FEVER-STRICKEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2242, 18 February 1897, Page 49

FEVER-STRICKEN.

Two men stood upon the sloping deck of a steamer lying stranded on the mudbanks of a lagoon in Dahomey. The one was Captain Brown, of tha powerful steam tug Corona, and the other James Cranton, representative of a wrecking syndicate which had purchased the vssasl on the chance of getting her afloat. There was a fiery crimson gleam along the western horizon, against which the leathery foliage of the mangroves Btood out black and clear as though carved in ebony ; while the yellow water and bubbling .slime beneath flashed hack a lorid glow upon tha rusty plates of the eteainsr and the haggard faces of the men. . . . " Now for Sierra Leone and home," said the captaio, dashing the spray from his faoe, while a feeble attempt at a cheer went up, and this time the ensign rose to the masthead. Then the Corona was pat on a southwest course, and shore her way at a good 10 kuots an hour through the long blua swell, the flashing water roaring from beneath her bows and streaming away astern in streaky lines of white and green in the wake of the throbbing propeller, while siokly men crawled about the deck drinking in with delight the pure sea brceza. Presently the captain descended from the bridge and Cranton addressed him : " Better have a look below now ; the worst of the fever generally begins when you leavo the malaria swarapa and breathe the sea air.' So the two crept down into the stifling forecastle, clinging tight to the iron-runged ladder at each wild roll. At first it was impossible to make out anything in the gloom, and the men stood with benc knees, balancing themselves against the heave of the vessel, and listening to the Lhuuder of the water outside the vibratiDg plates each time the sharp bows cleft apart a brimming swell. Wben his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, Orantou moved towards a wooden shelf, and bending over a heap of dirty blankets, said, "Well, Johnson, how are you now ? Hold up your head, and d^ink tlait." A faint light streamed ia through a dirty pore as the steamer swung her holdout of the sea, falling upon the hollow cheeks and soaking hair of a man, who stretched out a claw-like hand for the draught, and gaspad : " About the samp, sir ; awful pain in all my bones, and something like hot iron round my skull ; bub the fireman there'n raving marl, and the nigger hasn't spoke for hours " Then a lip of green water washed above tbo glass, obscuring the light, and oat of the shadow rose a terrified shout. The oaptain shuddered as the tug lifted her bows again, and he saw the wreck of what had once been a strong man, holding a trembling hand before his eyes to shut out some imaginary horror. "We must get them on deck while it's fine," saidCracton. an awning and hammocks for them. I'm atraid there'll be more down sood, and all our drugs are done." "I hope not," said the captain. " Witlrtha Joaa of the two poor fellows who died in the lagoon, and three helpless here, we'd be very short-handed if we got bad weather. It's lucky we shipped the three Krcoboys, but I'd give six months' pay to ba safe in the Trades." Aa Cranton advised, so ib was done ; and the fever-stricken sufferers swung to and fro beneath an awning as the tug rolled along across the sun-lit sea, a lonely wedge of dark bull ringed aboui. with creaming foam, in the centre of a great azure circle. All that day and for several days following there was not a breath of air to rufrb the glassy surface of the swell which ran steep and high from horizju to horizon, as it of'en does off the African coasb for no apparent cause. Every morning the sun rose through a purple bszs, gleaming coppery red, and ?.s he swung slowly west across the heavens poured down the pitiless heat of the tropics upon the plunging tug, until the pilc'a boiled out; of the searna and the brass or the rail felt scalding to the touch of incautious fingers. The mate lay burning with fever in si hammock beneath the shade of the bridgedeck, while every now and then a fireman, dripping with perspiration and gasping for breath, dragged himself throngh the stokegratiogs hold to collapse limply on deck. So

! the Corona drove along, westwards ever, stemming the strong Guinea current, amid the clatter of blocks, chafing of gear, and groaniDg of timber, while her captain and Cranton lay listlessly beside the wheel as the loijg honra dragged by, longing for a breath of cool air or the tight of a passing steamer from which they might obtain drugs cr Assistance. One evening, after the most trying day of all, the oaptain, who was gazing out into the sunset, said languidly : " I see all kinds of bad weather there, and the barometer's falling fast. li's the tornado season, too, and we're loaded to the^ last inch. Hovrever, anything would be a "relief after this." Sou and sky were one blaze of light, a hard brassy glare above, with long lines of fiery radiance trembling across the swell below, while whirling wreaths of thin vapour drifted before an unfelt breeze across the red disc, of the sinking tun. Craaton walked forward, balancing himself lo the heave o£ the deck, and leaned against the rail. A blood-red light; glowod beneath the awning cloths and flashed along the dripping bows each time the tug swung aloft with the backwash streaming down her sides. By-and-bye two half-naked Kroomen crawled from beneath the gratisga in the bows, dragging a rigid black object after them towardx the gangway. Cranton shuddered as he gazod, for presently the vessel rolled wildly downwards, and the corpsa turned an awful face and sightless ej es towards him. Then the angle of the deck grow steeper, and it slid softly out through the gangway. There was a loud splash in what seemed to be a sea of lire, and the hideous thing lifted a black arm above the surface, bumped twice along the bends, and afterwards stink swiftly throngh the glanoing wake astern, as though it had been drawn violently down. Cranton turned away with a cold feeling beneath his belt, and watched the darkness closing down. When the last glow had faded in the weit; the foam wreatho under the bows and the block water along the bendß blazed out into flashes of green and gold fire, vrblle streaks of blue flame flickered along the horizon. This is common enough on the West Coast, but that night it was exceptionally brilliant, and the wreaths of vapour whirling across tha low-hunc crescent mcon told of wind overhead. — From aa exciting narrative, " A Bace for Life," In Macoiillan's Magazine.