The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-30

to go. Three hours later the Yankee DROP
ped anchor off Mole ST. Nicholas, a Hay
tian seaport, brought into some promin-
ence through the location OF cable sta
ton.
Mole st. Nicholas Is a little collection Of
tropical looking houses set among palm
trees at the foot of q large hill. which in
places aspires to The dignity OF a noun
tain. The town itself Is rather pictures
quely situated, the foliage-covered back
ground and beautiful inlet Of pure clear
water giving it natural setting very
attractive 10 our eyes.
After we had been anchored an hour or
so a bum boat came out, manned by a
crew of two coal-black negroes who spoke
a French patois intermngled with conf
cal English The boat itself was a queer
stubby craft propelled by homemade oars
Before the morning was We'll advanced the
ship was surrounded by boats carrying
shells, lines, prieKly pears. green cocoa
nuts, bananas, fish and water mon
keys" The latter were jugs made Of
a porous clay. and they were eagerly pur-
chased. The water monkey" is a natural
cooler, and when placed in a draught of
air win keep water at temperature
delightful in a warm latitude.
We parted with our mysterious passen-
ger, the army officer, and weighed an
Choir just as the sun was setting Look
outs were posted early and special in
structions were given by the captain to
maintain a vigilant watch. The fact that
we were ia the very theater Of war; and
that several Spanish cruisers, including
the Spanish torpedo boat Terror, were
reported as being in the vicinity, kept
a number of us on deck.
1t is one thing lying off a port with
a lot of other ships and bombarding a
few meas.y earthworks, and another to
be sneaking about in the darkness like
this, not knowing when you viii run your
nose against an enemy twice as large"
said Fagg, as several Of Number Fights
crew met on the forecastle. Il tell you,
it feels like war;
Reminds me OF a story I heard once"
put in Stump lazily. He was loungng
over the rail with his back to us, and
his words came family. The deck was
shrouded In gloom, and the vague outlines
of the pilot house. only a dozen feet away,
was the length of our vision aft A soft
purling sound came from over the side
where the waves Tapped against the steel
hull. A shovel grated stridently now and
then In the fire room, and occasionally
block ratified or a ballard tapped
against the foremost overhead The sur
roundings and the strange, weird "fee"
of the darkness was peculiarly impress
sive
Il don't know whether we care to hear
any story" observed Hay. Better keep
1t until later. Stump. The nights too
wonderful to do anything except lounging
around and thinking. Whew isn't it
dark?"
This story I was going to tell you re-
quires setting like this" replied stump.
1T is about a ship that started from Eng
land years and years ago. She had as
passengers a lot of lunatics, who were
to be experimental with by doctor about
as crazy as they. He bought the ship,
fitted 1t up with a number of little iron
cages, and set forth with his queer cargo.
Ten days out the lunatlcs broke from
their quarters and captured the vessel
One of them, who had been a sea captain
In his time, took charge, and proceeded
to carry out little idea of his own, which
was to make sane people crazy"
THAT was turning the tables with a
vengeance" drawled Dye from his perch
on an upturned pain. Il wonder if he
was any relation of Cutlets?"
A lineal ancestor, I'll bet q biscuit /"
chimed in Hay. Don't you remember the
quotation. BY these acts you win know
their forefathers,' or something like that"
Wei" resumed Stump, "the crazy cap
tain put the doctor and the crew in tho
cages and began to feed them bareback ana
berthdeck scouse and saft horse and -
Must have been a government ma
val contractor in his time" murmured
Morrie.
II bet I know the rest" exclaimed the
Kid, coming up in time to grasp the sit
uation. THE captain set his prisoners TO
carrying coal from the after hold forward
and then back again didn't he?"
If you fellows think you can tell the
story better than can. go ahead, !" retort
ed Stump In disgust You are like a lot
of old maids at sewing circle 1 give"
What was that?" suddenly cried HAY.
springing to his feet III it wasn't a flash
of light IN eat my
A figure hastily emerged from the gloom
aft.
GO TO your stations at once. YOU
men," called out a voice. General quar-
ters."
As we scurried toward the hatch a great
shaft Of Hight appeared off the port beam,
and began sweeping back and forth across
the black of the horizon.
Good heavens" exclaimed Hay, "it's a
searchlight on some man-of-war. We're
in for it nowl"
(To Be Continued)