sudden lurch of the
coracle. At the same moment she
yawed sharply and seemed to change
her course. The speed in the meantime
had strangely increased.
l opened my eyes at once. All round
me were little ripples, combing over
with a sharp. bristling sound and slight
" phosphorescent. The "Hispaniola"
herself, a few yards in whose wake l
was still being whirled along, seemed
to stagger in her course, and l saw her
spars toss a little against the black
ness of the night; nay, as looked longer,
| made sure she also was wheeling to
the southwark.
/ glanced over my shoulder, and my
heart jumped against my ribs. There,
right behind me. was the glow of the
campfire. The current had turned at
right angles, sweeping round along
with it the tall schooner and the little
dancing coracle; ever quickening, ever
bubbling higher, ever muttering louder,
it went spinning through the narrows
for the open sea.
Suddenly the schooner in front of me
gave violent yaw, turning. perhaps,
through 20 degrees; and almost at the
same moment one shout followed an
other from on board; / could hear feet
pounding on the companion ladder; and
| knew that the two drunkards had at
last been. interrupted in their quarrel
and awakened to a sense of their dis
aster.
lay uCWH udI III tHc DOttolh VI
that wretched skiff, and devoutly com
mended my spirit to its Maker. At the
end of the straits, / made sure we must
fall into some bar of raging breakers.
where all my troubles would be ended
speedily, and though I could, perhaps,
bear to die, could not bear to look
upon my fate rs it approached.
So 1 must have lain for hours, con-
tinually beaten to and fro upon the bill
lows, now and again wetted with flying
sprays, and never ceasing to expect
death at the next plunge. Gradually
weariness grew upon me; numbness,
an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind
even In the midst of my terrors; until
sleep at last intervened, and in my sea-
tossed coracle 1 lay and dreamed Of
home and the old Admiral Benbow.