The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-03-10

i "' Her stepfather's aboard my ship
he said.
81 thought So said and l won
! have anything to do with it.
HE just turned and winked at m
out of the tail of his eye,' and | the
! remembered, in moment of misplace,
. confidence, had told him some littl
circumstance in regard to my own mar
riage."
"Hem said he, grinning like ,
monkey, 81 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 stepfather, and she's dependent
on him for support. Well, the old coot'
, a doctor, and crazy at that F; or, if ht
isn't he's the meanest cuss on earth
He's taken it into his added old head
to discover sure cure for seasickness
and because just the name of ship sets
poor little Dolores to casting up &C
counts, 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. Ofcourse
I'm in love with her and all that" said
he, looking kind of foolish s'but if that
was all, I'd wait till we got ashore. OF
course | can't make him let her alone
unless she's my wife, and if he has con-
troll of her much longer she'll never see
port again.
"Do you mean to say" said l, staring
at him in surprise, ''that he tries expert
ments on her-gives her things that
amt medicine? ?"
81 do" said he ''and l mean to say
that the last thing he gave her was a
bottle of bed-bug poison, and it most
killed her."
by the Flying Dutehman !" said I,
Il should think it would Where's the
old coot now?
Gin irons | told him [ wouldn't
have any such doing aboard my ship,
and he slapped my face. So 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 at us, and wondering
what in thunder we were saying"
How old are you, my dear? 1 asked
in Spanish.
'You see, I'd been married more'n
two years, and I'd sorter right
to be paternal."
Eighteen, Senior Captain" said she,
in the softest voice in the world
| ''Said / Do you love this young man
and want to marry him You needn't
if you don't, because I'll see to it your
stepfather doesn't bother you any
more"
81 didn't dare look around at Jack,
for [ knew he'd be looking blacker'n
| thunder at me just then. And indeed,
he took a step towards us; but 1 made
| him keep off till she should have an
swered for herself.
"Well, she blushed very prettily, and
hesitated for a second, then answered
very sweetly that if the Senior Captain
didn't mind the trouble, she should mar
ry 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 in her behalf;
that she felt very grateful to the Senior
First Officer, and had now become at
| tached to him, and with the Senior
Captains permission would gladly be-
come his wife.
CAS- she said this, Jack got out of
sight behind the door, put his thumb to
his nose, and twirled his finger in the
most disrespectlul manner. I had
great mind to put him in irons for mu-
| tiny-but no matter"
ttOf course there was nothing to be
done except marry them /; she was over
IS, and at sea the Captains as good as
a parson, you know"
$50 1 called up the passengers and
the officers; and the ladies dressed her
up in their own fnery, and we had a
wedding in very short order. After
that the ships surgeon prescribed an
antidote for the bed-bug poison.
''The second officer went over and
look command of the coffee ship in Jacks
place, and sent back Dolotres' trunk and
clothing At first thought we couldn't
get along without him, for Jack was so
deeply in love with his little sea sick
girl | thought he'd be of no manner of
use. But we had good weather most of
the time, and Jack did his duty like a
man..
.'But it was real touching to see him
go to his wife's cabin every day and
bring her on deck and fix her comfort
ably on bed the steward made for her
under an awning. And there he'd nurse
her and care for her just as if he'd been
sister of charity. You might have
seen then, Miss Hetty, how sailor can
love a woman?
"Well, she soon got better and strong
err Jack and the doctor fixed her up
between them, and healthier, livelier,
happier little woman never set foot in
San Francisco Jack took her right to
his married sister, and there she stayed
between voyages till she had lot of
children, and her husband bought her
house of her own.
"What about the coffee ship? Oh,
that made port day before us, and the
old doctor had us all arrested the minute
we touched land. So we were all hauled
up in court, and Jack had it out with
his stepfather-in-law.
I.think that the court was rather
against us first; but the bed-bug poison
and the slap in the face did the business,
and turned everything in our favor. He
was afterwards decided to be lupatic
and turned over to his brothers keep
ing.
fsWhat became of Jack Why, he
sailed with me for several years as first
officer; now he's captain of the COM
panion ateamer to this, That good
looking young fellow that's been making
eyes at you, Miss Hetty, is his son
and dare say that he agrees with his
father that sea sickness makes precious
little difference when mans in love-"
The moon is quite up now, flooding
the sea with silver. Between us and
the shining mirror interposes the head
of young Jack, showing in fine, clear
cut silhouette What a wonder that
Hetty has to put severe straint upon
her eyes that they shall not wander in
that direction.
The captain saunters away to do the