The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-05-24


wind were fair, / gotta steamer and sons
steyedore men and took the ship TO sea.
andmade sail onto her without knockin'
you Off the ballast. II there's anythin'
wrong in the way you was shipped, 1
can't help that; shipped you are, as you
may see for yourselves, and now Ill just
tell you; / amt a man that stands any
nonsense; SO long rs yon behave your
selves you'll be we'll treated, but II you
goes to ickin' up any shines aboard
this here ship you'll be sorry, md no
mistake" - tF3llt
With that, sir, the mate, as had been
a-standin' by, picks out one Of the chaps,
and says he: "Go aft and tako the
wheel"
The man kind Of hesitated, and the
mate hauled off and struck him o
tremendous blow with his fist, and the
man dropped senseless on deck. +
"He amt ct To steer. just now,' says
the mate; Ego YOU" says het to the next
man, and the chap, KNOWN what he'd
git Il he hesitated, went aft and took the
wheel. i
"Now go ior'ard the rest Of you,"
says the mate, and We went.
Couldn't twelyeof us have pitched in
and mastered them, too, and took the
Hhip backlp Well, p'rapsw could and
p'raps we couldn't. Recollect, sir, we
were strangers 10 each other. and no one
Of US lnowed how farhe could be backed
by the others II 80 be as how he were to
make the first move. Then agin, sir,
eyerythin' seemed regular as far as the
old man were concerned, and how did
we knowif We took the ship back but
that wc'd be tried formutiny and maybe
murder on the high seas. Then there
was more than them two; there were the
second and third mates, and the steward
and cook, maxim six Of 'em and prob
ably oil we'll armed, while we had notliin'
but our knives. t
We went for'ard, sir, and we talked
the thing over, and wc made up our
minds that we were /" done" and there
were no help for II. The grub were re.
markable good, and were o great i'm.
proyement on the ordinary San francisco
iliyin' TINT we'd been accustomed TO for
months back; fifty dollars q month were
good wages, and we would have q nice
pile when We got TO Calcutta, which
were q cheap place, where sailors com
forts was plentyiso We settled down 70
make the best Of bad bargain, and,
after all, we couldn't help but laugh at
| the cute way III which we had been
'adone.n The funniest part Of all were,
that every blessed one Of us had only
three shifts-" take of, put on and 90
naked;' but We knowed that we'd find
some old canvas aboard, and could make
ourselves some trousers and jumpers.
SO arter tallIin' the matter over we made
up our. minds, as we couldn't do no diff
ierent, to work the ship across; aud as
Calcutta were English port, we hoped
TO be able to get satisfaction there for
bein' kidnapped.
I'll say this, for It's true: the treat
ment were good in that Ship, and the
liyin' were the very best I've ever been
shipmates with. The weather were
dreadful fine, too, all the way over. We
run her down into. the trades, and Just
drifted across. The only storpage we
made were at the Pillew Islands, for a
few hours, where we laid in big supply
Of yahs, cocoanuts, bananas and the
like, and then we went on, passin' down
through the Gillolo and Pitts passages,
and anchored in q little place called
Copang, in the island OF Timor.
The day arter arrivin' we asked for
liberty to go ashore, but the old man
said: I" No, wait till you git the water
and stores aboard, and then I'll give you
all twenty.four hours liberty" We
didn't much think he would, but We
worked away and got thewater filed up,
and all the other stores aboard, and the
next mornin', sure enough, the old man
werc as good as his word, and lie Civ Us
five dollars apiece and one Of the quarter
boats, and told us TO made the boat fast
10 the mole and go of for o good spree.
Says he: "I shall expect you all off 10.
morrow mornin' bright and early, and
anybody what amt aboard then will be
left behind, cause I'm gofn' to SEQ to-
morrow certain. !" ss = ~. ~.
We'd been nearly three months com-
in over, sir, and you may well imagine
we did haye spree. They had o kind
Of drink there theycall ''toddy,e made
out Of the sap Of the cocoanut tree, and
it will jist mike drunk come as quick as
the "aya Of the South Sea Islands,
the "pisco OF the west coast Of South
America, or the apple jack OF New Jer-
sey, and you could buy 0 quart OF this
for rabout ten cents Of our money. There
were o paradise TO live in, sir, and you
can't wonder that some Of ts chaps re.
solved never 70 leave II; still, the most
Of US were down tho next morning,
'thnurh not very early. thatiB d fnct, or