The Republican journal., 1882-07-13

uOuUl Dut NIlul IL lldut tln Ifel klnU q
shivery when they looked aft along her
decks and not a soul in sight, and every
thin bleached and gray, and ron-rusted,
and the riggin' all slack and whites
though it had been chaNed, and nOthin'
left of her sails but some old rags tlappin'
like a last years scarccrow. They went
and looked in the to'k'so' there want
nothin' there but somc rhists mems
chists with little old uoddin' left in
the hunks They went down the com
panion- way; cabin door unlocked every
thing in there as nat'rafS though it had
Just been left, only twas kind O. moldy-
smelln'. | expect the Cap'n give a kind
of start as he looked around. lwa'n't
no old greasy Whaler's cabin, nor no
packet ship, neither. There want many
craft like her on the seas in them days
She was fixed up inside more like a gen
tleman's yacht is nov. Merchantmen, in
them days, didn't have their turkey ear
pets. and their colored wine glasses ling
lin in the racks. While they was eNplolin'
round in there, moyin' round kind o.
cautions, the door of the captains state
room swung open with a creak, just'S
though somebody was a-Shovin' it slow
llht, dliu iit NfI L -iNt U NlI'i VI a Stli.
and 4 rustlin', moanin sound. as il She
was comm to life. The old man never
made no secret but what he was scared
when he went through her that night
'TWa'n't 50 much what he said As the way
be looked when ht told it, | expect he
thought he'd seen enough about the time
that door blew open. lie said he llnowed
twas nothin' but a puff o wind struck
her, and that he'd better ht a-gttin on
to his own craft before he lost her in the
foe. SO he went back and got under way
and sent 4 line aboard of the stranger and
took her in tow, and all thai night, with
a good southeast wind they Kept a-moy-
in toward home The old man was kind
O restless and Wakelul. Walkin' the decks
and loOkin' over the stern 1T the bic Ship
tollerin' him like 4 ghost. The moonlight
was 4 little dull with iog, but he could
see her, plain, a-colnin on before the
wind with her white rig9in and bare
poles, and hear the water sOusin' under
her bows. He said twas in his mind
mOre'n dozen times to cut her adritt.
You see he had his misgiyin's about her
from the tuSt, though he never let on
what they We're, but he hung on to her
et0 il'tll ILL., SUM- NilltN az ~ lttlIll
that have more StncG in EN- than rca
son, like as not. He knew every body at
the IlarOor would laugh at him tor lettjn'
90 such prize as that Just for a notion.
and il Want his way. You may he sure.
He didn't need no one to tell him What
she was Wuth. Anyhow, he hung to her,
and the next day they beached her at
high water right over there hy THE old
ship-yard. He took Deacon SINin' and
hk brother-in law, Captain Purse Pierce
they call it nowadays. but III the C1p'n's
time twas Purse. That sounds kind D
broad ana comfortable, like the tapns
Wescoat but the tamily's thnnin down
a good deal lately, and gcttin' Kind q
sharp and lean. and maybe Pierce is
more suitable But 5 | was Sayin', Cap'n
Green took them cheerful. loud
talkin' men they was, both of EN- aboard
of her to go through her, fer he hadn't
no notion o gOin into that Cap'n's
state-room alone, even in broad daylight:
but tWan't there the secret Of her lay
there want n0thin in there 10 scare any
body, She was trimmed up, tel YOU,
Just elegant. Real maEoganN none Of
your yeneerin', but the real stuff: lace
III ilIH w tlt btl us itlN ~ WI llit IIl
lows. and a satin coverlid, rumpled up
as though the cap'n had Just turned cut,
and there was his slippers handy The
greatest-lookin' slippers ior ii man yen
ever saw. They wouldn't a been too
big for the neatest footed woman in the
harbor. But Lord they was inst thick
with mold, and 50 was everythin' in the
place, even to an Old gittar With the
strings most rottctI off Of it. and the pic
tiers Of fumin-lookin' women On the walls
-tritlin' lookin' crecturs, most of EN-.
They hunted all through his desk, but
couldn't find no log. Twas plain enough
that Whoeverd left that ship had took
pains that she shouldn't tell no tales. and
tWa'n't long before we found ont the lea-
| son.
when they come to 90 below, there
was considerable Of a crowd on deck by
| that time, stannln round While they
knocked out the keys and took Oft the
fore hatch, Cap'n Green called On Cap'n
Purse and the Deacon to 60 down with
| him but thc} didn't pear to be vely
anxious, and the old man want gon' to
hang back for company with everybody
| loOkin' at him, SO he lit Il candle and
NNlIl tltN ii, anu llIC lOlkS tttNtitV lttlIit
| and waited for him. | was there mNselt.
IS close to him as | be to that fish barrel,
when he come ul., his face whites a
| sheet and the candle Shakin' in his hand
and sot down on the hatch combn'
'''Give me room. says hc kind d
leann' back on the crowd. Give me
air, can't you? She's full o dead mig
gers She's a SLAYER"
"Now, twas the talk pretty centrally
that the Cap'n had taken Il hand in the
business himself, in his early days, and
that it set uncomfortable on him after
ward. 1t never was known how he'd got
his moncy-he didn't have any to begin
with. He was always Il Kind Of lone
bird, and dug his way along up, some
how Nobody knows what was workin'
on hm While he sot there; he looked
awful sick. 1t was kind Of quiet for a
minute, but them that couldn't see him
KEEP pushin' for'ards and callin out ::
What dye see! What's down there p
And them close 10y wanted to know, all
talkin' to once, why he thought she was
a SLAYER, and how long the nggers had
been dead. Lord what fuss there was
| Everybody askin the tOolisheSt questions
''li' Ni'Ntlli anu S'luttLlU dlu lHclll III
front pushin' back, away from the hatch
way, as if they expected the dead would
rise and walk out o that black hole where
they'd laid 50 long. They couldn't get
much out Of the old man, except that
there was skel'tons scattered all over the
after hold, and that he knew she was a
SLAYER by the way she was fixed up.
'HoWd he know p folks asked among
themselves; but nobody liked to ask the
Capn. AS for how long them Africans
had been dead, they had to find that out
for themselves, all they ever did find out,
for the Cap'n wouldn't talk about it, and
he wouldn't 60 down in her again it
'peared s if he was satisfied
"Nal, it made a terrible stir in the
place; as tell you, they come from fifty
mile around to see her; they had it all in
the papers; some had one idea and some
another about the way she come to he
abandoned, all in good shape and them
human beins in her hold Some said
ship p-fever, some said mutiny but when
Al