Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-11

5 began to let out by degrees, and gave
q at different times a good many pGrticI
lars; how that his fathers vessel was
regular clipper, carried one hundred gun
had a crew of eighty men many of the
blacks), and was called the Blue Blazer
the guns he thought, when pressed on ii
point, were from one hundred and eight
to two hundred Founders. He stateC
moreover, that the meals both of Officer
and crew were always served on gol
plates and dishes, which were mere drug
on board by reason of their abundance
and that the only beverage ever touche
was rum with %gunpowder in tall whic
his father had told him in moments Q
confidence.
This beats books into fits: and evel
Calomel felt that he must give in, whicl
he did, and became a great chum of Cross
bones. Between them they established
society, of which every member was Il
swear solemnly not to let out anything
which he couldn't have done if h
wished, as there was nothing to let out
However, we all tied up the ends of GU
fingers with Irvine in the bedroom ont
night, and having prieked them with
quill pen, let them bleed into a gill cup
over which we then took the oath on &
prayer-book. The chief rule was that nc
member should speak to another member
about the society's affairs, without first
putting his right fore-inger to the side OF
his nose, and saying, BLOOD 2" If all
right, the other member put his finger to
his nose, and said, "Thunderl" then thew
both whistled, and then it o all right.
Of course everybody knew the other mem
bers, but it was necessary to be very par
tlcular-societies always are. Crossbones
and Calomel were first and second Off
GERS, and at first everybody was doing
nothing but whistling and blooding and
laundering; but after a time it got tire
some, having nothing more to say when
you found you were at liberty to speak.
Besides, the fellows got into a way of
laughing so that they couldn't whistle,
and in a short time the society pretty well
died out.
We then took to digging caves, but after
one fell in upon little Binns, and as nearly
smothered him as a TOUGHER, why that
didn't prosper; so we had to fall back
upon listening to CrOssbones-aDd some
wonderful things he told us. l don't
know whether it was from what he heard,
or out of his own head, hat one of the
who was very clever that way,
drew and colored a representation of
C~rOssbones' father, whiskered and NOUS
in green Jacket edged with fur, red
big buff boots, and a brass helmet,
a drawn sword in one hand, and a
black banner with a skull upon it in the
'ther. On a cannon close by hung a large
blue cloak, supposed to be the means of
hiding Crossbones' fathers professional
from the public when he came
lshore to visit Crossbones and the rest of
he family.
When this picture vas shown to Cross
zones he shook his head, as much as to say
lis father was not unlike it, but more so:
o the lights were touched up a bit, and so
many daggers and pistols hung about the
igure that you would have wondered there
vas room for them.
Well, during the midsummer holidays,
s mostOf our set went out of town, none
f us happened to see c~rossbones and
7hen We got back to school, we found to
ur establishment that he always fought
ny OF our favOrite subject when it was
up, took no interest in the bed
Dom stories, and gave up the presidency
f the society, thereby settling it alto
ether. None of us could make out what
ad come over him Though the idea was
.arted at the time that his father had been
and hanged), and he lost a good
cal of popularity and 1 do believe none
f us would have cared to see him in the
Olidays, but that on the last night of the
alf he redeemed his character noobly by
olnnteering to put eight-and-seventy
o~ck-chafers in old Wiggy's bed. Wiggy
quaTrelled with Mac, and was leaving;
nd when next morning he came stamp
g with rage into the schoOl-room, and
llled out to Mac, "Sare, dey have put
insects cen my bed " we all felt that
rossbones was indeed still our friend, /
nd we made it up to meet him the first
thursday after we got home.
When we met on that day-Crossbones, I
l, and two other fellows-the
rst question was what weshould do? We [
! voted for going straight down to the
yer, but Crossbones proposed bathing in
l old claypit he knew of, where two peo-
e had been nearly drowned, and which
supposed to be forty feet deep in
Of course, that was very tempt
~ bub VIC hdNO luOuHul II lOO GOiu lOI
and at last we settled that it was |
be docks, where, however, Crossbones
very unwilling to go. We asked
m if his father was at home; but he said
o; he was in the West Indies, or some
those places, or else we might have gone
/ board his vessel.
On we went, however, and Just as we
It in sight ofthe river, a voice called out,
Well, Ned, whittier bound, my lad ?" and
man caught hold of Crossbones by the
Crossbones went as red as fire,
ID didn't know which way to look; but
said, very sheepishly, ooh, nowhere
lrticular,' and was in a great hurry to be
But the stranger was evidently not
a hurry, and turning to us, he said,
young gentlemen; schoolmates !
Ned's, Iexpect? Tn his father"
How we all stared at him and each
her, you may fancy. Here was a man
it'll a red face, dressed in blue pilot-cloth, 4
ling himself Crossbones' father. No
ggers, nor pistols, nor banners, nor
OTIS, norredlegs, nor brass helmets. There
IS the smell of rum about HIM, it is true,
strong that l was obliged to pull out :
Y pocket-handkerchief and pretend to
ow my nose, as he talked to us-but not
sign of the gunpowder. :
Still we all felt, as appeared afterwards
comparing notes, that these things =
ight admit of explanation, and that
alters might turn out better than they
)ked; so when Crossbones' father said
him, "Ned, mayhap these young gents 1
,uld like to have a look at the little
aft" we jumped at the proposal, and
gerly followed him down to the pier.
e couldn't talk, we were in such a state
expectation, and so not one word was
ID until Crossbonss' father led the way
board a small sloop, rather larger than
ordinary tishing-smack, with a big i,
mber Is on the sail, and which I sup '
sed must be a kind of Captains boat to
e Blue Blazer. But no sooner were we
I'll on board, than Calomel gave a long
and then caught me such a slap
the back as nearly choked me: at
1t a pirate, but a pilot" says he. And @
it was. &
Crossbones' father was very kind to us =
us biscuit and rum (which made us \
ry sick afterwards, and did all he could !
amuse us; but nothing could change the
rrid fact of his being quiet, respectable,
a q
Crossbones wouldn't go ashore with us; d
told me afterwards that he couldn't
stood our chat; but l was so sorry =
r him, that before 1 left, I said to him {:
q CrOsshOnas what made Won tell lis ]