Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-05-25

had never heard an adept in the art,
neither had any of my shipmates; other
wise I Judge such fact would have been
and the voices accounted for
on that ground. Poor Chester, when with
us, our most intelligent shipmate,
seemed to be as much in the dark as the
rest of us, although he was not in the least
put out Of the way by the occurrences.
strolling along the streets of San Fran
cisco one night, about year after the
wreck, ready for any thing in the line Of
amusement that might turn up, my eye
caught large poster which announced
the wonderful doings of Professor Mere
dith, ssthe unrivalled and world-renowned
yentriloquist."
This, thought /, shall be the source Of
my evenings enjoyment. Turning my
face in the direction of the "Hall OF
Science and Emporium of Amusements,
I was soon seated in a snug corner Of the
body.of the building, and was not long in
being carried away by the wonderful say
ings and doings of the Professor. At last
he told US he would hold an imaginary
conversation with a person up the chin !.
ney. He did so. When, in the midst of
dialogue, the person up the tiue gave
derisive ssHah, hah. hah!'
II was startled: sprang from my
seat. 'sSurely," said I, half aloud,
ssthose are the voice and tone and words
which more than once came from the
maintop of the Niger" And while I was
staring on the Professor with eyes ready
to leap out Of their sockets, he came to
the front of the stage to perform his part.
Then, in spite Of his flowing beard and
other decorations, I saw in Professor
Meredith the identical Jack Chester who,
over twelve months before, was believed
to have leaped, in fit Of madness, into
the sea and was drowned.
"Chester!!" cried out in my excite
ment.
"Sit DOWN. cried one; 'Put him out!
said some others. In the meantime l
had come to myself and resumed my seat,
but not before / had got from the Pro-
fessor sign of recognition.
When the performance was over, my
old shipmate for it was hel beckoned me
to him, and taking me to his private
room, he grasped my hand in all the fer
veucy of ardent friendship.
"sit down, Henry, my boy" he said,
s'and you shall have a solution of the
mystery which hangs over. me and the
past"
Chow did you come to be saved from
a watery grave on that awful night when
you plunged into the raging sea?" l I'M
patiently asked.
81 did not Jump overheard replied
Chester, laughing; 'neither was | any less
sane than am at this moment. The en-
tire affair was trick of my own inven-
ton to frighten the captin and then get
away from his clutches. My madness was
a sham, and the man overheard was sim
ply bundle of old togs, topped by my
old hat, which I had just put together
The moment pitched them over the rail
I slipped down into the fore-peak, where
1 lay hid until the night after the ship en-
tered the port, when stole out and went
on shore had taken care to lay up
i plenty of junk, and managed to avoid
detection until the Niger sailed. The
cries that you heard from the maintop
from behind the long-boat, and in the
cabin, need not now explain
Ono" saidI; call is made clear by the
doings Of this night"
"Exactly So" said he. And then hi
continued: II had performed as ven
triloquest in most large cities and town.
in Europe before you knew me; but, be
, coming somewhat restless in my habit
and having squandered all my earnings
/ in a fit of restlessness took to the sea
and, in the capacity Of sailor, founc
my way to Puget Sound. But had no
in me the stuff of which sailors are made
,, SO, after my adventures on board the M
ger, l went back to my old profession
in which I have done we'll. My wilt
, oats are all sown, I hope; and, having
learned wisdom by bitter experience,
, shall stick to that line of life for which
t have capacity better thing than spite
, ing old ropes or taking in topsail reefs o.
i a blowing night"
81 should think so;'' I said. "But yo1
, nearly killed the captain with fright
) whilst you caused us many heartache
your supposed loss.
ssFor the latter am sorry" returne
Chester. "But cannot say that I pitiet
the captain. His cruelty to me was tel
rible, and he would possibly have ende
! by killing me, but for my fortunate gil
] of ventriloquism. 'All's well that end
WE'LL"
sTrue," I returned. II rejoice tia
you are alive to say so. You kept you
| secret famously, for, neither Captai
, Phillips nor any of his crew ever sus
? pected that incapable Jack Chester wa
the ghost that haunted the Niger"