The Coming Wave

nd," said Harvey Barth, the cook and steward of the brig Waldo, in a peculiar, drawling tone

rasted strongly with the pallor of his face. His voice was hollow, and sounded doubly so from the drawl with which he uttered his sentences, and every remark he made was preceded by a single long-drawn hacking cough, which might have been caused by the force of habit or the incip

he galley only to light it, though the steward proceeded to infold his book in an ample piece of oil-cloth which lay upon the seat at his side. It was clear that he did not wish the passenger to know what he was doing, or, at least, what he had written, for he was really quite nervous, as he securely tied the

lied the passenger, as he stepped inside of the caboose

s about out. You will find some matches in t

imstone just yet," continued Wallbridge, as he succeeded in finding a coal, and soon had his pipe

ge, and a log of the voyage of life. I've kept a diary ever si

we have to stay out here another day. I suppose you have seen

coaster, from New York to Bangor. The diary is only for my own reading, and I wouldn't let anybody

ridge, puffing away at his pipe, as he watched th

used to keep school winters till the folks in our town beg

n to cook, if you w

h a sickly smile. "The old man got to drinking rather too much, and lost all he had and all I had, too. My health wasn't very good; I had a bad cough and night sweats. I was an orphan at twenty-four, and I thought I'd go to New York city,

that?" aske

t into another room; and that's the last I ever saw of him. I couldn't find him, but I did find that the check was good for nothing. I hadn't a dollar left. At one of the piers I came across a schooner that wanted a cook, and I shipped right off. Then the cap'n's nephew wanted to cook for him, after we got to Bangor, an

to be a hundred years old yet,"

a sigh, as the passenger, evidently not pleased with the t

s feet. He was deeply impressed by the words he had uttered if the passenger was not. He had improved the opportunity, while the weather was calm to write up his diary, and perhaps the thoughts he had expressed on its pages had started a train of gloomy reflections.

before. It was a day in August, and the sun had lingered long above the horizon. Harvey had finished writing in his diary when the passenger

had caused him to make some of the entries in the book. "That wasn't the name I found on the paper in his state-room, though the initials

resenting himself at the door of the gal

again, and returned it to the box, wh

the steward, alluding to the weather,

" replied t

et in to-morrow

dded the smoker. "He wishes the brig was twenty miles farther out to sea, f

howers," added the steward, as he glance

and the brig lay motionless upon the still waters. The vessel was a considerable distance within the range of islands which separate Penobscot Bay from the broad ocean. The water was nearly as smooth as a mill-pond, an

t his life depended upon his precaution. In the south-west the clouds were dense and black, indicating the approach of a heavy showe

k!" shouted the mate.

arvey promptly cast off the sheet, and the hands at the clew-garnets hauled up the foresail. The flying-gib and top-gallant sails had already been furled, and the canvas on the

g angrily from the inky masses of cloud which obscured the sky. The heavy thunder sounded nearer and more overhead, indicating the nearer approach of the two showers. Scarcely did the flashing lightning-almost instantly followed by the cannon

the south-west, the barometer had earnestly admonished him of violent disturbances in the atmosphere. He had done everything he could for the safety of the brig, but he blamed himself-though without reason, for the change of weather had been sudden and unexpected-for coming into the bay when it was so nea

barely sea-worthy, even for a summer voyage, to the region of hurricanes. He had, therefore, many misgivings, as he paced the quarter-deck, watching the angry bolts of lightning, and listening to the deafening roar of the thunder. Occasionally he halted at the taffrail, and gazed into the thick darkness of th

me Captain 'Siah listened longer than usual. From far away to seaward, between the peals of thunder, came a confused, roaring sound. At the same time a s

tain 'Siah, at the top of his lungs, a sudden ener

almost at the same instant the captain

" said Captain 'Siah to the passenger who

d Wallbridge, who had been aroused from

nker!" answered the captain, sharply, as

been to sea before, proceeded to gather up and secure the

n, with a kind of desperation, which indi

ards, and stationed hands at the sheets and clewlines. "Let go the sheets! clew up-lively! Se

taysail!" shout

uated off a large island, whose high, precipitous shores he could just discern, when the lightning illuminated the scene around him. This island and these perilous rocks were dead to leeward of the Waldo, and hardly a mile distant. With the aid of the staysail Captain 'Siah hoped-and only hoped-that he should be able to work his vessel out of the range of these dangers. But before the staysail could be set, and before the fore-topsail could be furled, a violent squall struck the brig. The fore

struck insensible on the deck by the fierce blows of the sheet-block. The sail was hauled out finally by the exertions of the mate. The helmsman met her at the wheel, and the Waldo heeled over till the water poured in over her lee bulwarks. At this moment, the staysail, too flimsy from age to stand the strain

oarsely yelled the captain. "Send

, one of whom told the captain of the accident. But the passenger was as zealous and willing as even the mate. In order to save his canva

n at the wheel. "If we can get her head up to

elm threw the wheel over, the head of the vessel began to come up to the wind. Captain 'Siah was hopeful, and he encouraged the men at the spanker to renewed exertions. He saw that the mate had partially succeeded in setting the head sai

gaged. The captain, aided by the passenger, was lashing the throat of the gaff down to its place, when a heavy bolt of lightning, accompanied at the same instant by a terrific peel of thunder, struck the main-royal mast-head, and leaped down the mast in a lurid current of fire. At the throat of the main-boom it was divided, part of it following the mast down into the cabin and hold, and the rest darting off on the spar, where the captain, t

into ribbons, and the brig fell off into the trough of the s