The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-12-09
LOVE on THE HIGH SEAS.


Now" said the captain, 1--WE shant
seq any more land for week, and You
Young ladies'll have nothing To do but let
some of these Young fellows fall III love
with you"
Fall in love-" cried Hetty, her tip-tilted
nose curling with Incredibly and disgust.
who could fall in love ut sea, I'd like to
know"
who could" asked the captain, in inno-
cent surprise. why, everybody does.
Why not?"
Iietty smiled in evident unbelcf, but
glanced furtively across tho deck towardthe
handsome young officer where lie leans on
the mil, blowing rings of smoke into the
deep blue sky.
Mischieyous Deb and the quick sighted
captain detect both, aud laugh numerically.
Hetty bushes, and the first officer uncom-
promisinglv turns his back and n deaf ear
tn the captains outlaws.
II is evening on shipboard, dinner is over,
the days work is done, and MI are assem-
bled on deck.
The sun, which has hung all day like n
copper gong upon n brass ceiling, is now
inercifully disappearing. The mountains
of Lower California shine IN his fast fnding
lays like ''the golden hills of heaven.
while one little hummock of an island, long
aud high and narrow, rises out of the sea
like the grave mound Of some ocean god.
For once the water is smooth: nothing
breaks its stiffness but the steamers trail,
and the sea gulls now and then brushing its
surface. Far, far away-far rs the eye can
reach--is nothing but the same expanse of
deep blue waters, broken only by those yell
low hills. now fast vanishing into distance
and night.
Overhead, only another and wider ex-
panse, still deeply, darkly, beautifully
blue" and behind cloud the new moon
just beginning To look forth upon the bois
ferrous world below.
Prigsby, from London, explains 70 Il
gaping audience how the scenery now be-
fore them suffers from comparison with
that of the Rhine. sam. Boland, of San
Francisco, carelessly replies to an inquirer
that he is going prospecting for gold in
Guatemala, acknowledges il to be- Il pretty
risky business" admits the country Ia he
full of road agents and bush whackers, but
'reckons he'll pull through" Meantime
Hetty and Deb, seeing the captain had Il
story in reserve, settled themselves 10 hear
il.
Didn't / tell you how my first officer got
married? No? Well, nobody could been
sickern his wife was when he courted her
I'll just tell You all about il, il you like.
Well, you See, | haven't always been
captain of tirst-class steamer-no, stree.
ran away 10 sea when | was twelve years
old, and I've worked my way from the bot
tom Of tho ladder. Well, when was thirty,
was captain of large sailing vessel that
was in the South American trade.
Il sailed from the port of Callao, San
Francisco beingmy destination. My second
officer was an Englishman, but my first was
an American, only two or three Years
younger than las goodlooking Young fol-
low AZ ever | saw; tall and straight and
handsome, with eyes like blue china He
was u right good fellow, too; brave and hon
est, but frisky as kitten, and up 10 all
sorts of larks.
well, We crept up the coast, stopping ut
every ninth door, ~ our orders Obliged MS
TO do, taking in MI sorts of things, all booked
for San Francisco. Finally We came 10
San Jose de Guatemala that lies ninety
miles inland-and there We hove to, and
waited for chance 10 90 ashore
Did YOU ever hear of the surf on that
coast. ladies? No? Well, it often rolls 10 or
20 feet high, and good part of the time no
boat can live i'll il. Sorry we're not going
to stop this trip or You might see it. You
see, there's really no harbor--nothng but
IN open roadstead-and, except in the Bay
Of Fundy, this place shows the highest and
lowest tide in the world. The people here
tried to build brcakwater out beyond the
surf, but il breaks over it half the time, and
when it doesn't it knocks it to pieces.
Sometimes vessels have TO ride ut anchor
for week before they can puta boat ashore.
Wed only just hove to when | noticed
that ship ut anchor, not fur of, was max
ing signals of distress, and that boat was
putting of in our direction. or course vi
were anchored far out beyond the surf, and
Il was comparatively easy for the boat T.
reach us; so il was soon alongside, and one
Ut the men came up the ships side and told
me what was wanted.
1t appears TINT the ship was II coffee shin
from San Francisco and had come Ia 81
Jose for cargo. II was only half loaded
when one of their boats capsized in In,
surf, drown ing the captain and first officer
The second officer Was very low with fever
aud they had nobody TO navigate the vessel
no they'd Ind to wait in port till some othe
ship came along and could lend 'em nm Off
Ger or somebody who understood naviga
ton.
"Well, called up my first officer. an,
put him aboard the coffee ship, and in
,lay or two we both sailed. We were goin,
over lust the same ground--Or sea, rathe
and rs the two vessels We're equally fast
We kept each other in sight most Of the time
We'd been ont ten days, and were in Amer
lean waters again, when Ill Of II sudden tn
ship hove to, and signaled us to stop w
ran AZ close to them Us We could, and thel
We hove to, and presently through the glas
i saw boat lowered aud there was IA won
an In it.
II was surprised, M you can imagine
fnr Ii,l npt Epn kap