Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-02-05

show her the different considerations;
and from being silent and morose, must
have been surprised at his own fiuency
| in describing Perseus with the Gorgons
head, and Andromeda chained to the
rock, and Cassiopmia IN her chair of
state, which he SAID were placed there
/ for mariners like himself to navigate
by.
One evening, at dusk, all hands were
called to shorten sail. Helen stood near
the cabin door, trimming a hand lamp,
and watching us run aloft. when the
door quietly opened, and Black, bare
! footed, stole in noiseless as tiger. Sud
denly she saw the man with his eyes
fixed upon her, and before she could
scream or speak, he caught her in his
arms and kissed her roughly and while
she struggled with him, her hair broke
loose and fell in waves over her face and
breast. 81 love you,' he said, sand you
shall be mine; and | will kill him, and
him, and all of them"-pointing to the
officers cabins-'if you will say the
word. But if you tell them about me, |
shall kill you, too. But | will come
again, and take this for love-gift,n
and this black bearded mAcreant
snatched from her neck one of Captain
Sprouts white silk handkerchiefS, and
disappeared in the dark as he had en-
tered
The girl was too terrified to tell any
one what had happened; besides she did
not even know the mans name; and
five minutes afterwards, when Captain
Sproul entered the cabin, he found her
wiplng up oil off the floor, and for the
first time spoke to her sharply for her
carelessness; and imagining that her
tears and trembling were occasioned by
his reprooi returned on deck again.
But another event occurred which did
not pass of so smoothly. The next
evening, during the dog-watch, Sholto
Shaw, the young seaman who had found
Helen in the hold, went boldly to the
cabin doors, and under the pretence of
asking for medicine, took the emporium
ltv of presenting her with dainty pair
of canvas shoes, which he said had been
made on purpose for her; and she was
questioning as to who was the sender:
but Captain Sproul was too sharp for
them, for at that moment he darted out
of his cabin, and Selling the shoes, re-
marked, you asked for medicine, |
think" when dragging Shaw on deck,
and taking up ropes end he logged
him for stealing the ships canvas; and
promising him a stronger dose if the of
fence was repeated, the captain sent
him forward
Entering the cabin, the captain called
Helen to him. you have broken my
orders, and am Disappointed but as |
have punished the sailor | must also
punish YOU" and producing n pair of
scissors the captain deliberately cut off
all her hair, remarking that he might
not be so lenient second time.
| As for Helen, a nature less innocent
must lave been blunted by such treat
ment; but she only shed n few tears.
and made much lighter Of the matter
than my friend Hawke who trembled
with Indignation when he heard of the
occurrence. Black, on the contrary,
laughed like hyena at the fate of the
! canvass shoes, and to our amazement,
put the white silk handkerchief around
his neck, which he said the English
miss had given him.
OF Hawkes. history, know nothing;
but there was something about the I'M
known seaman which showed that he
had come down greatly in social status;
| in fact he admitted that he was in the
| forcastle through his own folly He
was very reserved; out there was cool
self-possession and pride about him
which made the other seamen keep
aloof from him and the officers dislike
him. Sharp words ensued between
these two men about the ownership of
the handkerchief, which would have
ended in blows, but the weather being
stormy, we were piped away to reef the
topsails. The reef tackles Of the main
topsail were hauled taut, and some of
Us were upon the yard picking up the
| points when Black came up on the
weather rigging, and getting on the foot
rope, seized Hawkes. points, and gave
| him a shove which nearly sent us both
off the yard, and caused Us to let go the
sail; and the others were compelled to
do likewise. IN an instant the sail bel
| lied out; and Black, who was still hold
ing on, was dragged over the yard, but
no human power could save him, for
what with the wind and rain, we were
almost blinded. Suddenly he gave a
loud shrek, and as he did so he fell feet
foremost, and with a tremendous crash
went half through hfe-boat which was
lying on the skids. He had been caught
in his own trap, and when extricated by
the carpenter was found to be dead.
The foreigners left the yard and COM
menced screeching and screaming and
crossing themselves, and even the mate
could not get them aloft again that
night. The captain seemed more sur
prised at seeing one Of his own hand
Serchiefs around the neck of the corpse