The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-16
Chapter XX.-The c"mill" of the

Chapter XX.-The Camilla of the
Sea.
Within ten weeks of the date Of the
sailing of the clipper ship York from the
River Thames the vessel was about zoo
miles to the westward of the coast of
Portugal. 1t was a leaden day. The
ocean was breathing deeply after a long
conflict with the gale The swell ran in
sullen masses, lifting with the lazy sick
ness of oil, but the breeze was light, and
scarcely creased the moving knobs, and
the shadow of cloud hung like tapestry
IN a darkered chamber, low down in
ragged skirts upon the winding line of the
sea.
-The ship looked wrecked afolft. All
her spars were standing indeed, but her
mizzen-topsail hung in rags, and the bolt
ropes made a skeleton Of the fabric aft.
The foresail was split in halves, and with
each weary roll CAPPED like q cut in an
india rubber ball when pressed. Rags of
the outer jib fiuttered from lacing or
hanks. The main-top-ga gallant sail had
been blown loose and had gone to pieces,
and was shaking from the yards in
lengths like Irish pennants in the rigging.
The ship was rolling drearily, and the
channels would often slap white thunder
out of the sulky brown of the swell and
she groaned greatly throughout her
length and made some dim sound of Ia
mentation aloft.
Hardy stood alone at the wheel He
was fresh from a long and desperate
fight with the sea, and you read the char
Rcter of the struggle in his face. His
beard was a week. old; in the hollows
under his eyes law little whiteness,
the eaernsta ton of se1ts this gave him
the gIlastl look of the fffeboat man who
steps ashore afteT, ftanding two nights
and a day by a stranded ship with
frozen figures in her slfouds His hair
was a little long and this gave a some
thing of wildness to his aspect. His
looks were baggard, his eyes wanting in
their usual lustre, his lips were pale; he
looked worn. For ten days he and Julia
had been fighting a gale of wind. In ten
days they had managed to obtain but
two or three hours sleep in a day Of
tWenty-four hours. But happily for them
It never blew so hard but that they could
keep their course shaped for the English
channel. 1t never blew so hard that a
ship we'll manned would have needed to
heaVe to. 1t came In roaring weight
upon the quarter, and one midnight the
mizzen-topsail burst in a blast of cannon,
and shortly after the Tnain-topgallant
sail was blown into shreds out of the
gaskets, and the next morning, in the
screaming fury of a bleaching squat, the
outer jih flew into pennons from the
stay, and the veil of the forecourSe was
rent asunder. But the reefed main-top-
sail, the fOretopmaststaysail, and the in
ncr jib were as faithful to their duty as
Tom Bowling in the song, and the ship
rushed on IN foam to the fgure-head
whitening acres of the sea abaft her
passing a brig hove to in the haze; pass
ed by a snip that would not stay to speak;
pas sed by a fruiter schooner from the
Western islands, whose spring over the
surge was the glance of the albatross,
whose envanishment in the haze ahead,
into which the York was for ever rush
ing. was the extinction of a meteor in a
cloud.
And now the gale was gone the sea
would shortly smooth its painting breast;
1t was the early forenoon. Hardy called
the dog, but he did not exert the power
full voice that was familiar to Julia.
The Newfoundland came out of its
kennel and looked up in affecuonate ex-
pectatiOn at the sailor.
Go below and bring her up" said
Hardy, pointing, and the dog perfectly
understanding disappeared down the COM
ranion way.
His hands were almost raw with grasp
ing the spokes. His arms We're almost
lfeless with the long resistance to the
mulish tug of the wheal chains in re-
spouse to the kick of the rudder. His
feet ached with standing, knots seemed
TO have been tied in the muscles of his
legs; but In the gauntncSs of his locks
was visible the spirit of a noble heart,
and there was no better or more fearless
sailor in the world than that grim, ull-
ghorn figure that stood alone at the
helm of that reeling ship
You will think it strange that man,
q woman and dog should have
brought a big full-:igged ship in safety
down to the present hour through some
thunderous Atlantic parallels. Yet this
ships adventure is not 50 strange to me
as the mysterious good fortune of the