Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-21

affections of Elsie, and l almost felt a pang
OF jealousy when l heard her clear laugh
at some Of the quaint antics he cut in order
to amuse her. Had it not been for the one
haunting dread of being overhauled by
junk, l believe We should have been quite
happy. For the terror Of the past tragedy
had faded from our minds, and the sea was
kind and gentle the soft breeze blew
sweetly, though it varied Il great deal
making our task of trimming the yards In
order to keep the vessel somewhere near
the course, due west, an uncnmmonly
heavy one.
Then it fell q fiat calm. Now | had even
at that early age. all a sailors horror of a
calm. and this one troubled me more than
any had yet experienced. The silence was
almost unbearable / could not rest day or
night Ut lasted three days. for more than
an hour or 50 at a time, and when | fell
asleep from sheer WEAKNESS / always woke
with my heart humping furiously and in
an icy sweat of fear. The inactiOn got
upon my nerves so that l began TO hear
strange noises and to imagine that the
dead crew were among us, grieving because
we were yet alive and scheming to secure
our company. This state of mind grew
upon me to such an extent that at last |
dared not leave You Sing, cinging to him
as the one hope / had of ever again seeing
the land Of the living. He. grave, careful
and kind as ever accepted this entire
change in our relative positions with the
same serene behavior as before, and in my
worst mental trouble l had only to look
4 into his eyes TO be completely comforted.
Elsie. strange to say, seemed quite happy.
She was Carclessly kind to me. she loved
our Chinese friend. A word or two from
HIM, in an unintelligible jargOn would set
her dancing with delight. and it was only
during his unav oidable absence from her
for short time that she ever seemed to
feel the misery of our position.
On the tenth evening, think, of our lone
illness, and the third of the calm. l was
lolling against the useless wheel watching
with eyes that observed naught, the fan
tastic efforts of You Sing to amuse Elsie
when appalling feeling of dread sud
denly came over me- 1t was as If / was
going to be violently seasick and affected
my limbs to such an extent that slid down
from the wheel to the deck. This disabling
sensation was happily only momentary in
Its effect that ! was able to rise to my
feet again almost Immediately, though
trembling violently. Whatever mysterious
cause had thus affected me 1 could not tell,
and 1t was evidently peculiar to myself. for
my two ShipmateS were still merry at their
play. But l was desperate uneasy, fearing
that l was going to be very ill. l left the
deck and descended into the cabin, seeing
to my establishment, several rats providing
uueasiy about. They took scarcely any
notice of and ! too upset to obey
the momentary impulse to chase them. !
sank down on settee and tried to collect
myself, but | was too uneasy to sit STILL
and soon wandered out on the main deck
again. Aimlessly / slouched forward and
climbed up on the forecastle head. AS soon
as 1 reached II, looking ahedu L saw a SlEnt
that thickeued my blood Right before the
vessel rose dense mass of inky cloud ex-
tending over arc of the horizon of about
one-sixth of it's circumference. 1t was
dome-shaped. and upon its apex rested the
descending sun, his glowing disc changed
into q dull bronZe-green ball that shed no
light around.
1t looked as If the glorious orb We're sick
unto death. AS ] watched with growing
anxiety the painfully changed luminary
sank slowly into the black mountain of
gloom and disappeared. But above 1t the
| clear sky reflected It's ghastliness, not by
reason of its rays ascending, for it appeared
| to have none, but If some unknown light
/ from the bowels of the earth had broken
| through the sea and was thus disfguring
| the beautiful face OF the heavens. Tearing
| myself away from the disabling fascination
| of the sight. / returned to the poop, MOTTO
| ing with much satisfaction that my trem-
| bling had almost ceased. l found You Sing
| and Elsie sitting on a hen coop watching
/ in perfect silence, al their pleasant play
| at end. Meeting You Sings eye, / read
! therein reflection of my own concern
and in an instant we understood each 9TH
| er. Doubtless, II being his native country
he understood the ominous signs far better
| than i, although even a child could see
| ard feel that something terrible was i'm
pending. And as / went up to her to coax
her below, he mummured in my ear two
| words of pure Chinese. which, because they
| have passed into the English language
understood at once. '"Ty foong." They