The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1906-07-27


selves on the forecastle, dancing to the
enlivening strains OF the cooks fiddle. or
singing songs: and an occasional round or
applause or an answering song came
floating down upon the gentle night
breeze from the brig but az the fog grew
thicker these sounds gradually ceased. we
lost sight OF her altogether. and so far
as sound or sight was concerned we
might have been the only craft in tho
entire river. Our own lads also quieted
down. and finally the only sounds which
broke the solemn stiffness OF the night
were the singing OF the breeze the gem
tie rustic OF the foliage. and the loud
sonorous chirr. chirr, chirr OF the In
sects
1t was about half-past nine o'clock,
and was Just thinking OF going below TO
turn in when I became conscious OF the
sounds OF a commotion of sorpe sort; n
muffled cry, which seemed TO me like a
call for help" n dull thud. as OF a falling
body. and a splashl The sounds certainly
proceeded from the direction OF the brig;
and I thought that they must have ema-
mated from a spot at about her distance
from the Daphne. The slight feeling or
drowsiness which had possessed me took
flight at once: all my senses became In
stantly upon the alert; and l awaited In
keen expectancy TO hear II anything FUR
\ ther followed In vain; the minutes sped
past, and neither sight nor sound oc-
Cured to elucidate the mystery ! began
20 feel anxious and alarmed my old sus-
picions rose up again like a strong man
aroused from sleep: and i walked art 10
Mr. Armitage, who was leaning against
a gun with HIS arms folded. and his chin
; sunk upon his breast evidently In deep
meditation He started ur as he hearo
my footstep approaching; and on my ask
ing II he had heard anything peculiar
ahead Of us, somewhat shortly acknowl-
edged that he had not. l there
upon told him what ! had heard;
but he evidently attached no Inn
portance to my statement, suggesting
that II anything It was doubtless
come OF the Frenchmen amusing them
selves. was by no means satisfied wish
this and my uneasiness increasing every
moment, / went forward to ascertain
whether any OF the hands on the fore
castle had heard the mysterious sounds.
] found them all listening open-mouther
10 some weird and marvellous yarn which
one OF The topmen was spinning for their
ediflcation; and from them also failed
10 elicit anything satisfactory. Finally,
81 suddenly occurred to me that, In my
wanderings ashore. I had often noticed
how low the night-mists lay upon the sur
face of the river; and II now struck Inc
that by going aloft l might get sight OF
something which would tend 10 explain
the dsquietiing occurrence. To act upon
the idea was the work OF a moment; /
sprang into the main rigging and made
my way aloft as rapidly as II my lie de-
pended upon IT, utterly needless OF tho
fact that the rigging had been. freshly
tarred down that day; and in less than a
minute had reached the maintopmast
crosstrees AS / had anticipated / was
here almost clear OF the mist; and
eagerly looked ahead TO see IL oil was
right in that quarter. The first objects
which caught my eye were the mast
heads OF the brig. broad on our starboard
bow instead OF directly ahead. as / had
expected to find them. This OF Itself
struck me as being somewhat strange
but what was stranger still, they seemed
TO be unaccountably near 10 MS. / rubbed
my eyes and looked at them again. They
were lust in a line with tho tops OF n
clump OF trees which rose like Islands out
OF the silvery mist. md as | looked
saw that the spars were moving gliding
slowly and almost imporcoptibly past the
trees toward the river. The brig was
adrlft I listened intently for quite five
minutes without hearing the faintest
sound from the craft. and during that
time she had neared us almost o cables
length. In another minute or two she
would be abrest of and within n coupie
OF ships length OF US What could IL
mean? She could not by any possibility
have struck adrift accidentally And II her
berth was being Intentionally shifted for
any reason, why was the operation car
ried out under cover OF the fog and In
such profound silence. There had been no
sound OF lifting the anchor: nor could
hear anything to indicate that they were
running out warps: II looked very much
as though they had slipped their cable.
and we're allowing the tide 70 carry them
silently out 20 sea. And where was Mr..
Austin during this stealthy movement?
Was ne aware OF it7 Why. II my suspi-
ciens were correct. had they invited the
enicers CT the Daphne on board to din