Gilpin observer., 1899-05-04

II remember" said I; "and that the
seamen of Columbus thought they
were sent by heaven to stay their
course"
you are right" replied the mate.
with an approving smile. 1T is pleas
ant to meet one like you, Rodney, who
has read that which Is worth reading,
and remembers It,"
"The Gulf Stream" said Weston,
joining in the conversation, "is q great
current about sixty miles broad,
caused by the trade winds. which al
ways blow from east to west. It is-
sues from the Gulf between Cape Flor
ida and Cuba, and runs at the rate Of
three knots an hour along the shores
OF South and North America, till the
Newfoundland bank turns it to the
southeast; so everywhere its track is
known by that gulf-weed which you
now see floating past"
1t Is by this mysterious current
this mighty river that traverses the
ocean-that the timber logs of the st.
Lawrence, the wrecks cs the old plate
argosies, and the carved idols of older
Mexico and the Caribbean Isles, all
covered with the weeds and barnacles
OF long immersion, have been cast
upon the western shores of Scotland
and the Hebrides.
Every morning the weather became
warmer-the sea and sky more clear
the atmosphere more rarefied. The
wind was SO steady that scarcely
sheet or tack was altered. Thus for
several days we bore on with both
sheets aft, as the phrase is, when run
ming right before the wind.
Shoals of porpoises plunged across
the bows of the brig in the sapphire
colored sea, and when it was smooth
whole fleet of the little nautili
passed us with purple sails up; nor
were the dark and gliding sharks and
the silvery fying-fish wanting at times
to keep my attention excited; and the
tiny petrels, as they came tripping
along. half in the water and half in
the air, kept pace with the Eugene.
as she cracked on under a press of
sail, dashing the waves around her,
ploughing SO freely and SO fearlessly
the deep waters that hide a finny world
and wash the dark and unknown base
ments of the earth.
One glorious morning, when we were
within few days sail of Hispaniola,
there occurred circumstance which
was afterward source of the deepest
regret to us all; how and why, will be
shown during the progress of my story.
The day was fine, even for that re-
gion of fine days. The Eugenie was
running smoothly before the wind, and
Hislop, with considerable animation,
was detailing to the captain and me
the appearance Of that rare phenone-
non, lunar rainbow, which, by sin
gular good fortune, he had once seen
in these latitudes, and which Aristotle
declares is never seen but at the time
of the full moon-a declaration which
our learned Scotch mate treated with
contempt; for he was a strange fell
low, this Marc Hislop, and could with
equal facility dilate on the Apology of
Plato and the method OF club-hauling
a sQuare-rigged vessel, or sheering her
to her anchor In a gale of wind; on
the Prometheus of Eschylus, or the
proper mode of lying too in hurri-
cane. with everything struck aloft, and
topsail yards on the cap; and now. on
the subject of the lunar rainbow, he
was proceeding to quote from the
Portuguese Pilot Of Ramusio, when
Weston interrupted him by hailing
aloft:
"Fore-top-therev'
aye, aye, sir" was the usual re-
sponse from Ned Carlton. a seaman
who was perched in the top.
ITO be continued.)