Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-06-27

"He was very nervous in the presence
of the mate and crew. If he could he
would contrive to be in his stateroom
whenever they came into the caBfn.
! None of them recognized him, though,
and he lost his uneasiness. He was so
big that | had to knock two berths into
one to give him room in his cabin, and
he could hardly turn even then. But he
took it cheerfully enough. Once / made
some remark about the closeness of his
quarters, and he said: There's tighter
places than this in the world, captain
"Tweed went on deck for the first
time on the morning Of his fourth day
on board. He had eaten hearty break
fast and was ryjolly. About noon we
sighted the schooner Commerce, from
Baracoa to Boston, with fruit, and he
became uneasy ut once. The Commerce
ran down toward us and signaled us to
compare longitudes. This seemed to set
poor Uncle John Wild.
What do they wantg he asked,
anXiously.
"'To exchange longitudes, replied.
"' Are you sure of thatP
' OF course / am
"He walked away muttering to him
self. When we parted company with the
Commerce. ! noticed that Tweed was not
Oh deck. Neither was he in his cabin.
| called him and he walked out of a
closet, a little sweat-box scarcely big
enough for man to cram himself in
edgeways. He was bathed in perspira-
ton and as shaky as a baby. 1t took
big drink to steady his nerves. When |
explained that the Commerce was not
| from New York he had good laugh at
his own expense.
"He and Hunt managed between
them to kill time very comfortably.
They had heaps of papers and some
books in the valises, which they read
and talked over. They talked politics q
great deal, too, but | never was much OF
a fist at that, so l didn't very clearly
understand what they were at. Tweed
spoke to me sometimes on the same
subject, and even mentioned the names
of Sweeny, Connolly and the others, tell
ing stories about them. / knew of them,
of course, but most of the other names
he mentioned were strange to me. | have
heard them since in connection with the
ring business, but | hadn't then.
"Tweed took great interest in navi-
cation, and followed me when took my
observations with much attention. /
explained the instrument to him and the
figures on which my calculations were
based, but he said laughingly that they
were as clear as mud to him. One
thing he could do, though-that was,
mark the time on the chronometer when
[ took the longitude. He did it regular
ly, and called it working his passage
"He would patter around the deck,
too, and once tore half the seat OF his
pantaloons off on barrel hoop. | had
noticed that he had not changed them
since coming aboard. Then | found that
! they were the only pair he had. L lent
| him pair of mine, which he managed
to squeeze into while his own were be-
ing mended. When he gave them back
to me he had left handsome penknife
in the pocket for keepsake. I've got
that knife yet. | wondered at the time
at his being so short of clothes. After
ward it struck me that he was a hard
man to fit. lie couldn't get his clothes
readv-made, and while he was in hiding
he was afraid to have q tailor make
any,
and everything about it. We generally
had lines put over the stern, and when
ever we hooked fish he examined it
| DplOIt III WIS lulutb ONCI W IIlC NOOhs
A little shark we caught kept him busy
for couple of hours. Then, when we
got among the drifts of Gulf weed, the
men used to fish up whole bushels of it
for him. He would pick out the crabs
and sea spiders from the wrack and
hunt up the descriptions of them in a
couple of old books l had in the cabin:
He and Hunt collected a whole jar full
of the ugly things, but they left them
behind when they landed.
"Flying-fish were another hobby with
him. A whole school of them flew on
board one night, attracted by the gleam
of the deck lanterns on our big white
sails. Old Sam, our cook, took the back
bone out of lot of them and fried them
for our breakfast. | thought Tweed
would never get through that morning.
He said the tlying-fish made one of the
best dishes he ever ate in his life. 1t
struck me that was paying them big
compliment.
He took great fancy to dolphin,
too, when Sam gave it to us one day In
a curry. AS an eater, however, Tweed
was by no means out OF the way
After he got over his sickness he had q
good appetite, but nothing extraor,
dinary; and he would eat ships fare
and leave the extra dishes | had provided
for Hunt and me to finish off. In drink
ing he was equally temperate. A glas;
: of brandy now and then when his stom
, ach wanted toning was about the wors
he did. My supply of liquor was hardly
touched during the voyage.
81 soon found that neither Tweed no
, Hunt knew where they were going
They wanted to land in Cuba, but haC
{ no idea at what point. All the satisfac
{ ton | got from Hunt when | asked hin
9 where to steer, was: Make for the eas
, end of Cuba So I shaped our cours
; for Cape Maysi, the extreme eastern
, point of the island.
3 "When we got clear of the Bahamas
t Hunt told me they had concluded t.
land at Santiago de Cuba. They hat
settled on that place from book the
} had brought on board. 1t was the mar
4 rative of winter voyage in a yacht
{ among the West Indies, written by som
yacht club man and published in Nel
York. 1t was called West 1ndi
Pickles.
e "Among the places describedin Yves
t India Pickles was Santiago de Cubs
S Tweed had taken fancy to it from til
: description, but when he found anothe
e of Matanzas, he did not know which
o choose. Hunt favored Santiago. S
: they made toss up oft, with the hea
l., of twenty dollar piece for Santiago an
i the tail for Matanzas. Head woi
/. Tweed's nervousness had all disappeare
e by this time, and he was rs gay as
h schoolboy out for lark, except when
k and Hunt were talking privately, whe
y he was very grave. He was great f;
2 vorite with the men, and seemed to enjc
l. his popularity heartily.
D, lone of the crew was n young Cuba
le named Maen. He was working his pa
- eaoa to RaracOa Maien had been nret'