National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1870-12-23


poor creatures in. The boat bobbed up
and down so, and they were so scared
Mrs Wimborne and Charlie stopped to the
last, hand-in-hand as still as carved images
" Now, ma'am, says the skipper, land
good-by ~
"Good-by p she says to him; but then
she turns round, and gives Charlie cling
ing kiss, and wants him to be put in first
No, ma'am," saws /, "Tll lower you
first, and him into your lap" I'd Just got
her in when there came another rush,
and it was as much as | could do to lug
Charlie out of the scrimmage. The skipper
had been knocked down, and was Just get
ting on his legs again when | says to him,
Where's the boat, sir says |.
'Gone down" says he "The black
guards leaped into her and swamped
her"
Poor little Charlie didn't hear; what
with the weather and the mems bowling,
there was such horrid row.
"Won't you come, sir ~ says to the
/ skipper, as went over the side with
Charlie
NO." says he, l." I'll stick by the ship as
long as there's man IN her They don't
deserve it the drunken brutes"
And them'S the last words | ever heard
the poor old skipper say. Wed to shove
Oft in hurry, or we should have been
swamped too, and we hadn't pulled a
cables length from the ship before she gave
a roll this way and that way, and then
plunge for'ards, and then up came her head
as if she didn't like the water, and then
down she went, starn foremost and all the
. ] o1pll bn l.
critters yelling fit to make your blood run
cold The last ! saw of the old skipper he
was standing with his cap off, and his gray
hair flying about, holding on to the stump
Of the mainmast. That was the last of the
old Prospero
Presently SAYS Charlie
Where's mammals boat, Bill p
"Oh," says |, what we've got to do
Is to get ashore, and then you'll hear about
your ma. You'll soon be with herr God
forgive me for decciving the poor boy and
yet, after all, it wasn't le as thing,
turned out
" But was mammals boat as good as
| this ?" says Charlie.
Every bit, says ; and there wasn't
no lie in that, for she'd gone down in the
long boat, poor lady, and ours was one of
the qumrterboats. After that it was as
tonlshlng to see the quiet pluck of that
young chap. He was always looking for
ward to getting ashore. He didn't seem
half a afraid of the sea that was on as |
was though, TO be sure, | knew more of
the danger than he did. He'd keep on
: baihns till his little arms must have been
tit to drop out of the sockets, all the time
: some of the great lubbers we'd got aboard
would lie washing about at the bottom of
the boat, and yol couldn't kick them up,
ccpt twas to get something to eat and
drink, and then they didn't want no kick
Ing. 1t wasn't much they got--it wasn't
much that any of Us got that worked for
it. There was a bit or two of salt beet
that I'd pulled out of the harness ca>k as |
went by, and there was the bottom Qf a
} sack Of biscuit, and three bottles of rum,
and a little eaSk of water and that's all we
, had. SO long rs it lasted looked out that
| Charlie got his far whack. and nobody
grudgcd 1t To him. ,harp-set As we were,
'cept the lazy skulker.. Of course we eat
/ the beef raw and TIL you're pretty nigh
} starving, young sir, you'll have no notion
, of how men can squabhle over a half inch
t OF raw salt beef But it was all gone at
t last, and yet we hadn't made the land
| After the gale III which the ship went
, down, there'd been no ran--So weak ~ we
D got for want of food, the want of drink wa,
a worse. The boatswain was shaping a
I course for Falmouth to the best of his he.
: lief, and calkllatcd, when the ship wen,
t down, that if the boat wasn't swamped
. and we could keep ON pulling, turn and
n turn about, we might get there in thre,
:, days. Perhaps we might have done it i
e those great cowardly skulkers could hav,
n been kicked into pulling an oar. CAM
. say. All know about our position wa
c from what I'd heard when the sun was two
a days aiorc the ship went down. And mos
{ like that was all the boatswain knew either
e Anyhow, when we'd been five DAYS AT sea
o pulling them a. had the spunk and th,
!. good sense 10 pull-and that poor littl,
e Charlie bailmg away like a tire-cngine
1 we'd got w sight of land though the SCI
a weed that"was about made us think i
i couldn't be far of somewhcrcs. Bv morn
I ing On the sixth day, though the boatswair
Il had lowanced It /, fairly aS he could, al
our provisions was gone. Morning atte
N poor little Charlie died The poor chill
- wa dead.heat by the hunger, and the we
- and the cold, and the bailing he kept al
10 when he was awake, as long as he coul
4 stir his poor little arms. He'd been slccr
r. ing of and on all night and Just ~ the su
- came up threatening more wind, the littl
n chap says to me, saw he:
- "'',ve dear mamma my love ten her
IN tried TO do my best
,a I'd hard work to make him out bu
k when did, says |
"Muster Charlie, my brave boy. you'
see her alorc me. She's gone to hcavc
=. first, and there she's awaiting for ycn
The little chap, weak n, he was, gave
start, and then he gave little smile, All
T. then he died. Soon ~ ever felt sure /
was dead ! pitched him overheard; {,
some Of the chaps aboard was lookir
wicked At him, ~ il they'd like 70 eat hf
hg Perhaps We should have come to eat oi
Is another if the boat had lived much longc
liut the wind rusc aluin, as I'd guessed
kc would, from the look Of the sun. We we
en- too busy keeping oursclyc. from druwmii
ey TO thinE, about starving
ed The last thing | remember that nigl
y was tugglng away at the strukc-uar nj
'e' lcciingit melting away like. When can
I" again ! can't say whether it was ne
- morning % week afterwards / was lyir
,te withmy clothes all toru to bits. on narro
ne shclG.likc rock. with the sea splitting up
me, and great wall Of clil, like half
'ht dozen bonded warehouses. one atop uf Il
~ other, and just going to tumble overhca
We Presently saw something dangling abo
III three yards oil aropc witha bit of tinb
'h, at the bottom, and pole la>hcd on I
lat line. That's meant for me-" thinks
ne, "and II II amt IN iump nt IL It's n