The Frozen Crew Of The Ice-Bound Ship; Or, Terrors Of The Arctic Region — page 24: what you’re looking at

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18 With the words, the speaker, accompanied by several others, descended to a lower part of the ship. Assisinp in the hold; the foremost pirate was un- able to preserve his equilibrium, by stumbling over something soft, which stirred and uttered a groan. The light, having been held by the foremost man, was extinguished, and all being left in total dark- ness, added embarrassment to the previous discom- fiture. When Black Bill had recovered himself, his first demand was to know over whom he had floundered. “ He was a man an hour since,” answered a hol- low and broken voice. It was that of Hans Hinckman. “Tt is Lucifer’s son, delivered again into our hands,’’ cried the buccaneers. “ Down with him!” “Ihe stain of hellis on him!”’ ‘ Beat out his life, and trust no more to the waters which reject the spawn of Satan!” While the pirates were congratulating themselves upon the prospect of destroying tlie agent of their arch enemy, they were startled by a horrible noise which resounded through the cabin in which they were standing. . A dull phosphorous light dispelled the intense gloom, and betrayed to view the monster which had attacked their prisoner in the waters of the ocean. It was the dreaded anaconda, or sea serpent. This terrible creature forced its way along the vaulted roof of the deep hold, and seemed prepared to dart upon the affrighted beholdéts, who threw themselves upon their faces before it. But their terror was soon mitigated. On raising their heads, they observed that the anger of the intruder was directed solely against Hans Hinekman, upon whom it rushed, and with whom it rose into the air in spite of the wild shrieks which escaped from the victim. CHAPTER VI. THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM: The disappearance of Hans Hinckman was followed by 2 dark and tempestuous night. The El Malachor stoutly breasted the angry waters that threatened every momént to break over her in resistless force. The crew, though suffering under superstition, were at their posts preparing for every peril that might threaten them. Since the storm had commieneed, they had suc- ceeded in taking in the lighter sails of the vessel, and sending down the lofty sp irs, atid she was now ploughing the sea with close-reefed fore and main- topsails. Her commander, Paul Jofies, rising from a sick couch, issued his orders with coolness and delibera- tlon. {fe saw there was dangeét to be apprehended while the ship laboured hard. ‘Chere was considerable water in her hold, and not the slightest indication observable of the abatement of the hurricane blowing. At length an enormous wave stole over the bows of the bark, and swept everything moveable from the deck. In another moment the El Malachor was thrown upon her beam ends. The buccaneers clung to the rigging, asif making the last effort for life. Paul Jones, whose thind was more vigorous thau a re ee ee THE FROZEN CREW AND ICE-BOUND SHIP. —__ his body, sfiouted to his followers to cut away all the masts. 4 The order not being readily obeyed, he contrived, (ill as he was) by making fast a rope around his body, to prevent his being washed overboard, to reach and fell the mainmast. The schooner immediately righted, but was as yet fearfully careening over the billows at the mercy of the tempest, while a deep despair was marked plainly in the visages of many of her crew. One of these had possessed himself of a keg of rum, and, with an air of distraction and awe, dealt it out indiscriminately to those around him, as he pretended, to alleviate the horrors of their situa- tion. The pirate chieftain, with his usual presence of mind, ran forward, and, with the axe which he still held in his hand, knocked in the head of the vessel containing the maddening poison. This act enraged those who had taken a draught of its contents, and a sudden mutiny, amid all the horrors on board the ill-fated ship, was the imme- diate consequence. | Paul Jones for a time maintained his authority, and, supported by the principal part of the crew, who, either from fear, or some other cause remained faithful to him, quelled into subordination and clapped into irons those who were still refractory. Some days of gentle breezes and favourable winds wore off the effects of the late disasters, and, if not forgotten, were referred to with jest or indifference. The commander had improved in health and spirits, the El Malachor had run through the southern main, and was now veering by the cap- tain’s orders in a northerly direction. The good ship, anon, at her anchors lay, bearding the leaping waves of the restless sea that washes eventually the shores of icy regions, and basked be- neath the sun of a Polar’s summer’s day, which, though shining cold and clear, nevertheless shone lovelily. ; Though nothing but the ocean, winking in the day-beams likes a drowsy lion, and fleeting clouds, emblems of our own quick passage to eternity, were to be seen, the mariner knéw that he was drifting on the confines of the Arctic latitudes, and that a single degree would reveal to hit a still, deep soli- tude and a wide scene of desolation. Would he turn back, or face the dreary lands and seas ? Here, wonders would he find. The waters are all enchanted, haunted is the ground, and wizards live upon the shore; while in ocean caves, where fathom-line bath never found the depths, monsters and mermen make their dark and dreadful laws. There stands the sable Rock of Death, a large black mountain, which travellers assert is situate under the Pole, where are four terrible whirlpools, and there dwells the dreaded kracken, and the equally horrible marine animal tke anaconda, with which our readers have been already acquainted. The coolness anid determination of Paul Jones, which had ever awed his followers, now compelled them to acquiesce in his resolve to prosecute his journey to the tract we have pictured. To sail upon the midnight flood by Lapland’s magic coast, aud encamp on the ice fields of the frozen sea. } Merrily glides the pirate’s schooner on her course, once more rigged and fitted out, as her stern com- mander encourages drooping hearts with some such words as these — ‘‘Cheerily, messmates, cheerily! The wind is still, the main calm. Ye that love wild adventures will behold on our cruise scenes that men doubt can nn ee eee eee (CLO An COPMICElNOOKS