San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1877-12-08
"I'll take it," says he. "But l have

not any money" suigoiiot s0i s...q.
Under the circumstances, seeing he
had the knife in his fist and was ready
to turn it around, I thought ! had bet
ter trust him. l.l..J n b.
"You'd better not" says he, 'You
don't know me from any other gentle
man." ............... ...al1d,oi. a.
"But I've got to trust you," 1.
" You've got the butcher-knife by the
handle, and I'm at the sharp end Of it.
Besides, believe I can trust you. y '',i,l.
Of he went, and heard no more OF
him for time, not even whether he
had killed man. But some weeks
later he put in an appearance and paid
for the knife. m.i ~ 81
"AAd now, youngster," says he, 81
like the. way you treated me when
reused you out for that trade. You
didn't show the white feather. Some
men, hustled upat that time Of night,
would have been scared" But you be-
haved every way like a gentleman, and
now want to behave to you AS one.
There are some Indians coming in to-
day, and I'll bring them to your shanty
to trade. Have you got any rump'' u
L hadn't any rum; l didn't keep it. Il
WE'LL" says he, "We must have
some rum. No rum, no Injun. Give
me couple of dollars" NIS'AliJ
I gave him the money, and he went
off. When he came back he had a
demijohn full Of drink, and some tum-
blers. An hour or so later the Indians
appeared, some two hundred of them.
First came the warriors with their rifles,
bows and toiiahawks then followed the
squaws, STOPPING almost to the ground
under their loads. My man halted
them, but they didn't want to trade with
me they didn't know me. There was
a long palaver, and at last he threat
ened to kill some of them if they didn't
follow his friendly advice; and the end
of it was that they gave in, to save a
quarrel. They crowded into my little
shop, and drank my demijohn empty,
and bought my stock clean out, and
filled me full Of peltries. made $4,000
that season, and went off in high spirits
to lose it somewhere else, and then to
pick it up again. As for the Virginian,
lost sight of him, and never learned
how he ended. I didn't even inquire
he put his butcher-knife in and
turned it around. 1t seemed to me too
delicate subject.
THE CAPTAINS GHOST STORY.
We had lost man overheard, and of
course every body was thinking of him.
About two hours later, just at dusk,
there was Portugee sailor at the helm,
and I was standing near him watching
the ships course. Of a sudden this
Portugee let out the most fearful yell
that 1 ever heard in my life, broke away
from the helm, flew along the deck, and
plunged into the fo'c'sle. I caught the
wheel myself and bawled to the mate to
bring that man back. He rushed for
ward, and was gone devil of while.
When he returned he said the man
come. ......t .....
"Won't come!' says I. "That's a
pretty story to tell on board ship. Why
don't you make him comep'' "t"'
"But 1 can't" says the mate. "He
held on to the stanchions like avise. He
says he'll die before he'll Gomez f
So, thinking the Portugee had gone
mad, I ordered up another man. But
this second steersman had scarcely got
to his post before he too let off screech
and broke for the fo'c'sle. By Jove, I
didn't know what to make of it; began
to think there was some disease aboard,
some sort of catching frenzy. l took
the helm again. But just as Twas Won
dering whether 1 would have to steer
the ship across the ocean myself, 1
CHANGED to turn my eye windward, and
I saw something. You must remember
that it was dusk, and in fact pretty dark
ish. Well, through that darkness saw
a white object rise over the taffrail,
wave at me in threatening way, and
drop again as if into the sea. Now, 1
never did believe in ghosts, never, even
in my childhood. But for one moment
was thoroughly startled; I thought the
drowned sailor was there. The next
moment the object rose again, and l dis
covered what it was. 1t was not
ghost, it was the cabin table-cloth. The
steward had hung it over the side to