CHAPTER II.

THE STEWARD'S BRAVERY.





DURING the worst of the gale, a mulatto man, with prominent
features, indicating more of the mestino than negro character, was
moving in busy occupation about the deck, and lending a willing hand
with the rest of the crew to execute the captain's orders. He was
rather tall, well formed, of a light olive complexion, with dark,
piercing eyes, a straight, pointed nose, and well-formed mouth. His
hair, also, had none of that crimp so indicative of negro
extraction, but lay in dark curls all over his head. As he answered
to the captain's orders, he spoke in broken accents, indicating but
little knowledge of the English language. From the manner in which
the crew treated him, it was evident that he was an established
favourite with them as well as the officers, for each appeared to
treat him more as an equal than a menial. He laboured cheerfully at
sailor's duty until the first sea broke over her, when, seeing that
the caboose was in danger of being carried from the lashings, and
swept to leeward in the mass of wreck, he ran for that all-important
apartment, and began securing it with extra lashings. He worked away
with an earnestness that deserved all praise; not with the most
satisfactory effect for an angry sea immediately succeeding
completely stripped the furnace of its woodwork, and in its force
carried the gallant fellow among its fragments into the