The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-07-17
A YOUNG HERO.

| a 1OUNd n6hO.
"Ay, ay, sir; they're smart seamel
enough, no doubt, them Dalmatians, an,
reason good, too, seein' they man half tn
Austrian navy; but they aint got the sea
soning of an Englishman, put 1t how yol
will"
am standing on the upper deck of tn,
Austrian Lloyd s,eemer, looking my las
upon pyramidal Jaffa, as it rises up in ter
race after terrace of stern gray masonry
against the lustrous evening sky, with Tho
foam-tipped breakers at its feet. Beside
me, with his elbow on the hand rail, ant
his short pipe between his teeth, lounges
the chiefengineer, as thorough an English
man as if he had not spent two-thirds ol
his life abroad, and delighted to get hold
of listener who (a5 he phrases iD ''has
been about a Bit"
mo; they amt got an Englishman's
seasonin'," he continues, pursuing his crit
icism of the Dalmatlan seaman; land
what's more, they amt got an English
mans pluck neither, not when it comes to
a real scrape."
"Can no one but an Englishman have
any pluck, then ?" ask laughing.
well, l won't just go for to say that; o
course man as is a man 'ull have pluck
in him all the world over. I've seed a
French tackle a shark To save his mess
mate; and I've seed Rooshan stand To his
gun arter every man IN the battery, barrin'
himself, had been blowed to smash. But,
if yer come to that, the pluckiest feller as
ever / seed warnt man at all !"
"What was he, then "a womany"
"No, nor that neither; through, mark
ye, don't 60 for to say as how women
amt got pluck enough too-some on 'cm
at least. My old 'ooman, now, saved me
once from lubber of n Portigee as was
Just a-goIn' to stick knife into me, when
She cracked his nut with handspikc.
you can hear her spin the yarn yourself,
If you likes To pay us visit when we gets
to ConstantinopIe). But this 'un as I'm
tSlkin' on was little lad not much bigger
n Tom Thumb, only with sperrit of his
own as 'ud ha' blowed up man-Ocwar a
most. Would yer like to hear about ity"
l eagerly assent; and the narrator
knocking the ashes out of his pipe, folds
his brawny arms upon the rail, and CON-
mences as follows:
Bout three years ago, af0re got this
berth as I'm in now, l was second engineer
aboard Liverpool steamer bound for New
York. There ID been lot of extra cargo
sent down Just at the last minute, and we
ID had no end of job stowin' il away, and
that ran us late o. staItin'; 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-going sort
o. chap as nothIn' on earth conld put out
But on the third day out from Liverpool,
he come down to me in precious hurry,
loOkin' as il sonlethin' had put him out
considerably.
.sTom," says he, "what d. We think !?
Blest if we amt found a stowaway."
THAT'S the name, you know, sir, as we
gives to chaps as hides themselves aboard
outward bound vessels, and gets carried out
unbeknown to everybody.
THE dickens you have!" says /, Who
is he. and where did you find him."
"Well, we found HIM slowed away
among the casks for'ard: and ten to one
we'd never ha' twiggea him if the skip
per's dog hadn't sriffed him out and be-
gun barkin'.' Stitch a little mite rs he is,
too! l could almost put him in my bac-
cy-pouch, poor little beggar! but he looks
TO be a good plucked un for all that"
didn't want to hear no more, but up
on deck like sky rocket; and there did
see a sight, and no mistake. Every man.
Jack o. the crew, and what few passengers
we had aboards was all in ring in the
fo'c'stle, and in the middle stood the fust
mate lookin' as black as thunder. Right
in front of him, lookin' regular mite
among them big felfSrs, was little bit
of lad not ten years old-ragged as a
scarecrow, but with bright curly HAIR, and
a bonnie little face o. his own, ifit hadn't
been so woful and pale. But, bless yer
soul, to see the way that little chap held
his head up and looked About him, you'd
ba' thought the whole ship belonged TO
him.
nv .xo x,,os N croat bult;p, hlack
bearded feller, with look That 'ud ha'
frightened a horse, and voice ia to make
one Jump through a key hole; but the
Young un warn't bit afeard-h stood
straight up, and looked him full in thS
face with those bright, clear eyes o. hisn,
for all the world as though he was Prince
Hatred himself Folk did say afterward"
lowering his voice TO whisper), las how
he coined o. better blood nor what he
ought; and for my part I'm raytherO' that
way o. thinkin' myself; for l never yet
seed n common street Harab (as they call
,em now) carry it off like him. You might
ha' heard pin drop as the mate spoke" /"
"Well, you young whelp," says he IN
his grimmest voice, whats brought you
here?"
ut was my step-father as done IT," says
the bow, i'm a weak, little voice, but as
steady as could be- Fathers dead, and
mothers married again, and my new
father saws he won't have no brats about,
eatin' up his wages; and he slowed me
when nobody warn't lookin', and guv me
some grub to keep me goin' for day or
two till l got to sea. He says I'm to go to
Aunt Jane, at Halifax, and here's her adj
dress"
And with that he slips his hand into the
breast of his shirt, and out with scrap C.
paper, awfully dirty and crumpled up, but
with the address on it, right enough.
We all believed every word ont, even
without the paper; for his look, was
enough to show that there warn't ha'porth
of lynn in his whole skin. But the mate
didn't seem to swaller the yarn at all. he
only shrugged his shoulders with kind
bird to be caught with that kind o. chaff;"
aud then he says to him, "look here, my
lad; that's all very fine, but it won't do
here-sOme o. these men ~ mine are in
the secret, and / mean to have 1t out of
'em. Now, you just point out the man as
slowed you away and fed you, this very
minute; If you don't it'll be the worst for
your
The boy looked up in his bright fear.
less way (it did my heart good to look at
him. the brave little chap y and says, quite
quietly; "I've told you the truth; ant
got no more to say"
The mate says nothin', but looks at him
rs ifhe'd see clean through him; and then
he faced round to the men, look in blacker
then ever. "Reeve rope to the yard !" he
sings out, loud enough to rouse the dead
ssmart nowi"
The men all looked at each other, as
much as to say: "What on earth's com.