Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 41: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE CRUISE OF crew—at the main trysail halyards, and waited for his chance. Catching, finally, a comparatively smooth period, he motioned to the men at the wheel—“ Hard down, and be quick about it.” “Hold on for your lives!” he yelled as the schooner came up in the wind, jumped her bowsprit out of sight under a big sea and threw a few tons of water over the quarter. ‘Hoist away on the trysail!” and in less time than it can be told the Madeline was lying to the wind and seas like a Mother Carey’s chicken, buoyant and dry, as only an American clipper schooner can lie. : Hunt breathed freer now, and to look about before night came on was his next business. The vessel was shipping no water to speak of, and to open the door and the windows of the forward house was im- perative he decided. The stench that came up through the hatchway when it was uncovered was sickening. “We must do something to help those miserable devils down there,” said Hunt, and he set a windsail through a quarter of the after hatch. In the strong gale pre- vailing the wind rushed down into the hold like the blast of a tornado carrying with it considerable of the spray that was flying over the vessel, but no heavy water. Then he went into the cabin and opened the lee windows and the after door. The cabin smelled bad, but not so bad as he expected it would. De Castro had got some biscuit for the children to eat, and it was comical to see their little black jaws wag in unison as they munched them. “Senor,” said Hunt to De Castro, “ it is about time the men had a drink. We got very little dinner, and the supper will be light.” “Ves, yes,” replied De Castro, and he brought out a bottle of old rum which Hunt dealt out to the men, taking a good nip himself. Bomba now came up from the hold and smacked his lips as he saw the men drink- ing. He, too, got a dram, and then he re- ported to De Castro that some of the ne- eroes in the hold had been suffocated, or trampled to death, when they were all 831 tumbled pell-mell down to leeward by the squall. Some sea biscuit was fed to the blacks now. They had had nothing to eat since the morning; and the crew got what they could from the cook for their supper. The wind hauled to the south’ard during the night and by daylight the schooner was on her course and then Hunt lowered the trysail and set the foresail. It was blowing a fresh gale now that was backed by the southeast trade wind, and the Madeline jumped along on her course from sea to sea, shipping considerable water. The hatches forward were kept battened down, and the negroes could get nothing to eat in the morning but some more hard bread. A wind sail in the after hatch, however, gave them good air in the hold. At 5 P.M. the seas were running more regular and the deck was dryer, though the breeze had not abated much. “Get those dead blacks up,” said De Castro to Bomba; and assisted by his body- guard Bomba passed up the after hatch twenty-six bodies. All were examined by De Castro and pronounced dead before the crew tossed them over the rail. “Too bad,” said De Castro lugubriously; “there go the doubloons.” And the black corpses floated past the side and out in the white foam of the wake where they bobbed mockingly, as it seemed, at the receding vessel. “ Horrible! horrible!”” muttered Hunt. as he turned away and walked forward. “Yes, I suppose it is,” said De Castro, nonchalantly puffing at his cigar; “ but, you know, the blacks don’t mind it, and it pleases the sharks.” THE MADELINE. VIII. Hunt had no appetite for his supper that evening, but lay down instead to try to catch a nap. But he could not sleep, and at four bells he went on deck again, feeling ugly. The schooner was driving before it in grand style with her foresail wide off to port, and fairly leaping from sea to sea. Overhead it was pleasant; for, now and then, the moon shone through the clouds. ‘““T never sailed with such a freight be- fore. I wonder how much this infernal oO COMiicloo <S (©)