Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-04-24
A Young Hero.

are reason good too, seem they man half
the Austrian navy; but they amt got
the seasonin' of an Englishman, put it
how yer will !"
| am standing on the upper deck of
the Austrian Lloyd steamer, looking my
last upon pyramidal Jaffa, as it rises up
in terrace after terrace Of stern gray
masonry against the lustrous evening
sky, with the foam tipped breakers at
its feet Beside me, with his elbow on
the handrail, and his short pipe between
his tech, lounges the stalwart chief en-
gineer, as thorough an Englisman as if
he had not spent two-thirds of his life
abroad, and delighted to get hold of a
listener who Gas he phrases in ''has
been about bit.
mo, they amt got an Englisman's
seasoning" he continues, pursuing his
criticism of the Dalmatian seaman
'and what's more they amt got an En-
glishman's pluck neither, not when it
comes to a real scrape.
''Can no one but an Englisman have
any pluck, then ?" asked l, laughing.
"Well, l won't just go for to say that;
o'cOurse a man as is a man 'ull have
pluck in him all the world over I've
seed Frencher tackle a shark to save
his messmate; and I've seed a Rooshan
stand to his gun arter every man in the
battery, barrin' himself, had been
blowed all to smash But if yer come
to that, the pluckiest fellar as ever /
seed warn't man at all :"
"What was he, then woman ?"
''No, nor that neither; though, mark
We, don't go for to say how women
amt got pluck enough, too, some of 'em
at least. Ny old CONAN, now, saved my
life from lubber of a PortigeG as was
lust a gOin' to stick knife into me,
spike. (You can hear her spin the yarn
yourself, if you like to pay us a visit
when we get to ConstantinOple. But
this un as I'm a-talkin' on was a little
lad not much bigger'n Tom Thumb,
only with a spirit of his own as 'ud ha
blOwed up amaE-O'war Almost. Would
yer like TO hear about it?'
| eagerly assented: and the narrator,
knocking the ashes out of his pipe, folds
his brawny arms upon the top of the
rail, and commences as follows:
Bout three years ago, 'afore | got
this berth as I'm in now, ] was second
engineer aboard Liverpool ship bound
for New York There'd been a lot of
extra cargo sent down just at the last
minute, and we'd had no end Of a job
stOwin' it away, and that ran US late
o'startin' so that altogether, as you
may think, the cap'n warn't altogether
in the sweetest temper in the world, nor
the mate neither; as for the chief en-
gineer, he was an easy-going sort of a
chap as nothin' on earth could put out.
But on the mornin' of the third day out
from Liverpool, he cum down to me in
a precious hurry, lookin' as If somethin'
had put him Out pretty considerably.
Tom" says he, ''what dye think
Blest if we amt found a stowaway."
Chats the name, you know, sir, as we
give to chaps as hides themselves aboard
outward-bound vessels, and get carried
out unbeknown to everybody
"The dickens you have," says |
''Who is he, and where did you find
him p
"Well, we found him slowed away
among the casks for'ard aud ten Ia
one we'd never ha' twigeed him at all,
if the skipper's dog hadn't shifted him
out and begun barkin'. Sich a little
mite as he is too, ! could almost put
him in my baccy-pouch. poor little beg
gar, but he looks to be a good plucky
un for all that.
Il didn't wait to hear no more, but up
ON deck like a sky-rocket: and there
did see a sight, and no mistake. Every
man Jack O'the crew, and what few
passengers we had aboard, was all in q
ring or the fo'c'stle, and in. the middle
stood the first mate looking as black as
thunder. Right in front of him look.
in reg'lar mite among all them big fel-
lers. was a little bit O. lad not ten years
Outraged as a scarecrow, but with
bright curly hair, and bonne little face
o. his own, il it hadn't been so wofu
thin and pale But bless your soul toe
see the way that little chap held his head
UP, and looked about him you'd ha
thought the whole ship belonged to him.
The mate was a great, bulkin' black
bearded feller, with look that I'D ha
frightened a horse, and a voice fit Il
make one Jump through a key-hole bu
the boy weren't bit afeared-he stood
straight up and looked him full in the
face with them bright, clear eyes o. hisn
/ for all the world as if he was Prince
aalfred himself Folk did say after
| wards lowering his voice to a whisper
dS HOW uG NOllltb y DIAtNt biOON AADi
/ what he ought - and for my part, In
rather o. that way O. thinkin' myself
! for | never yet seed a common street
Harab (as they calls EN- now carry i
| like him. You might ha' heard a pin
drop, as the mate spoke.
''Well, you young wbelp," said he il
his grimmest voice. whats brought yol
/ here 2"
"It was my stepfather as done it,
says the boy in a weak little voice, bu
as steady as could be. FATHERS dead
and mothers married again, and my new
! father says how he won't have no brat
about eatin' up his wages; and he stow
ed me away when nobody warn't lOokin'
and guv me some grub to keep me goin
for a day or two till | got to sea. HI
says I'm to go TO Aunt Jane at Halifax
and here's her address.
"And with that, he slips his hand int
the breast of his shirt, and out with
scrap o paper. awful dirty and crunble,
up, but with the address on it, righ
enough.
1--WE all believed every word ont
even without the paper; for his look
and his voice, and the way he spoke
was enough to show that there warn't
ha'porth o. lyin' in his whole skin. Blu
the mate didn't seem to swallar the var
at all; he only shrugged his shoulder
with kind o grin, as much as to say
I'm too old bird to be caught with tha
kind O. chaff :; and then he says to hin
Look here, my lad that's all very fine
but it won't do here-some o these me
O mine ore in the secret, and | mean I
have it out of 'em. Now you just poin
out the man as slowed you away. an
fed you, this very minute if you don
it'll be the worse for you !"
The boy looked up in his bright, feal
less way lit did my heart good to look a
him. the brave little chap) and say
quite quietly: 'I've told you the truth
| amt got no more to say"
The mate says nothin', but looks a
him for minute as if he'd see clea
through him, and then he faced roun
to the men, lookin' blacker than evel
"Reeve rope to the yard :" he sing
out, loud enough to raise the dead
smart, now
1.-The men all looked at each other, a
much as to say, What on earth's CON