Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-01-19
sTAUNTON, VIRGINIA, FRIDAY. JANUARY 10. 1877.
him?" with a chuck of his thumb toward
the steamer.

"Yes-is he your Teller ?"
sect out, you scampp' cries the gentle.
man, Indignantly.
"Let him speak, FREQ" the lady pleads
"No, Dick, / Am married, and this is my
husband; but Captain Gilbert is our kind
friend. [ crossed with him once, and he
was very good to me when J was sick"
"Was you ever sick ?" asked Dick, with
q face full of wonder.
Gotten. So [ can answer your question,
and say l do like the captain very much.
"You d hate for anything bad to happen
him 2"
why, of course, to him Or to any one
~else.''
"Wot, to M ?"
"Indeed L would, my poor boy. Oh,
Fred see how wistful he looks Mayn't
I give him some of Charley's ~left-off
things? 1 have a little boy at home,' she
goes on, seeing assent in her husbands
eyes-sabout your size"
docs he get chicken to eat 7" asked the
Rat.
YES
"Every day ?"
mo, not every day." she answers,
smiliog; and it is we'll she does qualify
her reply, for Dicks credulity was not yet
sufficiently elastic to bear such a marvel as
a boy, about his size, who had chicken
every day.
So they bid him follow them, and more
wonders are in store for him. He sees
Charley. He is taken up to the lady's own
room, where the promised things are pro-
duced and tried on over his rags. Here he
stands, lost in admiration. The great
broad bed, with it's satin coverlet, it's lazy
l%ace-bound pillows, and new mosquito-bar
held back by silken ropes Of the same color
as the lit lie knots which. here and there,
light up the varied greens Of the fern
spread carpet the armoirs with their
pate glass doors the d~ressing-table all a.
glitter with crystal aud with gold, and a
score OF Recommendations, such as he
never before beheld the pictures on the
wall the flowers in the balcony (; the per-
fume Of the place inc fixed odor, but a
| CUAlUltldulOu VI OWCCU UiiluSOJ. OCW1luCl JAC
Rat. If he had ever heard of Fairyland he
would have thought himself there. He
had never heard Of %Fairyland, or Of the en-
chanters. giants, dwarfs, genli, and all the
dear old myths which surround its beauti-
full princesses and the exemplary third sons
of it's kings. A drunkard who would drop
a dime as he staggered from the bar-room
was the nearest approach to a good fairy
that Dick knew. He gazed about him be-
wildered, and some dim sense Of shame
stole over him as he saw his own reflection
in the looking-glass doors.
"Mayn't I put 'em on now ?" he asks,
as "the things" are selected.
"Better not,'' says the lady. Put them
on in the morning. Come here again about
10 O'Clock, and we wilAsee what can be
done for you."
He submits, and goes down reluctantly,
with two whole suits Of Charley's left-off
clothes bundled up in a large handkerchief
and SO cents in his pocket. AS soon as the
hall door closes after him. the brute in
stincts Of secrecy and evasion pull his
jelly-bag hat over his eyes and send him
off at a run.
Outside a bar-room at the corner, con-
versing affably with several noted thieves
Of his acquaintance, is a policeman.
set a thief to catch a thief" is a maxim
which the powers that "run" the New
Orleans ~constabulary put in practice, but
the thief is rarely caught. The chief duty
of the force is to catch votes for the poll
ticians to whom they jointly and severally
owe their places, and to be otherwise POI
~litically useful. The policeman at the
corner hadjust done a good stroke OF work.
He had arranged that a row should break
out at a hostile club that night f; and the
predestined disturbers Of the peace had
pledged him once, twice, thrice in whis-
key. He was all aglcw with Importance
land whiskey) when he saw our Bat come
out of MI. Austen's house and scuttle off.
Here was q victim worthy Of his %ssteal., y
SO he Immediately gave chase, shouting
''stop thief" and firing his revolver at the
fugitive.
His first shot struck a colored girl, who
was crossing the street about ten yards
from where Dick ran, in the heel, and his
second went through a first story window
and smashed a looking glass. The girl
howled dismally and the proprietor of the
ill-starred mirror appeared in his balcony
and discharged severalrounds of profanity.
And there it ended. 1t is quite regular for
policemen Tor, indeed, for any one to fire
after persons who attempt to give justice
leg-bail, though they urge their wild career
through the most crowded thoroughfares
Our Rat-lgnorant of the fact that a
New Orleans policeman has never yet been
known to hit anything that he actually
aimed at-gave in at the second shot, and
was walked off i'll triumph to the station.
X \ X X
Captain Gilbert spends the evening with
his agent, and returns to the ship about
II O'Clock.
"Sorry to say, Sir" begins the chief Of
dcer, ''that most Of the men are ashore
"Without leaYe?';
A shrug of his shoulders is his answer.
."Whose watch is it?"
"Mr. AndreWs's."
"Send him here. How's this, Mr.. An
drews?" asks the captain angrily.
sits not my fault, Sir. They don't go
over the gangway. They crawl over the
side. and O. to the leans Of the wharf.
It's impossible to stop them"
The captain knows New Orleans, and
being a just man, has no more to say. 1t
is very provoking! He is going to sail tos
morrow, and those men will come on board
either drunk or stupid with the effect of
drink. Some of them, perhaps, won't
come at all.