The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-16
BY w. CLARK RUSSELL.
Chapter vIII.-Lost.

And now for another week of this ships
| adventure. There is little to record. AS
| she drove to the south and west the
breeze freshened by strokes, and the
| foam, white as daylight, seethed with
| a leeward roll to the channels, whose
plates flashed jeweled fountains from her
| side.
1t was noble sailing with bucl<ling
| stu'nsail boom, and every taut weather
| shroud and backstay spirited the sea-
| whitening keel with sweet, clear songs of
rejoicing. All the crew loved little
Johnny, and the great Newfoundland,
placid, stately and benign, was ever at his
| side, counting the boy, with looks of love,
to play. Always in this fine weather the
| sunny haired lad in the miniature clothes
| of the blue Jacket would on a dog watch
| take his drum upon the forecastle and
! roll out good, rafting accompaniment
to the cheerful piping of the whistle. Then
! the sailors would dance whilst the ships
! stem rent the water into sweat, and the
bow sea rolled away in glory, and the
western heavens grew majestical with
sunset.
And all this time no man spoke a hint
as to the captains state of mind because,
! as l have said, the sailor has no eyes for
| the human nature of the quarterback I'M
| til it should become as visible and dem
onStrative as wind mill in wind
| and motions were of too subtle sort to
be interpretable by the forecastle gaze,
| and all the strange unconscious dis
| coveries of himself he limited to Hardy,
scarcely ever speaking to the second
| mate unless to give him an order. But
even when he talked to Hardy no man
could have sworn that he was madden
! than most dreamers are. 1t was only as
| Hardy thought, that his talk was so
| cursedly incopsequential He reminded
| him of a diver who If you look to port
comes up to starboard, whose spot of
emergence is always somewhere else.
One day. at the end of the time just
spoken of. the ship was stretching her
! length along a wide blue sea enriched
with running knobs, Swallowed by them
| selves into deepest violet, flash with
sudden MEETINGS of foam which whitened
| the windward picture, and ran with
! smooth curves from the leeward yeast
| that rushed into the water from the side.
| The captain was below. 1t was about
! 10 o'clock in the morning. There was now
a sting in the light Of the sun, as he
| f1oated upwards in an almost tropic glory
undimmed by the flight of little clouds
| which limited at the Trade. Our friend
| the chief mate, Hardy, was walking up
! and down the weather side of the quarter
! deck. A sailor stood at the wheel trim
| for his trick; he was a British seaman,
! his easy floating figure and swift look
| to windward aloft, and into the compass
bowl put thoughts into ones head of the
| time when men like him wore pigtails
| down their backs and fired the fury of
! hell, as the Spaniard said to Nelson, into
| the gunports and sides Of the audacious
enemy.
There was music on that quarterback,
| for Johnny, who was admiral OF that
ship, the captain being very mucn under
/ 1In TrTIf Ctl
sailor had come at once, bringing the mu-
sic with him. He was seated upon the
skylight, and was piping that cheerful
song "a Wet Sheet and Flowing sea,
all over the ship, to the delight OF the
watch on deck, who worked the nimbler
for it; and Johnny made martial music or
that sea song with his drum.
The ship rushed along with festive lifts
and falls and triumphant choruses in her
weather rigging as the swing of the sea
| brought her masts to windward, and all
was beauty and sunlight, and white paan-
! toms Of little sailing clouds, and swelling
| canvas yearning to the azure recess at
which the ship, like some goddess OF me
! sea, was pointing with her spear OF jib-
| BOOM
Presently the boy grew tired; the piper
went forward and as the captains serv-
| ant came along Johnny gave him his urum
and sticks to carry below. The great New
| foundland was lying at its length BESIDE
| the skylight, and Johnny sat upon him,
| and, lifting his ear, talked into 1T, ana the
| dog grunted in affectionate reply. tut
| little bows soon tire of anything save
| sweets, and Johnny Joined Hardy, and
| they walked together. The lad had a very
| inqusitive mind, and was constantly
wanting to know. He began TO question
Hardy about the ship. What is the good
of that little sail right on top there? Why
! -
| Wouldn't that save trouble? Couidn
they let it down and tie it up, as they did
| that middle sail there, when the weather
grew nasty? Wouldn't Hardy be glaG TO
get home? How old was he? Was he
! glad to be so old? Wouldn't he rather
be eight? After much interrogative con-
versation of this sort he felt tired anu
strayed from Hardys side and walked
| about the quarterback, looking around
| him as though he wished to pick up sorle-
thing which he could throw at the sea.
| Going right aft abaft the man at the
| wheel, his arch, sweet, wondering eyes
were taken by the sight of some Mother
| Carey's chickens; also the splendid, daz-
7 zling stream of wake that was rushing
| off in snake-like undulations attracted
! him. A stretch of ash-white grating pro-
! tected the wheel chains and the rellev-
! ing gear. 1t stood a little way under the
| taffrail and was not very high above the
deck, and the tiller worked under it,
| Unnoticed by Hardy Johnny got upon
| this grating to watch the sea birds, also
| to obtain a view of the place where that
! giddy boiling, meteoric river of foam
/ began sea bird is a thing Of beauty,
! which is JOY to little boy upon whom
| the shades of the prison house have not
yet begun to close; and the dazzle of
spinning foam hurting Stewards is also
beauty and wonder and miracle,
| as are many other things in this pleasant
world of flowers and valleys and streams;
! for have seen little child pick daisy
! and view it with greater transport than
/ could even be felt by beautiful young
woman bending with beaming eyes over
! the bracelet of diamonds with which her
/ lover had just clasped her wrist.
Johnny fell upon his knees and crawl
| ed upon the grating to the taffrail, the
| flat surface of which he kneeled upon,
peering cver and down betwixt the gig
and the taffrail, to see the place where the.
white water began under the counter. The
poor little fellow overbalanced himself,
! and Hardy, whose eye was upon him in
! that instant, saw him vanish
"Oh. God!" he shrieked Man over
boardr' he shouted. Hard down! hard
DOWN.
And whilst the wheel went grinding
,Ip to windward and whilst the sails
aloft were beginning to thunder to the
weather sweep of the rushing bows, Har-
dy, tearing off his coat and waistcoat
! and shoes, leaped from the quarter into
the boiling yeast and struck out.
Scarcely had he shot overheard when
the great dog Sailor, springing up with
a swift movement of his head around,
leaped like darling fame on to the
-. laa5 T11r9Y God