Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-06-01

IN log the whole lot of you-I'n fine
you two days. pay! Be off with you
If any man talks about shifting that an.
Choir I'll clap him in irons!'
"Off we goes for'ard again, an the
bos'en pipes all hands down to supper.
We didn't talk about many other things
besides the norman, you may suppose
but it was curious thing that no two OF
US could agree 'xactly about what he wa:
like. Some said he were as tall as the
mainmast and some said he warn't nc
taller than the main hatch combing.
I said he were about the build of thick
set man, only about nine foot long on
account of the fish-tail, an some On Us
went on deck to measure the wet trails.
but the old man caught sight of us an
made us squeegee it out directly. But
we said among ourselves as how some
thin would come of it, if he didn't haul
up the mud hook; an somethin' did
come of it very soon.
81 shall never forgit that night. We
had finished supper an was all on deck
in the second dog-watch; there was no
wind yet, an everything was quiet
when three bells went. An then we all
remembered that. it was at three bells
as the norman had said their chapel was
to begin. But before we could speak a
word the water was all alive, as if mil
lions of fish was playin' around, not
| jumpin', or splashin', but seemin'ly just
below the surface-all alive an all atire,
too, with the CLINT of thousands of look
in'-glasses hashin' in all directions. An
it got more an more, till bimeby in
the middle watch we goes an prays the
| skipper for heavens sake to shift the an
Choir, an he jumps on deck with oath
in his mouth, when on a suddin the
stops an shrieks out, She's adrift-
we'er lost!''
can sure she was. The critters had
Knocked the bolt out O. the shackel that
bent the anchor on to the cable just at
chapel time, for we must ha' drifted
| better nor six miles; an before he could
get to the wheel the breakers seemed to
come up out of the dark on our star
board beam, an the ship struck on the
rocks with crash that flung US all off
our feet an brought her top-hamper
down about US. An in the breakers
was the CLINT of the lookin'- GLASSES, an
some on 'em afterwards said they heard
the ringing of church bells.
"The spanker-boom fell on the skip
per an killed him on the spot. The
rest OH US managed to get on to the
island at daylight, all but the steward
him that loaded the gun; big wave
come up, an took him back just as he
reached the last rock safely, an he new
err rose no more. An though you DOM
see no mermaids now, you can of'en an
of'en see the CLINT O. their lookin' glasses
in the water on stormy nights-fuzz
friz, some calls it, but know better. I
| -
hadn't knowed somethin' of mermaids
when I was wrecked in the South Seas,
| them Islanders would ha' eat
"But, Fern" | interpolated, putting
the conversational helm hard over to
steer clear of this tropical Charybdis,
"why don't we see them nowp'
"Well, can tell you, an there's not
many men alive rs can. When You
see, sir, you makes half hitch and
reeves the end O. the line through the
blight, like this-so.''
! From suddenly assumed respectful
tone, and his catching up the end of the
fore topsail clewline, which lay hard by
him, and manipulating it in illustration
of his wholly Irrelevant remark, 1 in
ferred that the second officer, to whose
watch I belonged, had hove within the
horizon of FERNS solitary eye. We
Youngsters were not allowed to 90 for
ward among the sailors, except now and
again under pretext of learning knots
and spices, so became engrossed ex-
ceedingly in the mysteries of the bow
| line then in exploitation. [ may say,
however, that this show of instruction
| on FERNS part was not designed so
| much to save me from sharp repri-
mand, or to insure the continued pleas
ure of nv society, as to account for the
temporary disuse of the scraper. Our
confab was not Interrupted, so, dropping
the rope again, he resumed:
81 were shipmates with the very
man as were the cause of it, an got it
| from his own lips, hisself an no other.
We was cruisin' in the West Indies, an
| takin' in stores afore goin' south. That
was in the Bluesiflis, a fine bark-rigged
vessel of eight hundred tons; carried
fore and main skysails, an had a big
white 'orse for figgerhead.
ssThe Bucephalus!" l exclaimed, by
sudden inspiration. But bit my tongue
directly the word had slipped out, for
the old man had come to dead halt, and
slowly rolled his one eye round at me
with baleful glare.
| WOG Ulu L sd ue ueIlt1ucu3 St.
verely.
"All right, Fern, go on.''
But Fern was not all right, and would
not 60 on. His finer feelings had been
hurt by the implied inaccuracy of his
classical pronunciation, and he took up
the scraper for moment with an Of
! Tended air. But another idea struck
| him.
"Have you got any more o. that
baccy?"
handed him the plug, and he wreaked
his vengeance on that to such an extent
that the poor little remnant which went
back into my pocket was not bigger
than the reserve piece he slowed away
in his cap; while the magnitude of his
fresh quid rendered his voice lusciously
indistinct during the rest of his narra-
ton.
"Takin' in stores, we was, here an
there, an was pretty near prowisioned
in full; the last place we put into was
Granada for sugar an rum. Didn't go