The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-12-30


| face-kisses just sticking out all over it!
But wasn't she the sickest little mortal
that ever set foot on deck? 1 tell you.
she was all green and yellow, and loo. ed
half starved. | do not believe she'd
: kept down quarter of dinner for a
month past.
"'Hullo, Jack! said I; whats the
mattcr?' And gave the lady seat on
a lounge in my cabin. The poor little
thing could't sit up straight, so 1 just
hoisted her feet up and made her COM
Portable among the pillows.
"'Captain,' said he, Il want you to
marry me to this young lady
" Marry your said I. What do you
mean? She's too sick to be married,
man! She can't stand up. If you and
she want to be married, why don't You
wait till you gel ashore?'
- You see, ladies'. we talked out free
before her, for she couldn't understand
word of English.
eff we wait till then, said he, you
and I'll be goin to her funeral instead of
her wedding. We've got to be married,
and right away, and you have got to
marry u.s.
you see again, ladies', we were very
great friends outside the ship, and when
we were alone together We dropped all
ceremony"
what in thunder are you in such
wait till you're ashore?' Where are tie
lady's friends?"
Her stepfather's aboard my ship
he said.
81 thought so, said I; and 1 won't
have anything to 10 with it,
'He just turned and winked at me
'out of the tail of his eye. and then re-
membered, in moment of misplaced
confidence, had told him some little
circumstances in regard to my own mar
riage.
HEM said he, grinning like mon
key, Il think they're sometime justifable.
Now, just look here, Cap; listen, and I'll
tell you all about it. That little girl has
no relations, nothing but a stepfather,
and she's dependent on him tor support. |
Well the old coot's doctor, and crazy |
at that; or, if he isn't, he's the meanest |
cuss on ealth. He's taken it into his |
added old head to discover II sure cure |
foa sea-sickness, and because just the |
name of ship sets poor little Dolores to
casting up accounts, he's been taking her |
on all sorts of long voyages, and trying |
his various decoctions on her. so | |
want to marry her to get her out OF his
way Of course Tn in love with her,
and all that said he. looking kind of |
foolish, 'but if that was all. I'll wait till |
we got ashore. OF course | can't make !
him let her alone unless she's my wife,
and if he has control of her much longer |
shell never see port again.
4 a.,
at him in surprise, that he tries expert
ments on herV,gives her things that
amt incidence"
4 do, said he; and mean to say
that the last thing he gave her was "A bot
tie of bed-bug poison, and it most killed
her
BY the Flying Dutchmanr said 1,
Il should think it would! Where's the
old coot nowP'
In irons. l told him l wouldn't
have any such doing aboard my ship,
and he slapped my face. So l put him
in irons and came off to you.'
well, ladies, / just went over to the
sofa where the little girl was rolling her
big black eyes ut us. and wondering
what in thunder we were saying.
How old are you, my dcar?' l
asked in Spanish.
"You see, I'd been hurried more'n
two years, and I thought I'd n sorter
right to he paternal.
Eighteen, Senior Captain said she,
in the softest voice in the world.
'Said L:
DO you love this man and want TO
marry him? Yon needn't if you don't,
because I'll see to it your stepfather
doesn't bother you any more
Il didn't dare look round at Jack, for
| knew he'd be looking blacker'n thun-
der at me jdst then. And, indeed, he
took a step toward us; but I made him
keep off till she should have answered
for herself.
well, she blushed very prettily, and
hesitated for n second. then answered
very sweetly that if the Senor Captain
didn't mind the trouble, she should
marry the Senior First Officer. That the
Senior First Officer had been her only
friend; that, although she had taken
many voyages and seen many people,
she had never before found any one who
cared to interfere n her behalf; that she
felt very grateful to the Senior First OH
Ger, and had now become attached to
him, and with the Senior Captains per-
mission would gladly become his wife. ,
''As she said this, Jack got out of sight :
behind the door, put his thumb to his :
nose and twirled his fingers at me in the
most disrespectful manner. l had I
great mind to put him in irons for
no matter.
"Of course there was nothing to he
Il, |