Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1873-03-26
A YOUNG HERO.

put it how yer will"
lam standing on the upper deck oi
the Austrian Lloyd steamer, looking
my last upon pyrimidal Jaffa, as II
rises up in terrace after terrace OF stern
gray masonry against the lustrOus
evening skv. with the foam tipped
breakers at its feet. Beside me, with
his elbow OF, the handrail, and his
short niue between his teeth, lounges
e staiwsTt chief-engineer, as thOro
an Enxli-hman as If he had not spent
two-thirds of his life abroad, and de-
lIiohted to get hold of a listner who
(as he phrases itl 'has been about 8
bit "
"No; they amt got an English.
mans seasOnin," he continues, pursu'
ing his criticism of the DalmaIian
seamen; land what's more, they ain'l
got an Englishman's Dtfck neither
not when il comes TO q real scrSpe.
"Cau no one but an Englishman
have any pluck. then?" asked l.
laughing.
well, / won't just go for to sag
that; o'cOurse a man as is man 'ull
have pluck in him all the world over
I've seed Frencher tackle shark
TO save his messmate; and I've seed s
RoOshan stand to his gun arter every
man in the battery, barrin' himself,
had been blowed all to smash. But,
If yer come 10 that, the pluckiest lei
Ter as ever 1 seed warn't mali at ALI
"What was-he, then Pa woman p
"No, nor that neither; though
mark We, ! don't 90 for to say as how
woman amt got pluck enough too,
some on iem at least. My old
! ,oomaD. now, saved my life from a
lubber of Portigee as wasjusta-goin
to stick q knife into me, when she
cracked his nut with bandspike.--
IfYou can hear her spin the yarn your
self, if you likes to pay Us visit when
we We get 70 ConstaDtinople.) But
this un rs I'm a-talkin' on wa little
lad not much bigger lin Tom Thumb,
only with u sperIit of his own as 'ud
ha' bluwed up n man-o'war Almost
Would yer like to hear about itT"
l eagerly assent; and the narrator,
knocking the ashes out Of his pipe,
folds his brawny arms upon the top
of the rail, and commences as fol-
lows: d,
"'BOut three years ago, afore 1 got
this berth as I'm in now. was se''-
ond engineer aboard Liverpool stea.
mer bound for New York. Tnere'd
been a lot of extra cargo sent down
last at the last minute, and we'd had
no end of job stowin' it away, and
that ran us late o'startin'; so that, alto
gether, 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-engineer, he
was an easy-goin' sort o'cbap as nothn'
on earth could put out. But on the
mornin' of the third day out from
Liverpool. he cum down to me In q
precious hurry, lookin' as if sonlethiTa'
had put him out pretty considerably:
tom" says he, what d'ye think :
Blest if we Oin'J found a stowaway."
| That's the name, you know, sir, as
we gives to chaps as hides thelrselves
aboard outward.bound vessels, and
gets carried out unbeknown 10 every
bndy.)
"The dickens you haven says L.
Who Is he, and where did yer find
him ?"
.'WeIl, we found him slowed away
among the casks for'ard; and ten TO
one we'd never ha' twigged him al
all. If the shippers dog hadn't shifted
him out and begun barkin'. Stitch 9
little mite as he is too! l could
almost put him in my baccy pouch.
poor little beggar! but he looks to be
q good plucky un for all that"
81 didn't wait to hear no more, hut
up on deck like a sky-rocket; and
there | did see q sight. aud no mis-
take Every man Jack o. the crew.
and what few p ssengers we hi d
abOard, was all in a ring on the
fo'c'stle, and in the middle stood the
first mate, loOkin' as black as thuu-
der. Right in front of him, lOokin'
a regular mite among all them big
! feIIers, was little bit o. lad not ten
year Old-ragged as a scarecrOw, but
with bright curly hair, and a bonnie
little face o. his own, If It hadn't BET n
so wOful thin and pale. But, bless
yer soul to see the way that little
/ chan held his bead up, and looked
about him, you'd ha' thought the
whole ship belonged to him. The
mate was q great, hulkin' black
bearded feller, with a loUk that 'ud
ha' frightened horse, and voice ht
to make one jump through key-hole;
but the young un warn't q BIT afeare0
he stood straight up, and looked him
full In the face with them bright clear
eyes Of o. him, for all the world as If
he was Prince Hatred himself. Folk
aid say afterwards Towering his voice
10 a whisper) las how he comed'o bet
ter blood nor what he ought; and, for
nv part, Pm rAyther o. that way o.
thinkin' myself; for never } ct seed
a common street-Harao las they calls
'em nOw) carry it OFF like him. You
might ha' heerd a pin drop, as the
mate spoke.
well, you young whelp," says he
in his grImmest voice, whats bro't
you here ?"
at was my step father as done il, "
the boy III q weak little voice, but as
steady as could be. Fathers dead
and mothers married again, and my
new father says as how he won have
no urats about eatin' up his wages
and he slowed me away when nobody
warn't lOokin,' and guv me some grub
to keep me goin' for day or two till
1 got to sea. He says Pm TO go to
Aunt Jane at Halifax; and here's her
address"
'.And with that, he slips his hand
into the breast of his shirt and out
with a scrap o. paper, awful dirty and
crumbled up, but with the address on
it, right enough.
:" We all believed every word ont
even without the paper; for his look
and his voice, and the way be spoke,
was enough to show that there warn'l
a ha'porth o. lynn in his whole skin.
But the mate didn't seem to swalleI
the yarn at all; be only shrugged his
shoulders a kind o'grin, as much as
10 say: I'm too old q bird to be
caught with that kind o. chafi," and
and then be says tn him: Look here,
INV lad; that's all very fine, but il
u ont do heIe-some of these men o.
mine are in the secret, and mean tO
have it out Of 'em. Now, you just
uuint out the man as slowed you away
and fed you, this very minute; If you
don't, it'll he the worse for you'll"
"The boy looked up in his bright,
fearless way lit did my heart good tC
Iouk at him, the brave little chap!
aud says, quite quietly: i've tOlC
YOU the truth; amt got no more tC
say"
1.-THE mate says nothin', but look
at him for u minute as if he'd see clear
through him; aud then be faced rounC
TO the men, loOkini blacker than ever
Reeve q rope to the yardp ~ he sing
out, loud enough to raise the dead
taa.p,art nnxu W