The Mountains

lm of the heaven-scouring trades came a heavy mist. Possibly volcanic action, deranging by its electric and gaseous outpourings the normal course of the winds, had given birth t

g for the schooner, but got no reply. Once they thought they h

g horn," said Carter bitterly,

ke that craft. Barnett ought to have been ordered to b

rning, surely," said Forsyth

ing and heaving in the billows. It was a gloomy company about the wardroom table. Upon each and all hung an oppression of spirit. Captain Parkinson came from his cabin and went on deck. Constitutionally he was a nervous and pessimistic m

pulling on his string," observed t

or heard or felt that squall coming," replied Forsy

"and that's a staunch little schoon

said Carter confidently. "

ow far out of the course

ame down,

ew?" asked

ng officer s

aptain's in a state

wrong wi

ed with the notion that ther

yourself?" said Forsythe. "I am. I'l

ilent crowd. His retur

deck,"

ack still blew across them to the westward. The ship rolled heavily. Of the sea naught was visible except the arching waves, but in t

cried McGuire,

n the west. Common spot for the aurora. Particularly

what i

arter hastened forward

y," said Carter. "The

it," ventured Ives. "This gale should have b

nvolved in it," sai

be to involve hi

eel as if the desertion of the schooner was in s

en it died away and all was blackness again. But the officers of the Wolverine had long been in troubled slumber before the sensitive compass rega

r. The evening brought an envelope of fog again, and presently a light breeze came up from the north. An hour of it had failed to disperse the mist, w

ee points on the s

t out to be?" came

I can see, sir."

aring down on us, sir. Coming dead for us"--the man's vo

vessel until it seemed as if she must ram; but all the time she was veering to windward, and now she ran into the wind with a castanet r

t presently caught the breeze full and again whitened the wa

g Lass! Ahoy,

orror ran across the Wolverine's quarter-deck. A wraith ship, peopled with skeletons, would have

early last night,"

tell that?" a

uall. Been no weather since to call for re

Carter, "for I saw her b

e other," said

ts were all there; the ship was intact--as intact as when Billy Edwards had taken charge--but the cheery, lovable ensign and his men had vanished without trace or clue. As to the how or the whe

urther search for log. No result. Have ordered one of crew who is a bit of a mechanic to work at the brass-bound

no furth

er happened--and God only knows what it could

me of the strange

fast with a cable, and remain on board over night. But when the order was given the men hung back. O

as well be sick. Good for nothi

to be i

e doctor, naming one

nson. "A first-class man. I can hardly

was se

schooner for the night, C

s,

ason why you do

erable. Finally he blurted out

orders

man," urged the

u couldn't scare him off a ship, sir,

, failing

dwards was, sir, for

captain sharply.

ubt of that, do you, sir?" The man spoke in a hu

aboard unde

cer goes I'll go,

schooner riding jauntily astern. But not until morning illumined the world of waters did the Wolverine's