The Holly chieftain., 1899-06-16

IL tHrte-quarters OF an HouT hdi-
stead and 1 reached the quay with my
luggage, and 20 minutes later we were
climbing the Countess of Devon's ac-
commodation ladder. out in the bay:
The Spanish mate stood at the top and
touched his cap. Halstead looked
along the gangway and said:
"Ail the passengers aboard, Mr.
Diaz?"
Isl, senor"
Pilot come off with Mr. McPher-
| son?"
Isl. senor."
"All right. Get your anchor up and
find how much she's drawing. Tell
| Mr.. Moreno to be careful that iron
buoy doesn't foul the screw this time
and have the quartermaster bring Mr..
Stevens luggage up to my room The
steward can give the passengers bis
cults and coffee if they want it before
turning in-there are only dozen,
thiBk-and seat the ladies' party at
my table in the morning. Now. old
chap" (turning TO mel, I'm going to
| give you the extra berth in my ca bin,
and you can do as you please on board
Go TO sleep now, II you like, or bring
stool up on the bridge and smoke. /
shan't turn in until after breakfast"
III that's the case. I'll stay with
you. Jus; to humor my fool curiosity,
wish you'd explain why you start at
such an ungodly hour. There's no bar
to cross, SO the tides can't make any
| difference"
| mo; there's plenty of water. but
after passing Cape Santiago there
isn't another light in the strait. There
are two dim ones on the no'theas' cor
ner of Burias island, but they're not
visible to wes,'ard, and | want to see
where I'm navigating between Burias
and Ticao. Well get there about five
o'clock tomorrow morning,-ought to
pass Santiago at breakfast time to-
day,-so that during the night we'll
have plenty of elbow ROOM
Suppose you strike rain or fog?"
I'VE won't. This is the morning of
March 80, isn't it? Well, two weeks
| from tomorrow it'll be sultry, and
still, and hot as Tophet. After that
the air'll smell like furnace until
| April "a. Then there'll be hurricane
in this bay that will send pile of ships
| ashore and spread corrugated iron
roofs all over the landscape, and from
| that time to about the first of October
the weather'll be simply hellish-rain,
| hurricanes, fever and mud. In other
| words, the southwest monsoon will
have set In for six months. You ought
| to know when the monsoon changes,
| il you've been out here two years."
well, I suppose l should. but I've
Shanghai, and they don't make SO
much difference up there"
1t was a perfect night. The wind
had died down until there was scarce
J.. a ripple on the water and each par
ticular star was reflected in it. The
| lights of Cavite, on our left, were fast
dropping astern; and, approaching
Corregidor island at the entrance of
the bay, about three o'clock, the noun
tains of the Piquito on the south head
with the Sierra de Mariveles on the
north rose like dark blue ghosts 1000
feet in the air. Corregidor itself stood
over 900 feet above high water, the
light on its summit filling the rocks
with grotesque shadows as we passed
close under it.
Halstead occasionally called my at
tention to some prominent point, but
he was too closely occupied in watch
ing the different bearings to talk very
much; and, although we didn't drop
the pilot until we'll past Cape Santiago,
could see that my friend preferred
to know himself just how his ship was
being navigated. After a six-o'clock
breakfast we turned in and slept un-
ii noon. Then we went below and
sat down at our first meal with the
passengers, only four of whom spoke
our language. SO that the conversation
was mostly carried on in rudimentary
| Spanish.