Last evening Louis’s coat and a change of clothes were brought aft by Charlie, one of the jolly, good-tempered fellows. “Lemme see them duds,” growled the mate, standing by the wheel-house, who then went carefully through the pockets for concealed weapons, but found only a lump of tobacco, which some one had slipped into the pocket, as Louis is a great masticator of the weed. The mate subsequently transferred the tobacco to his own pocket, whereupon Charlie actually expostulated with him, at which Mr. Goggins said never a word! The second mate is now doing quite well, and ate his first solid food to-day, a bit of dry toast, but his rations still consist mostly of arrow-root gruel. The captain told us to-day that last Friday he didn’t think that Mr. Rarx would live through that day, but a robust constitution has apparently pulled him past the crisis. The more we ponder on the stabbing affair the more remarkable it seems that the second mate should have started the row. If the truth were known, both Rarx and Louis were perhaps getting a little rusty from disuse and tried to brighten matters up a little; but Rarx’ll never take another Dago by the throat again (at sea Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Italians are Dagos; Scandinavians, Hollanders, and Germans are Dutchmen). Louis will have a very strong case against the second mate if he can get Karl and some of the others to testify as to their treatment at the hands of Mr. Rarx; and self-defence is an excellent plea when a man takes another by the throat, especially if the said man has been in the habit of utilizing belaying-pins for other purposes than those for which they were intended. Latitude, 1° 45′ north; longitude, 117° 15′ west. +August 24+ Two hundred and two miles! How’s that for one day’s run in the southeast Trades two hundred and fifty miles north of the equator? Indeed, this is the best that we have done for a fortnight, and it has put all hands in a happy mood. A powerful current setting west-northwest, two and one-half knots an hour, has been responsible for about sixty miles of the distance, but the wind is strong at south-southeast and should give us another good run to-morrow. Except the Gulf Stream, I do not know of a current in the open sea as strong as this one, which, if in a harbor, would at times, half bury a small can-buoy. The heat, though, is very severe now, the humidity and oppressiveness being extreme. The second mate was carried out of his room this forenoon and laid in a reclining chair on the main-deck. His respiration is improving, though it is still labored, and he says that he really feels but little better. The probability of his being able to resume his duties before we reach port is very remote, which is fortunate for the men, for if Mr. Rarx should sufficiently recover to stand his watches, there would be a terrific thumping of sailors.