The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-04-08
THE ACCEPTED OFFERING.

THE ACCEPTED OFFERING.
the even ng was pretty warm, so sat
in my cabin with my window and door
: open. | was reading by the lightO Of wax
candle, pnt in n swivel-stand; but, al
Though was interested in the subject,
could not help being aware, in a sort of
= dreamy way, of tile sounds which reached
I',y~ear from time to time. There was
'the harsh grinding and rattling of the
steam winch ut worl 'ischarging the
cargo; the cries and curses Of tile coarse
men Mt work; the striking of the bells
on board; the tapping of the water at
the wharf; the sounds Of the great ferry
boats which crossed from East Boston to
Boston proper. | was beginning to feel
tired, and was thinking of turning in for
the night, when the lamp that hung in the
passage revealed the figure oi the asecond
mate,"a a great rough, sulky-looEing fel-
low, with rs warm heart as ever beat in
human breast. "0h, said ], 'come in; Eit
down and spin me that long. g.promised
yarn Of yours Take q cigarette It's the
'only thing l smoke; I'll keep you com.
pany." SO saying, produced two Of the
little weeds, and we commenced slowly to
exhalo.
"Well, sawbones,n he began, q was
the doctor), ~ hate palayar; so hero goes.
was once mate Of eoOllc.ship. am
not going to speak Of the coolie trade at
this time; but It's about the coolies that
the story is. I'm not going to enter into
time or place; but suffice II that our ship
was good one, and that we were on a
voyage with a right heavy load Of coolies.
We were very tightly packed, can tell
yOu, nnd no mistake. Well, we had the
blackies on deck pretty much, and We
did all we could to yeniilate and purify
them; and ms yet we lad had no disorder
among them-all was going pretty well.
"rhe skipper was much engaged below
-he was one Of the kind that believe In
keeping the steam up-higli.pressure, you
know. In fact, had command; the Old
man never interfered. Doctor, boys are
the greatest nuisance and torment that
yOn can have, alo8t or ashore-no mis-
take. We had two boys They were lit
tie dwartish chits, but as cunning and
tricky as young apes. 1t took us all our
time to look after those boys. Sometimes
they fought-solnetimes they leagued In
mischief; but II they were out of sight,
you might be sure they were doing no
good. George was the name OF one,
Harry that OF the other. The whole Of
the ship was against them, and they against
the whole ship. II was game, and the
little wretches played well. OF course,
they were tbrashed from time 10 time,
but that seemed to act only as stimuant.
"Well, one day the coolies got up a
great aaair-at least, It was great affair
TO them, poor creatures. They were TO
give sort OF offering to their god-Or at
least one Of them. They wanted to be in
his good books, you see, and SO they made
him this gift. Idon't know al that was
in the bundle, but htnk there was rice,
and kHotc that there was money. Tue
Offering was fixed in tile truck of the
nain-lnast-the truck, you know, is the
button affair at the very point Of the mast
Well, II was fastened up during tile day,
aud tile sign was, that II the god came in
the night and took away the bundle, he
was well pleased, and meant to bless their
voyage. It.was fastened all right, and
they set watch Of their own TO keep q
tight eye to the bundle, so that they might
see the god swoop down and carry It
away. There was also a group Of coolies
at the shrouds to see that there was
no unhallowcd interference by the ship'l
people.
"well, evening shaded into night, and
deuced dark night II was too--heayy
masses Of cloud scudding across sombre
sky; not bad weather. but rather threat
ening, you know. IwAs on watch, feel.
Ing rather anxious as TO how the night
might turn out. Our doctor, native,
came to my side. He was very intelli.
gent fellow, ] can tell you, and well edu.
Gated. lie didn't believe In the god com
Ing down and taking away the bundle ;
but lie wasn't fool 10 express his mind
before the coolies. They ore rather dam
gerous cattle at times. You read now
and again Of their rising In nutiny, killing
the officers and crew, aye, even setting
fire to the ship, and playing the deuce
generally. Coolies are not to be triaed
With, especially when there Is great
crowd of them. OF course, they arc iE-
p noraht and slperstltious and Buch arc al
ways dangerous. Life with such people
70 at discount, and no mistake. Well, the
doctor and | were deyising plans for yen-
iilating the ship by kindllng fires, ETC., and
20 tile watch passed. When eight bells
struck at midnight, :Iturned In as soon as
l was relieved 1t seemed scarcely a min.
ute before | heard OishtbOlls strike again,
and was forced 10 know that 1t was four
o'clock In the morning, and time for me
to 10 on deck to take my watch. The
second said that tile wind had not risen
higher than when / went below, but that
tho night had been intensely dark. II was
20 at Tie time le spoke. commenced to
pace tu and fro-wisliing heartily that my
watch was overland, as time passed,
noticing tho gradual diffusion OF the IN.
certain light Of early morning
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