212 THE ALBATROSS. 



" Yes," said Russell, " I have read of such 

 things, and I knew a man once who had seen one. 

 He called it a corposant — or compresent, some 

 say ; but what puzzles me, Cap'n Robbins, is to 

 see what sort of connection there is between a 

 ball of electric fire in the Gulf Stream and the 

 killing of an albatross. I never heard of albatrosses 

 in those latitudes, did you, sir ? " 



" No, hardly," I answered, "but since you've 

 begun to enlighten me, I am inclined to attribute 

 that occurrence to an albatross I had ' murdered ' 

 three years before ! " 



Russell munched his onions and potatoes in 

 silence. I hope he enjoyed them. The conversa- 

 tion lapsed ; the meal was nearly done before it 

 revived again. 



The next day, — according to my log-book it 

 was the twentieth of November, back in fifty- 

 nine, — we were struck by a furious gale, the 

 first real storm since the voyage began. Our 

 little bark scudded under close-reefed main-top- 

 sail and fore-sail before a fierce sou' west wind. 

 Albatross or no albatross, it was blowing great 

 guns. The ship labored frightfully. The green 

 hand at the helm would let her come to a little 

 now and then, and every time he did it, she 

 would take a sea in the waist with a noise like 



