The Republican journal., 1882-07-13

"NObody knows what the old Capn
was thinkin' about in them days. Twas
three months or more fore he went aboard
Of her ag'in; he let it be known about that
he wanted to sell her. but he couldn't git
an offer even; nobody seemed to want to
take hold of her Winter set in early,
and the ice blocked her in, and there she
lay-the lonesomest thing iii sight You
never see no child'n climbin' round on
her, and there was story that queer
noises, like moanin' and clankin' of
chains, come out of her on windy nights;
but it might a been the ice, crowdin' as
she careened over and back with the ris-
in and tallin tide. But when spring
opened, folks used to see the old Cap'n
hangin' round the ship-yard, and lookin'
her over at low tide, where the ice had
cut the barnacles off Of her.
cone night in the store, he tiggered up
how much lumber she'd carry from Ban
gor, and twa'nt long fore he had a gang
o men at work on her. 1t seemed as if
he VAS kind o infatuated with her he
was fraid Of her. but he couldn't let her
alone. And She was 4 mighty Well built
craft f'loridy pine and live oak, and
mahogany from the Mosquito coast
built in CadiI, most likely Look AT her
now She don't look to home, here, does
she , She never did She's as much like
our harhor craft rs one o them big, val
loW-eyed, bare-necked buzzards is to
one o these here little sand-peeps. But
she was a handsome vessel, Them live
oak ribs II outlast your tinlr if YOU was
to liNc 70 be Old"
IA n
the Alcazar. The blanched, wave-wom
messenger sent by the tropic seas into the
far North, with tale that had never been
uttered as if its horror had struck dumb
the gray lips which We're rotting With
their secret untold its shadow spread
broad upon the beach, made the gath
ering twilight deeper. Out on the har-
bor the saffron light fingered, long after
the red had faded. How many tides had
ebbed and flowed since the ship, chained
at the foot Of the cliff had warmed in
the waters Of the Gulf her bare. CORFU
gated sides, warped by the trosts stabbed
by the ice Of pitlrSs northern winters.
Where were the sallnW, dark bearded
faces that had watched, from her high
poop, the brief tWiights die on tn Gun
Swallowed main which, a century ago,
was the scene OF some of the widest r0-
mances and hlackest crimes in maritime
history the bright. restless bosom that
warmed into lie 4 thousand serpents,
whose trail could he traced through the
hot tlower-scented Southern plazas and
courts into the pcacetulest white villages
If the North
">Io I'd no dce twas gittin' on 50
l..4, Il t,i, l. ,;,
anybody Watchin out for me. kin put
my family under my hat; but | don't
know what your folks II thinks come o
You, Wal, the rest ont won't take long
TO tell The old man had her fitted up
in good shape 10y the time the ice was out
Of the river, and run her up to Bangor IN
ballast and loaded her there for New
York. He had IN ugly trip down the
coast lost his deck load and three men
overheard in 4 south easter of Nantuck-
TT shoals Itmadc the whole ships com
pany feel pretty solemn, tut the old man
took it the hardest OF any of EN-, and
from that time seems us if he lost his
grip the uld scare settled back on him
tlacker'u ever There want a man
aboard Of her that liked her. They all
knew her story and that She was the Al
cdzar, from nobody knows where, instead
ot the Stranger, from Newhuryport,
the Cap'n had Newhuryport put on her
because he was a Newburyport man, and
all his vessels was built there, and she
hadn't more'n touched the dock in New
York before every one on 'em left her.
even to the cook "No better than Il
iloatln coffin. ANYWAY" they said of her
and guess the Cap'n would IA left her
right there, too, if it hadn't been for the
money he'd put into her. expect he
was 4 little too fond Of money, may be;
but I've knowed others, Just as sharp's
the old Capn, that didn't seem to have
his luck The mate saw him two OF
three times while he was a lyin' in New
York. and noticed he was drinkin' more'n
usual He come home light, and anchor
ed off the bar, Just as u south easter was
a comm on. 1t wouldn't n been no
trouble for him to have laid there, if
he'd had good ground gear-but there
twas ag'in, he'd been a little too savin'
He'd used the Old cables he found in her
The new mate didn't know nothn' about
her, and put out one anchor. The Cap'n
had taken keg o New England rum
aboard. and been DRAWN on it pretty
rec lar all the way up, and as the gale
come on he GOT kind o Wild, and went ut
ii harder'n ever. About midnight, the
cable parted. They let 90 the other
anchor, but it didn't snub her for a min
ute, and she swung, broadside to, on to
the bar. The men climbed into the rig
GIN before she struck, but tie old Cap'n
was Staggerin' round decks kind o dazed
A. p,lliI,f, i,,' !
save himself. The mate tried to git him
into the liggin scein he WANT in no
condition to look ont for himself; but the
Old man struck loose from his holt, and
cried out to him through the noise
"Let me alone, I've got to 90 with
her"
"Thc mate Just had time to swing him
self back into the miZZen- shrouds before
the sea broke over her, and left the decks
bare. The old ship pounded overthe bar
in an hour or so, and drifted up here on
the beach, where She is now. Every
man on board was saved except the Capn.
He went with her. sure enough.
"There was talk enough about that
thing before they got done with it TO "a
made the old man roll in his grave They
raked up all the stories, about his cruisin'
on the Spanish main when he was young
man, they want stories he'd ever told
he want much Of a hand to talk about
what he'd seen and done on his wages.
They never let him rest, till twas pretty
much the gen'ral belief and is to this
day that he knew more about that SLAYER
from the first than he ever owned to.
II never had much to say about it,
but twas plain enough to me. | had my
suspicious the mOrnin' he toWed her ill.,
He looked terrible shattered. 1t peared
to me he want ever the same man after
ward. 'Pve got to 90 with her ~ Them
was his last words. He knew that ship
and him belonged together, same as a
mans sins belongs to him. He knew she'd
been a-huntin' him up and down the
western ocean for twenty years, with
them dead o his'n in her hold, and she'd
hunted him down at last"
Captain John paused with this perora-
ton; he dug a hole in the wet sand with
the toe Of his boot, and watched it slowly