El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-23
CHAPTER XIV.
The ThuuderhOlt.

The ThunderboIt.
An emotion of mingled freedom and
satisfaction possessed the hole crew
on being rid of our tormentor, INT
Lambourne now took charge of the
brig, which he was perfectly able to
handle and work, though ignorant OF
navigation as a science, and having
but a vague idea of the course to steer
for the Cape of Good Hope.
She was hove in the wind, while in
the moonlight, about two hours after
the exciting scene which closes the
last chapter, we committed to the deep
the body of Antonio's last victim, the
poor apprentice, HON the sailmaker
sewed up in his hammock, to which,
being without shot or other suitable
weights, we tied a Jack of Goals to
sink the corpse.
The h~ead-yards were filled again,
and, as if anxious to leave hat por-
ton of the sea as far as possible
astern, we hauled up for the cape. Tom
Lambourne ordered every stitch of
canvas that the spars would hold to
be spread upon the Eugene, that she
might, as he said, walk through the
water in her wv STYLE
All be could do at first was to keep
her in the course we had been steering
on the night these disasters began, for
as yet we knew MOI to what degree OF
latitude, south or north, we might
nave been drifting; however, we cal
culated that Hislop, weak as he was,
might be able to take a solar observa-
ton ana prick off our place on the
chart, in the course Of six or seven
days.
We had the usually snug little cabin
cleansed and cleared from the debris
created by the outrageous proceedings
of Antonio, who must have gone to the
bottom with all Weston's valuables
and money about him, as we could
find neither; and the sweet expression
of the poor widows face, as it seemed
to smile on us from the miniature
on the after-bulkhead, contrasted
strangely with all the wild work that
had SO lately taken place on board.
Hislop and 1 were restored to our
former berths, and then more than
once in my dreams the pale olive-green
visage and glazing eyes of the Gu
bano came before me, and again I
seemed to see him cIinging unpitied
and in desperation to the slender boom
which swung above the seething sea
for his death INT all its concomitant
horrors haunted me and made me un-
happy.
The intensity of the heat in that
season suggested the idea thai we
could not have drifted far south of the
line.
So great was it that the upper spars
of the Eugene appeared to wriggle or
vibrate like serpents aloft in the sun
shine; while SO hot, so clear and so
was the atmosphere between
decks that it was suffocated, especially
in the lulling of the faint breeze. A
white heat seemed to make sea and
sky grow pale, and the former cast
upward a reflection from it's CLASSY
surface and long smooth swells that
was hot-hot beyond all description.
Though ever and anon the upper
deck was drenched with salt water, it
dried Immediately, emitting a strong
of wet wood, while the skids over
the side failed to keep the paint, tar
and rosin rising in large burnt blisters.
About the time when we hoped that
would have been well enough
to make an observation, ever by being
placed in a chair on deck, the weather
became so rough that he was unable
to leave his berth, and during all that
day the brig drove before a heavy
gale, with her courses hauled close
the fore and main topsail yards
lowered on the caps, and their canvas
close reefed.
After the heal we had endured, the
reader may imagine this gale would
be refreshing n a relief. Not so.
The atmosphere, as it became dark
with gathering clouds, increased in
density, c~loseness and heat, thus about
time we should have had clear twi-
the hour was gloomy as a north
ern midnlght-so dark that the men
in the tops, or those lying out along
f~oot-ropes at the yard-arms, when
Inder close-reefed topsails, could not
seen from the deck, while the breeze
hat swept over the ocean was breath
S-h as the SIMEON of the DESERT:
INC our men knew not whether thew
we're drenched by perspiration or the
torn from the warm wave
ops by the increasing blast.
The peculiar appearance of this black
ale alarmed and bewildered Tattooed
rom, who could make nothing of it.
While poor Marc Hislop, whose skill
would have been invaluable to lis.
vhen he heard the singing out on deck. |
he thunder of the bellying courses |
itruggling with their brails, the roar
# the wind through the half-bared
nasts and rigging, the clatter of blocks
md feet overhead, writhed in his bed.
md mourned his own inactivity, or
ather incapacity; but he sent me to
ell Lambourne to V up the an |
with wetted canvas, as it was
lot improbable, by the state of the
.tmosphere, that it was full of cleo
richly and thus we might be in a