Breaking A Water Sport

lhe Khmo, asailing vessel of 1,000 tong burden, which has just arrived froni Loudon, encountered an immese water spout about 1,200 miles out. John llickaidsou, one of tbo seauien describes the pkenomcnon thus : About the tfene thafc you ásk ine; boíís, the ship Khino was runniug aloug at the rate of tour knots an hour, which was pretty good epeed for siich añ oíd tub, now I teil you. I think I heard the first mate say that we wero in latitude 42 degrees when we took the sun at la o'clock that day. We had bsen oüt of a heavy gale only 12 hours, and the sea was running pretty high. At about tvo o'clock in the afternooñ something seemed to happen, the like of' which I noversaw bet'ore. The sea seemed to go down suddonly as though something had been thrown on the top of it and flattened it out all over. Then the wind went suddenly down, and we stood still. Wo all looked anxiously for ÁtíOTITER SQUALL, büt thero were no signs of it in the sky or around the edges of the horizon. At three o'clock we couldn't see a ripple on the water ; it was just as sinooth as the smootheet glass I ever saw. The sails hung perfectly motionloss, and the tttmosphere seem to get heavy. A fellow telt as il he would hko to talce a full tmt that if he tried he couldn't. As we hadn't anything to do, an 1 had been worked very hard for Ib hours previous, we (tho crew, I mean) assembled around the foreoastle, and to drive away thát nasty feelïng that we all had- a feeling of something rongh gomowhero around that was only waHtíi'g for a good chance to make trouble for us - began telling jokes and spinnmg varas to one snoíher. Somehow or other, f.hough, nobody seeined intcrested by anybody'p yarn, and nobody laaghsd at a Joke. I telt just as bad as the rest, I guess, for I could not seo any fun in anythiug, either. Then we didn't say anythiug for á little whilo, and I tliink I must have fallen asleep, for I was awakened up suddenly by hearing the eaptain's big bass voice - he had a voice like a bull's, sir - singing out : " ALL HANDS ON DECK !" I jumpad up as quick as I eottlcl - I couldn't jump very qiiick, for you see I'm old - and hastened aft to the niainhiast. - The other fello ws were there ahoad of me,' and wlien I got up to thom thoy all turued off in different directions likemadmen. I noticed tha.t the faces of mist of thum were white as eha)k and that the eaptain's waS red as blood. His face always got that way when hu was excited in a gale. I didn't know what wüw thé matter, and as I looked around me at the lusion, tue cause oí which 1 uouldn t see, I felt my heart do what it hadn't dene foí seventy years - beat againat my ribs. ; I saw the second mato and asked him what was the matter. He answered me by tolling me to go to tho fmiin braco or he wonld pitch me overboard. I wcnt there very quick ; not because I was afraid oí' going overboard, but becanse I felt that somSthing terrible was goíng to happen, and that even my weight might ?ave the ship. Whon I got to tho ropo a fellow standing near me said, " lJuli oíd man ; don't you see THE WATER SPOUT " I followed the direction oí' his eyos, and there sure not more than half a míle from us, was the biggest waLer spout Lhat I had ever seen in all my lifo. It towered above the ship at least twohundred feet, and seeiucd to be the breadth of half the ocean. It was coming toward us like a steam cngino, and the water áheád of it, for hnndreds cf yards, was boiling like water ín a kettlo. We braoed the yards around, put the wheol hard-a-port, and did everything that lay in our power to get oíít of tho way of the terrible áestruction that was rnshing upon us. There wasn't a breath of wind stirring, and thero we lay right in th path of the water fpout unable fó' do the least thing to save oursolvos from the doath that wo felt sure must come in a fcw moments. Thore were about seventy steerage passengers with us, most of whom were woinen andjchildren, and tho wa'y they screamed and went on waf? onough to take the heart out of ariy man. Uno oíd woman caught mo around the legs and bea;gcd me for Ood's sake to save her, whiloevery one was rushing around trying to find sonio sliield from tho approachmg crash. The captain swore andwent on terribly b ecause we couldn't move an ïnelï, and seemed to be going out of his mind for I saw him deübetateiy kaock a man down who wa's Standing near him. Sbme of the men ran down tho forecastle ladder that thoy raight not SEE THEMSELVE8 DIB.What I have' been telling you now all occM-red in a inomení. trat tho VCaterspout had come ntuch nearor to us, and we could hear the fearfol; bisa and sptesh of the water as it carne whirling on'. Just then I heard a young gentleman in tho cabin ask the captain whether he had a fjmn on board. The captain said 'No,' and' the young man tivrned as white as snow, and I saw him shake all over. He put his hand to his head and staggered to ward the niain hatch, and in another moment he wonld have fallen down "'twsen" docks, whéh suddenly there was a cry from above that sounded like the roar of a madman. It was heard abovs fbo surging water, nnd ovory eye was turned tho direction that it carne from. It cama from ee " shipmate " that if'e called "Jack.'' He was a smart fellow on his feet, and was a' regular monkey among the ro-pes whert he goft ALOFT IN Á SfTOMf. There he was with a heavy block öf wood in his hands that he held above his head, and was shouting for us to " stand from under ! " He was on the main-yardarm, the yard that carries the " etormsail," you kuow. We all ran forward. and when the coast was clear, " Jack gave the block a swing and sent it dow on deck as quick as a flash. It struck pioce of sheet iron that lay uear the main Hatch, and made a terrifio report tha sounded like a ctinnon's. We kopt ou eyos On hini, for he seemed about to tal] but he cauglit hold oí' the " port bowline and retfti.'löd bis balance. Just theu the ship careened over on her beam ends lurchedback again, and then stood steady as before. Nca'rly every one was thrown down, and sonie of the passengers were bcdly hurt. As soon as we got upon our feet we saw no More of the water spout but in its stead the wbolo soa was just as white as though it was composed of soap suds. SAVED. Wc feit that it was over, and that the noble " Jack " had saved us by his coolheadedness, but it was sorue time before we could ricöver ourselves from the paralysis that seemed to have stricken us all. When we did recover, we feit as only uien can feel whi have been gaaWhed from tho jaws of death. Work seemed a pleasure after that, for it rominded us that we iuiu iiie in us. There were oil board, counting the offioers, crow, and all, about 150 persons, and if that spout had struok us, it would have sent us, ship and all, to the bottom of the sea, and no one could have knowfi what sunk us. Ever sinco tbat day, I havo been convinced that tho City of Boston was lost in this manner. I suppose the water that was in the air would have weighed 10,000 tons ; it could not have been less ; and as there was a brig sailing about 10 jfiiles froin us in the direction of the waterspout's course, and no one on board saw it, it must have fbrined between us two, and reaohed its immense proportious in about half au hour.