THE EMIGRANT SHIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 178, 29 July 1893, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE EMIGRANT SHIP.

BY W. CLARK RUSSELL.

To My Valued Feiend,

MAJOR-GENERAL PATRICK MAXWELL,

gOMIEB AND SCHOLAB.

CHAPTER X,

THE BAKILLA-CUXTER,

Some scarlet thunder-swollen clouds were hanging low ln *De north, and the oil-like surface lay bronzed under them ; otherwise the sky was as clear as glass from line to line. Itore tne sleeve off m Y shirt to make a cover for my head ; my clothing no w consisted of little more than my vesb «nd trousers, but these sufficed. Man wants but little in the shape of apparel down the Salvages' way. I looked up at the height over which I had boon tbrusb and my heart turned ho 6 with rage. Would it ever be in my power to punish the treacherous scoundrel ? How B ly and deliberate the dog had been, feignintf to admire the' view, then courting me to"tbe brink—oh heaven, I could not have need a rat so ! I guessed that my face was looking black with blood whilst I sat with B y fists clenched thinking of Mr Fletcher of Bristol When I was rested I climbed up the dope, and easily reached the top of the island. I walked to the place where Flatcher had thrust me over, and looked for the shovel I then held, and not rinding it, concluded that it had been hurled into the Boa when I fell. My deep imperative need now was fresh water, and I Bpent till noon in hunting, thinking of nothing elso, spitting the white froth from my lips as I walked, and feeling nearly suffocated. At about midday, as I guessed the hour by the sod, having descended a spur of hill in the north-east point of tho island, 1 caughb the aweeb music of the bubbling or a brook, and in a minute later I was kneeling beside a little crystal spring, gushing from under a rook, and chattering along in a channel of iM own through obscuring tracts of barilla to the margin of the cliff where it spread and disappeared. I drank deeply, and then collecting tho water in the hollow of my hands, I repeatedly bathed my face and head. Now being deliriously refreshed, my ibirst gone, my face and head cool, the pleasant chill of snow sinking into my very marrow out of the icy coldness of that water in my hands, I felt hungry and looked about me somewhab desperately. Eabbita in plenty were frisking shadowily among the vegetation, and big sea-birds were "to be had at the cost of knocking them over. Bub I was not yet so Bharp-sob a3 to eat raw things, and how to get fire? I plunged my hands into my breeches pockets in a fib of musing and pulled out a little burning glass which I carried for lighting my pipe by the sun, fire being as Ecarce as news on board ship wher6 the heifer match is rarely found, and where the galley furnace is nob always ab your service.

Wbilsb I held the burning glass, looking Sbouttne for stuff that would burn, I spied i rabbit within a dozen feet. I stooped very warily, picked up a largo piece of Btone or rock, and took aim with so much dexterity thab I knocked tho poor brute over. It was alive when I picked it up, 80 I cut his throat with my little penknife, and skinned it. Whilst I was at this dirty work I looked round the sea. Nothing was in sight; indeed, nothing, if it were not steam, wrfs to be expected. The calm was profound. The silence of the now blazing dny lay in a fiery hush upon the ocean. The bronzed and thunderous stuff in the north was pone, and the blinding white dazzle aboub the sun sloped with a colouring of azure in it! silver to the light tropic blue over the horizon, tho whole cloudless. I found plenty of dry stuff amongsb rotten parts of the saltwort tracts and cosily kindled a fire, leaving a hollow in the ring of flame for ray rabbit to bake in. It was but a red and black repasb; thab a nasty cannibal compound of cinders and gushing flesh, yefc it made me a meal, and satisfied my cravings. Enough was left to servo me fora supper by-and-by, and hiding the remains near tho spring that the birds mighb not rob me, I made my way to the easb beach, a wide tract of sands betwixt two horna of rock. Here I found shade for my aching head, and I sat down under a huge overaheltering ledge of the cliff to think over my situation, and how I was to eecapo from this lonely island. It was then that a vision of Blathford rose before me ; I saw tho water spouting from the old stono dog's head, I saw tho drarch and the parsonage, the silent trees »nd the long fragrant shadows in tho jarden at sunset. I saw Kate Darnley bending over a flower-bed, and my father standing ab the dark gleaming window of the parlour, and I heard my mother calling to. Did I fall asleep and dream this ? When a boy I'd think there could be no happiness to equal the being alone in a desolate island ; I was now in thab blissful state and my heart sank in me as I thought of it. How was Ito get away? Was this spot of rook ever visited ? I tried to remember what I had read aboub ib in an Admiralty despatch addressed as I now know by Admiral, then Captain, Hercules Robinson to somo official bifi-wig, bub could recollect no "we than that the island abounded in coriKranta and rabbits, which I found true, ar>d that both the Great and tho Little Salvages are surrounded by perilous shoals. "I'ips might eight this rock, bub would seldom haul in close enough ea3t or west of 'tWdistinguish a signal even of smoke. I mi!,'ht be forced to spend weeks here, and 'hen be found mad — a gaunt, naked spectre, all board and ribs, like that frightfn! Peter Serrano in the old, true ssa story. This imagination sent me crazy for a "me, and I started up and walked übout in a state of distraction. "was smooth water hero; the breakers *?ra little more than tig ripples rolling J V|tn summer aoftneas and expiring with on S soothing sounds, which ran liko ileavy sighs betwixt the points. The small Undulation was westerly. The swell was °. n the other side, therefore, and the t'Uiled roar of it was like tho thunder of "> engagement between line-of-battle ships ■oilea away, I calmed myself after awhile, for I waH W^R in those days and had a strong "old of my soul. I have had a narrow esI thought. I am not dead yob. I »»M keep myself alive and pray to God to ™'v« me. To occupy my mind I wenb 10 work to collect crabs and shellfish for 'a «ng, and soon had store enough for a , '"Pper that would ba better than a nearly ?*'rabbit. Before sundown I sought a •neiterod corner for a resting place, and ""covered a little cavo in the rocks about «n feob deep, far above high water mark ; , ntthero was nothing to furnish mo with J"« smallest convenience, though I had l°iu' nan '°wlv about while searching for «nelltiah and the liko ; not a fragment of sate5 ate -not a state of cask—nothing. *-° wanting a drinking vessel I invented ? CaP; taking the biggest of the crabs and leaking hia B hell clear of him. With this •fittttoed the cliffa for a drink. I don'b

know what I should have done wibhout my penknife. Ib was in my brouser's pockeb by rare good fortune, brought about) through my emptying my waistcoat pockets. I bad boughb it for a shillitig at Bristol and still have it.

I drank deeply of the spring and then returned to the beach fearful of attempbitig the descent after sundown. The sun seb directly abreast of the bay and never beforo had I beheld such magnificence of iighb in tho sky. The heavens were a universal blazo of crimson; the smoobh eea reflected bho splendour and added froah glory to the sublime and appalling radiance it mirrored. Beforo the light died out 1 ate a small quantity of shellfish. They wer9 a sorb of limpeb and relished like "oystersNob just yet could I bring myself to cab raw crab, and now the aun was gone my burning glass was useless. The sand was soft and dry in the little cave I had chosen as a bedroom, and when I lay down I immediately fell asleep. A horrible nightmare awoke me ; the vision of a wrestle for life with Fletcher on the edge of a cliff as high a3 the Peak of Teneriflo. I started up and in the sheen of the moonlight which hung like a silver veil before the opening of the cavo, I spied the sand I had slept on alive wibh a score or more of crabs. They were big and little, and some v/ere land crabs, X think. They scuttled away when I goS up, and disappeared. I wenb out and walkod about the beach for tho coolness of the night, and to look about me. A pleasant wind was whistling over tho sea which was shivering in a wide breasb of flaked silver under the bright moon. The surf poured strongly on the sands, though the wind was north, with something of east in ib and this side sheltered; from the eastern board the boom of the breakers came along in notes heavy and melancholy, and they were solemn with the power of the deep. Many small white clouds scudded acroes bho star*; the life of a six knob wind was in the scene of moonlit) ocean, and more briakneaa still went to ib out of the ivory brilliance of the rolling lines of foam upon the sand. I stood intently staring seawards, thinking to see a ship, but beholding nothing 1 wenb back to my cave from which all the crabs had departed ; this time, however, I planted my back against the rocks and slepb with my head bowed upon my folded arms.

I was awakened by a sound of singing ; it was a m&n's voice, strong, hearty, and coarse. My senses came to mo with the opening of my eyes ; I sprang to my feet and running oub of the cavo saw a man walking along the sands towards the northeast point. It was broad daylight; tho sun was shining behind the island ; the breeze was still fresh, and the ocean streamed northwards in libtlo seas, flashing wibh the light of the foam they melted inbo. When I saw the man I shouted. He was singing so loudly and the surf was so noisy besides, that ho did nob hear me. I shouted again, at which he turned with astonishing swiftness and stood still, beholding mo in a posture of wonder and foar, as though I had been some bleeding corpse on end in the

He was an extraordinary figure of a man, dresaed in a blue cap, a red shawl round bis bhrpab, a dirty white shirb, over which was a jacket, with treble rows of pearl buttons ; hia breeches wero a sorb of dungaree, very tight, cut shorb midway clown tho calves, which were bandaged as though wounded ; ho was shod to a little above hia ankles with yellow boots. Through a atoub belt over his hips were thrust, on one side a small, bright hatchet, on the other a long dagger hafbed knife, buried in a leather sheath attached to the belt. His faco was as ugly as his attire was queer, his complexion as yellow as gold, enriched with patches like verdigris aboub the brow, cheeks, and nose; his oyes were deep-set, and ho squinted most abonimably. His nose was of tho bigness of a man's little finger, and after descending straight it started at tho extremity into a gouty knob, pierced by two lifting holes full of hair. Under this strango device he carried an enormous moustache, coarse as a horses tail, mingling on the cheeks wioh a pair of frill-shaped whiskers, which, wide as thoy spread, still lefts exposed his hugo oyater-shells of ears. I stared ab this amazine figure for some moments, too much astonished by his appearance to spoak. He now approached mo slowly: when he moved I called out 'Do you speak English?' He shook his head with frightful energy and continued to approach until he was quite close, and then stood stock still looking ab me asain from head to foot. Ugly as he was I seemed then tofind in hisface as reassuring an expression of kindness, and I may say tenderness n 3 Nature's utmost effort could inform such features with. Nor, indeed, oughb I to havo wondered that ho starod ab me ; it was nob my sudden apparition only ; I havo little doubb I presentod a dreadful shape with my scratched face, head bound up with a shirt-sleeve, bloody trousers, and vest to which you may add a tew rags of mv shirt. ~ , , .. Ho addressed mo in thick accents in a langua^o utterly unintelligible; seeing that I did not understand him, he touched his stomach and then his mouth, and mado a show of drinking, all with his poor ugly face full of feeling and kindness. I knew what he meant and nodded my head. Indeed I was both hungry and thirsty. He looked ab me from top to too again, then along the length of sand as though for aomo eign of a wreck, and with a beckoning gesture of his chocolate-coloured hand, hairy as Esau's, he led the way up the craggy face of the cliff--1 supposed thab he meant to conduct me to the spring and point to the rabbits as we walked ; instead, he crossed the island to tho exact spot where Fletcher and I had arrived on gaining the top after quitting the ioUy-boab; and from the neighb or _ the gentle acclivity, looking down I perceivod in tho same creek in which tne jolly boa had lain, a large two-masted craft of about iourteen tons, sharp as a knile at the bo*, nainted white, with a boy on his knees before a little stove in tho bottom of her whistling loudly whilst he plied a pair of bellows. All in silence merely turning hia head from timo to time to see, whether I followed, the ugly, queerlyapparelled man led the way to the waters edge. j The boat lay with her nose on the sand ; she waa secured by a little anchor hooked | to a rock. My heart leapt up at the sight. ] The chimney was smoking bravely; the tawny boy was staring ab us with the bellows motionless in his grasp, as though ho had beon blasted by lightning; the water was smooth in this creek, but ab sea the foam-lined ripples wero streaming | bri«kly • alanglh of rod bunting attached j to "the tail of a little gilt cock flogged merrily ab the mainmast head ; but what I liked was tho smell of cooking. The man with the blue cap motioned tome to climb over the bow into tho boat. 1 did so and found mysolf aboard a broadbenmed, comfortable, finely-lined, very sea'wardlv-looking craft, with a short forecastle deck and white sails neatly stowed uDon the yards along tho thwart?. The boy whose dress in sorno respects resembled the man's, and who was quite as ugly, with long greasy black hair snaking down his back and an intense mouth full o huce yellow teeth, continued to stare ab me wfth many marks of alarm. On my getting into the boat he dropped his bellows and made the sign of the cross upon bis breastand let fly a yard of questions m the rapidost, shrillest voice conceivable Tho man answered him ; many words passed betwean them ; the boy hen keeping tho stove between hm and me pronounced the word 'Anglian? I nodded ' You Anglish ?' he exclaimed again in the noto of a scream. _ •I am English,' I answered. 'Do you speak English ?' , ~ , . , , 'Yaeh, me speak Anglish,'he shrieked. « Who you ? How you here 1

The other watched me intently, his fearful squint beaming with tho soul oi goodness, whilst the boy addressed me. I suspected thab tha lad's knowledge of English would nob permit him to understand much of my sbory, so I said I had come ashore in a boab from a ship and bhab in approaching bhe edge of the cliff I had fallen over, and I pointed and dramatised and acted bhe ahorb yarn, indicating the cliff, then the bushes, and then making as though I fell, then touching tho bloodstains upon my clothes, and so on, afterwards by speech and gosture, contriving to make the lad understand thab my people, thinking mo dead, liar] gone away. Both bhe boy and bhe man as I discoursed and dramatically swunj; my arms, codded their heads with a like impassioned, demonstrative vehemence. I perceived that I was understood ; indeed my appearance aud the state of my clothes told a very full story when tho first hint of it had been givon. Nodding again and again with hia hideous squinting countenance full of wild, rough sympathy, the man entered his fore-peak and immediately erawlod oub with a tin measure and a large jar. The draughb was half a pint of crude Madeira wine. I made him understand thab 1 wished for water to mix it with and then I drank, bowing and smiling first bo him and then to the boy, beforo drainh.g tho measure.

' From Maderia V said I, looking expres sively ab tho lad and bhen ab the boat.

The youth nodded. 'Barilla?' said I, pointing to the top of the island.

Tho man grunted an affirmative, understanding the term.

Portuguess?'

Thoy bobbed their heads with immense energy, and then a pause happening, the boy fell to whistling with piercing clearness whilst he kicked the bollowa away with a yellow naked foot and dropped a large flab-fish iuto a fryiug-pan which he seb upon the fire.

1 was able to appreciabe my escape now that I might consider myself delivered from the dreadful fate of imprisonment and madness and nakedness I had terrified my heart with not long before. I glanced at the island, ab the height of cliff over which I bad beon flung, and my whole being was swelled with gratitude when I thought oi bhe horrible dangers I had come safely bhrough.

Whilst the boy fried the fish which, Beeing some fishing lines in bhe stern of the boab, I supposed he had caught eince sunrise, tho man prepared one of the thwarts for breakfasb by producing some tin plates and knives and forks, a loaf of bread, and a quantity of grapes. He also set the jar of wine under the thwart. When tho fJ3h was cooked the man helped ma to a whole one and a thick slice of bread, and gave me a pannikin of wine and water. I looked my thanks and held him by the hand and bowod, that he might understand my gratitude. Ho laughed and shook his head and spoke a sentence or two in Portuguese, which seb bhe boy grinning whilst he cried, ' Eab ! All Anglish good.'

I never made a meal which I enjoyed more thoroughly, nor swallowed food thab peemed to do me half so much good. The sun was nob yeb above the island, and the boab lay in tha shadow of the cliffs. Tho wind gushed freely over the arm of reef, trembling the wator of the creek into diamonds, and deliciously cooling the shade cast by the island, My mind worked nimbly whilsb I ate. Would bhis worbhy •Portugueso convey me bo Madeira? I did nob doubt ib, since I knew he hailed from that island. And what should Ido when I got there? I was renderod as miserable a beggar by Gadman's and Fletcher's murderous conspiracy as the dirtiest, most grievously stricken wretch that whines for alms on Funchal beach. All my clothes, a considerable sum in money, my nautical instrumonts—property in short which I could nob havo replaced under two hundred pounds, apart from tho sentimental value of certain keepsakes and choiQo homo gifts —wero in my chest aboard tho Hobe and I mijht reckon upon every farthing's worth going to the bottom. Yes, I had no shadow of a doubt that the villains would wreck the brig somewhere off tho Cape Sotblemenb as Cadman had proposed or decided.

Now was I bitterly vexed that I hud nob communicated wibh the carpenter. The crew as things stood never would imagine I had been foully dealt wibh. Then again when the brig should have been cast away they'd never know she was deliberately wracked unless indeed Cadman's method of going'to work roused suspicion. All these things ran in my head whilst I was eating the grapes and fish and bread with tho Portuguese and his boy. I endeavoured to make somo of tny thoughts understood to them and partly succeeded with tho help of gestures and the boy's small knowledge of my tongue. The man nodded when he understood I wished to learn if he would convey me to Madeira, I also gathered that he was likely to remain at this island for four or five days, and that if meanwhile a ship hove in sighb and he could get ab her, he'd pub me aboard if I chosa.

To this I assented gratefully; ib was all one to mo whether I was landed at Madeira whence I supposed the British consul would send me to England as a distressed seaman, or whether I was transferred to a ship making to another port. Indeed, my inclination leaned to tho latter. Being Rbripped, I wanted clothes. If I was sent home I must burthen my people till I gob employment. I had found is hard to obtain a post, I might again find ib hard ; if I should have tho luck to procures a mate's berth, I'd need a round sum to equip me. My father could nob afford a penny. Ib must come to my having to sail before the mast. Why nob then ship down hero in these seas, if I could meet wibh a vessel willing to receive me and hold on as a foremast hand until on my return home there would bo wages enough to take up to help me to a fresh start 1

CHAPTER XI

BLADES OF THE CAROLINE.

The Portuguese and his son—as I guessed | tho lad to be by his faco (barring tho i squint), looking like a copy of the other'a reflected in fcho back of a polished silver spoon—the two, I say, mado a vast meal ( the elder drinking abundantly of the j wino. When we had breakfasted I expressed by signs and speech my willingness to assist; them in cutting tho saltwort; the man nodded pleasantly and muttered a thank you in Portuguese, but showed no disposii tion to leave the boat. On the contrary, when he had breakfasted •he crawled into his little forepeak and brought out a jar of tobacco and made two large paper cigars, one of which ho handed to mo. Next, after looking at me with attention, ho again crawled into his little' forecastle and emerged with a large, flapping, woll-worn straw hat which he pat upon my head, grinning and talking in hia native tongue. Then he lighted a piece of wood at the stove and gave it to me with all the grace you could imagine ;he afterwards seated himself in an indolent posture with his back against the mast and his feec upon a thwarb nnd blow a cloud with great relish and enjoyment, his eyes sometimes lazily fixed on me, sometimes peering through half-closed lids ao the rocks. His aon on the other hand stripped himself nnd jumped overboard, and after wading to his armpits lay afloat on his back buoyant •as a cork. All this was true Portugueso fashion—genuine Dago style, and characteristic of a race by whom a turn round the longboat aud a pull at the scuttlebutt is reckoned a good day 'a work. I judged that if they meant to load barilla ab this rate, they'd Dead all the four or five daya the man bad talked of, though a couple of Englishmen would have been away,

loaded to the wash-strake, and the island perhaps oub of eight in the south by sundown.

1 was too anxious and troubled in my mind to sit and smoke and twice climbed the slope to view the sea before the Portuguese seemed ready bo burn to. Nobbing was in sighb. On my return from the second visit to the top, tho Portuguese sprang to his feet with the energy of sudden fury and roared out to his son who was cutting capers in the sea some distance beyond the moubh of the creek. Tho boy came smimming alongside as though driven by abeam, jumped into the bows, and dro3sed bimseif sbrenming web. The Portuguese then pointing to his chopper which lay on a, thwart signed to know it I would accompany him ; I nodded eagerly, being wishful indeed to make the besb return in my power for hia humanity, and Christian, merciful treatment; of me. Upon this ho fetched a couple of sacks and a second chopper out ot the forepeak, and after speaking to his son awhile, he put that chopper and a sack inbo my hands and leaping on to the aand invited me wibh a motion of his head to follow.

We gained the top and wenb to work to cub barilla. I had supposed wo should speedily crowd bhe bwo sacks, bub I Boon found bhab bhe Portuguese was exceedingly choice in his selecbion of ths plant, so thafe after three hours not so much of toil as of careful search and judicious cutting, we had scarcely filled each man the half of his own bag. Ab tine rate the jab of loading bhe boab was likely to last us a week instead of four days, nor would ib need many paper cigars and indolent after-breakfast musings to run that week into a fortnight.

The man killed a couple of rabbits and fluug them down the slope for the boy to fetch. When we returned, somewhere about one as I guessed by the eun, those rabbits were seething in a saucepan full of broth, on which and some fish, grapes, bread and Madeira wine we dined magnificently. In the afternoon we wont again for more barilla and spent two hours in cubting the plant

After supper I sab in the boat smoking a paper cigar, and endeavouring to converse wibh the Portuguese with the help of his boy. Ib was aboub six o'clock in the evening. The sun was oub'of sighb behind bhe island, bub he was yet many degrees above the horizon, and his light flashed oub the wholo scene of ocean in the south and easb till even from the low level of the boat's gunwale the horizon there looked eevenby uiiloa distant;. The breeze had died in the middle ot the day, and all had been breathless calm and roaating heab till aboub five, when a libblo air of wind sprang up oub of the north-east; the brushing of it darkened the blue, but there was no weight in thab draught to make tho foam spit.

The creek in which tho boab floated lay open to the south ; a good stretch of water in tho east was likewise visible to us; wesbward bhe view was blocked by the fall of tho land to an arm of reef which ran about two cables' .lengths inbo the sea. Tho silence upon the island was broken only by the noises of tho sea-fowl flying over our heads, and by the rolling roar of the surf along the west side.

I was gradually making out through the broken, 6bammoriog, scarcely intelligible English of bhe boy and bhe dramatic gestures and grotesquo grimaces of the man, that this Great Salvage rock was visited ab long inbervala only by the Madeira cubters of barilla, so thab I was particularly to witness tho hand of God in the coming of this boab a few horns after my own murderous betrayal into this scene of desolation when my oye then resbing on the horizon in the south-east, I spied a ship's canvas glowing like yellow satin, cr rather like a large orange-hued star thab enlarges as ib soars.

I started up to gaze from the elevat'.on of tho thwart. The Portuguese looked too, and the boy pointing cried out; ' Ship! Ship!' ... ■

The wind was scanty, and the vessel's progress so slow thaD I could nob guesswhich way she waa headed ; so to help my vision I climbed ';o the top of bhe island, and there I saw her plain enough, perhaps down to her hull, though the water she floated on was as far oft as the horizon itself. I yearned for 9 teloscopo to determine her by ; if sho waa steering our way the Portuguoso might be willing to put me aboard. 1 cared nob whab her nationality Bhould prove. I was heart-sick of this island, and my very spirits shrunk from tfao prospect of cutting saltwort on the scorching top of the land for perhaps anothor week and then of my arriving at Madeira in rags, to be eont hoajo as a beggar, nnd stepping ashore in tho Thames or an out-port without a cent in my pocket or a coat on my back.

I went down to tho boat again and got the Portuguese to understand that I'd be thanUtul if hod pub me aboard that vessel if sho was hauling in this way. He answered through his son and in hia own fashion that he would stand out to her if she grew, on which I grasped him by the hand, and first pointing to the island, then to my clothes, then significantly pulling my empty right-hand breeches pocket ineido out, I made him perceive how acutely I felt my situation. He talked quickly to hia son, often turning looks of sympathy ami pity upon me.

Presently tlio boy ran up the slopo to tho top of the land with tho ease of a goat, and after viewing tho' distant sail betwixt his dark hand 3, shouted. The fathor fotched his brea-t a thump in tokrin of satisfaction, and made a gesture with a awtep of. his thumb from tho ship to tho island. So she was heading,our way if the boy's eyes did not decoivo him ! and again I sprang on to a thwart to look nb her. Yes, her motion could no longer bo mistaken ; she was on the starboard tack crawling on a taut bowline into tha north and west, clearly outward bound and waiting for this island to got largo before putting her holm down. It was about seven o'clock; I jii'dped of my time by the parsing of the and would have bet upon if. within ten minute?. Tho sky waa wild with crinrison overhead, and in the east tho glory of the west was ' revorberatod ' to use Shelley's expression, by a terrneo of bright yellow oloud whose effulgence tilled the water under it with a hot brassy lusbro, whilst a glory of its own eiffced upwards towards the scarlet of the KUDBOt.

The Portuguese went into the stern sheets of 1113 boat ami stared at the distant Bail, then looking slowly about him and above as though taking measuto of his chances of fetching her, he shouted to his son who was still on top of tho land. The boy came running down. The father roared out again, whereupon the lad lifted, the little anchor off the rock it was hooked to and brought it on his ehoulder into the bow of the boa'". Both got out and shoved the boat's noose off, jumping in aa she floated. In a few minutes they had an oar over ; then loosing the neatly etowed Bails they manned the halliards, and mastheaded tho long lateen-like yards. No sooner was the boat clear of the land than catching tho soft warm breathing of air in her canvas, she slightly leaned and drove over the calm blue waters, shredding ib as a ploughshare shears through soil with two soft feat her-white lines of foam in her wake. It was the most exquisite sensation of swift and buoyant sailing I had ever experienced. Her hull was white, and her spacious wings ware cotton white, *and she must have looked to the Bhip as we went towards her like a star-like gyration of wind-whipped froth. The vessel was about eovon miles distant from us when we started. She was heading our way and we were skimming over it at five or cis, so that it was not long before we had lifted her into determinable proportions, and there floated right ahead of us, stiff aa a church under the light breeze, a black barque of some four hundred tons with a stump foretopgallantmaSb and a white boat dangling ab her starboard davits.

She made a fine cloud-like picture, all her canvas swollen and stirless, and the red light in the west dying out upon her topmost sails, which showed like bronza shield against the dark blue beyond her., Over the terrace of clouds in the east the blue lightnings were running in wirelike rills; the island stood sharp, hard and dark against the colour in the west. It had drawn around somewhat dark, with a deal of cloudy fire in the water, before wo wore within hail of the barque ; the lunar dawn was growing green astern of the ship and the stars sparkled overhead. The Portuguese put his helm down, the boy let go bhe main halliards, and the little white clipper hung without way in the direcb courao of the barque. Taking ray chance of the vessel's nationality, 1 bawled with powerful lungs through my telescoped hauds, ' Ho, the barque, ahoy !' Greatly to my delight the familiar English echo, ' Hulloa !' came back.

'I'm an English seaman who has been cast away on tho Groat Salvage yonder. Will you take me on board V ' Douse your foresail and look out for the end of a line,' was tho answer.

I let go the fore-halliards ; ib waa too dark for gesticulations to serve.; the Portuguese grunted aloud in his native tongue, but in a tone that was like telling mo I had done right. The barque now loomed big close aboard ua, and all. was hushed for some moments eava tho rippling of tho water at her bow. The stars winked amid her rigging and along her yards ; the risen moon was now shedding some light, by which I distinguished a group of figures leaning over tho forecastle rail, and a man sitting on tho port poop rail holding on to a stay and leaning backwards over the water to view us.

' Look oub for this line,' shouted a voice from tho forecastle-head, and plump came some forty pound weight of fakes into the middle of the boat. The boy took a turn, but it had never been my intention to parley alongside. I was most devouringly in earnest to board that barque and eail away in her anyhow and anywhere; so springing aft I grasped the hairy paw of the Portuguese, motioning to the main chains and gently obliging him to sheer the boat, then wringingl his hand in a very passion of gratitude and hitting the boy a friendly blow of farewell on the back I sprang into the barque's chains, and as I climbod over the rail I saw the boy free the boat whilst- the Portuguese sprawled forwards to masthead tho foresail.

'By gum, dot vbas a cool handb! Did he know dob her boat vhas all gene ?' called some heavy Dutch voice out of the shadowy group of seamen in the bows. I stood a moment after gaining the deck to look along it. Tho gloom of the night was betwixt the vessel's rails, but some ruddy gleams, darting like wheel-spokes through the galley door touched the coils of rigging and bulwarks abreast; there waa a hazy sheen of r&diance aft round about the skylight. By the small, delicato moonlight now flowing, I made this barque oub to be a lump of n square-bowed waggon, with a crowded look about her decks owing to her gailey, long boat, pumps, mainmast, and foremast all seeming to come together in a sort of murky huddle, as though everything was too big. I saw tho figure of a man aft. It was ho who had leaned backwards looking at us. He was advancing as I approached him.

'Whatd'yo want aboard here?'said he. ' Hail your boat and keep her dongside till I hear your story, anyhow.' 'They'ro Portuguese and vron'b understand us unless wo talk in thoir tongue, which I for one don't know,' I answerod.

The man seemed struck by my speech and manner. Wo wore near the skylight, within the sphere of tho sheen of it, and I saw his eyes travel ovor mo.

1 What are you ?' 'aid ho.

•Am I talking to the master of this ship V

' I was mate of the brig Heba, of Bristol. Ono day I overheard her owner and the captain arranging to ensb her away, one choosing that rock,' said I, pointing to the island, 'and the other bhe coast near Agulhas. They were in their cabin. As I came out of mine tho owner met me face to face, turned white as these bloody breeches upon me, but said nothing, and I guessed by the behaviour of both men thab neither suspected I had overheard them. I vow to God thab the day before yesterday, the owner of tho brig took me ashore on that island under pretence of peeking a spring for his watercasks. Ho coaxed me to the edge of the cliff and threw mo ovor—the villain ! Mr Fletcher, of Bristol—that's his nnme ; Jonas Cadrnan is tho Hebe's master. They sailed away, leaving mo murdered as they thought. They've gob all that I possess in tho world aboard, and the dogs 'U wreck tho brig yet, and maybe drown tho crow, mark me.'

My companion listened with motionless attention.

'Fletcher, of Bristol,' said he. • ITo's owned some small craft besides this Hobe, hasn't ho ?'

' I daresay. I know nothing of the devil's history.' And now moving a step to get a better view of this man, and advancing my head to inspect him closely, I taid, 'Pardon me —is your name Blades ?'

' Yes,' ho nn«wered. ' William Blades, who was formerly third mate ot tho Newcastle ?'

'That's right.'

'I made my second voyage as an apprcntico in thab vessel. You and 1 were not only shipmates but messmate?.'

'Ir it Charles Morgan ?' said ho.

'To tho very rags of him.'

' Wall, begummers !' said Captain Blados, and shook my hand. Ho was stepping to the companion way, as though moaning I should follow bim below, then halted, and exclaimed looking in the direction of the boat that was now fact blending with the gloom, though sho yet shnno dimly in her whiteness like the weak reflection ot a largo pale star, 'I nhall be carrying you away round the Horn if you stop aboard. I am bound direct to Cullao. Madeira isn't far off, and that boat would land you there, wouldn't she?'

1 answered briefly that I wished to remain with him ; having lost all I did not mean to go home till I had earned money to take up ; I was willing to serve him in any capacity, forward or aft. 1 By the great Anchor ! then,' said he, ' you may turn out a Godsend after all. Stay here. We'll yarn presently.' He then roared out, ' Mr Bnice, ready about !'

' Ready about!' was echoed by some figure stalking in the gangway, and the whistle of a boatswain's pipe rang shrill through the vessel, followed by a bull-like ronr of 'All hands about ship.' It delighted me to hear the music of that pipe aboard a barque of four hundred tons, but in those days the traditions of the sea were clung to with a tenacity which iron and steam have surprisingly relaxed. In a few momenta the dark deckß were full of life and hurry ; tho shapes of the seamen, scarcely distinguishable in the gloom, took their etatione.

' Helm's a-leo !' bawlod the captain. • Helm's a-lee!' was re-echoed from the forecastle.

Then rang tho several orders of ' Raise tacks ai.d sheets, maintopsail haul, let go and haul,' and so on. The black block of island swung along on to our port quarter. The whole life of the ocean was in the hoarse, strange cries of the men, and in the shouts of the captain and Mr Brace. ' Well the foretopeail yard, small pull the main topgallant yard, royal yard too much, well all !'

Presently tho ship waa soberly dribbling through it on the port tack. The captain, after speaking apart to tho man whom ha called Brace, took me below into the cabin. It was like the Hebe's, the arrangement of the berths much the same and everything plain to rudeness. A large parrot read-

lessly clawed the brass wires of its cage, that swung under the open skylight near the lamp. When we ontered Blades called out 'Jackson,' and a stout young fellow camo out of the pantry. 'Some supper tor this gentleman,' said tho captain ; ' then turn to and get the mate's berth ready for him. You've left your portmanteau on the Great Salvage, I expect?' he added, grinning as he turned his eyes upon me. ' When the berth's ready, Jackson, get somo slops up.' Jackson stared at ma when Blade? called me gentleman. I turned to the captain and said, ' I've not had eight of a looking glass since Mr Fletcher, of Bristol, took leave of me. How do I show, ch1?' Blades bade the steward fetch a looking glass. I took it undor the lamp and hardly knew myself. My beard was four clays old, my hair waa frightfully wild and curled madly, owing to my flight through two bushes, my face waa badly scratched ; I looked like a drunken sailor released after a week of lock-up in the same state in which ho had been found up a dark alley. ' iou'll not remember me, captain?' said I, with a hang.dog grin, handing the glass to the steward.

'Only by name,' he answered. 'But it'll not take you long to scrub and clothe yourself into my fond remembrance.' I aat down an the tablo, ho opposite, and told him everything aa stands here related, all about Fletcher's piety, the four foot of water in tho hold, the trick of the rum casks, find the rest of it. He listened with fixed eyes, deeply interested as indeed any sailor was bound to be in such a tale, seeing what a hellish job those two mon still had in hand, and how tragically the criminal conspiracy ha'i been accentuated by tho respectable Mr Fletcher's heavel of mo over a hundred foot of cliff.

By tho time I had made an end, euppov was ready and I foil to with a keen appetite on a solid square of harness-cask beef and other shipboard delicacies, all like what tho Hebo'g tablo provided, only more of them, and vory good of tlioir kind. Blades ate with me. and our drink was cold brandy and water.

This new character in ray strange traverses was a fine handsome fellow, rising Bix feet ball, with tawny hair and reddish beard, and mocking, sea-blue eyes, brilliant) as gems, full of character and spirit. He was an Orkney Islander, bub had nothing of the rough accent of tho people of those storm-vexed spocs of earth. I looked at him and recalled many incidents of a voyage which sterner and wilder experiences had long sunk deep oub of sight. Ho also looked at me, and often, in tho intervals of our discourso, very musingly for so merry an oyo.

By and bye, when wo had supped, he jumped up, pullod out his watch, and said, 'Go now and get tho wash down you need, and sweeten yourself up with such togs as Jackson has got you. I'll bo with you anon. I've something to talk to you about.'

He wonb on deck and I hoard his heavy footfall along tho plank. Jackson had lighted up the cabin assigned me ; I recollected that Blades had called it the mate's, and wondered if that officer had been broke and where ho vyas; I had heard a3 yet of no mate in this barque, the man who had whistled tho crew to 'boub ship was Braco, and lie was no mate. But all the news I neociod would como to mo from Blades, and without asking questions of Jackson, I stripped and thoroughly washed, swept the wild 1)088 oub of my hair with a strong bru^h and dolled myself in a coloured shirt, trousers of dungaree, and a shaggy pea jacket, all alop mudo, rank with bho ready-made outfitting smell.

After halfan-hour Blades came below. Ho pub a handful of Manilla cheroots upon tho tablo and brouehb a bottle of Hollands out of a lockor. The weather was perfectly quiet, tho vessel going along with never & croak coming oub of her frame, and tho lamp hanging as though from a ceiling ashore. Blades now told mo that this barque was tho Caroline,, a trifle ovor 400 tons, from Sundcrland to Callao with a email general cargo ; sho bolonged to a Newcastle firm. Ho had sailed with a mafco and a boatswain acting as second mate. A few hundred miles north of Madeira the mato foil ill and kopb his bed ; at his own request ho was sanb ashore at Madeira along with his traps. Blades sought for n certificated man to take his place ; ns no one offered, he gob his anchor and started for hi 3 port of destination, resolved to carry the barque tbore watch and watuh with George Brace, tho boatswain.

1 That's how matters stand now,' said he.. ' I'm no pea lawyer and can't tell yo'a whether I'm acting legally in proceeding, under tho circumstances, without a ma';e. What do you say ?'

' Well, I believe- no ship may lawfully etarb from her port without a mate. But if ho falls sick and another's nob to be gob, what's to bo done ?' *

1 Why,' ho answered, breaking into his worda with an occasional short laugh, ' the only thing to do iR to head for tho Grant Salvage Island where firty to one but you'll find somo cast-away gentleman aoxioivs to obtain a situation. A ahirt isn't all i'ronr. It isn't ft.iways the thing itself thab you seem to bo looking at. Often a man's best chances gcb into tho secrets purta of his lifo, just as you find a Rovoreitrn in a pocket you forcot you dropped it into.' Ho nodded over hi 3 poised glass at each wise saying, took a deep draught and auckod hia moustacho.

' B'lay your jaw! Bla&t thab talk ;' croauked a- hideous voice overhead.

' Bury your old nut and turn in ?' said Blades, looking up at tho parrot. He then went on :—

'My mate being gono, another'!! make this voyage more comfortable than I'll find it with Brace alone. I'm a nervous man.' here he stifi*ied his chest, that might, have been sotr.o forty-throe inches iti girth, 'I like to have the law on my side. I want a mate. I ought to have a male—l feel it. Well, the vory thing I need crawls aboard qub of tho main-chains after dark, an if, by the blessed Jemima, my desire had been turned into flesh nnd blood to oolvo me a difficulty. In good Orkney Saxon, Morgan, will you Pijjri on as first of this gallant hooker?' 1 [ will, and with a thousand thanks,' I replied, hot-faced with a sudden flush of deliflfhb.

1 Six pounds a month, the voyage to Callao and back to the Wear.'

I bowed in silent joy.

'You're pleaded and so am I,' said Blades. ' You'll be a changed man if you're wanting In smartness.' ' You'll find mo wanting in nothing, nob oven in gratitude,' said I.

' You'll have all night in to rast yo after tho Salvage joke. . Take till eight bells tomorrow morning to dream the old skunk Fletcher cloan out of your skull, then turnto with a jolly heart.' An hour later I was sound asleep.

(To be Continued.)