Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-10-06
THE LOG or WANDEHOO.
AStory OF the Sea.

lII'lH htleIdNh'l
"lf there be any happiness to be found
in the service. believe am bound to
have II taste of it this time" That is
what | said to myself as | stood leaning
over the bulwarks, and gazing shoreward,
Un the morning dft'r the day on which |
loined the Wandered. | have italicised
the word after. and l will presently ex-
plain my reasons for doing so. ! had no
special object i'll gazing shorewards.
wasn't married, and had, therefore, no
weeping wife to leave behind me and |
wasn't i'll love, mt least not much more
Than sailors usually are. To be sure,
there was the bewitching Barbara b.,
and saucy-eycd Adeline G., and the dear
girls | was wont to waltz with ut the
nightly hop, and poor Carry L., the gen
tie wee actress. who said-but there,
never mind what she said hadn't l got
To sail i'll three days time? and wouldn't
they all forget me i'll three weeks at furth-
est? or course they would. No; |
eaZed shoreward simply from habit. |
was born on shore; and besides, it was Il
lovely morning. We were living inside
the Plymouth breakwater. The water
between us and the shore was all a-ripple
with II westerly breeze and all a-sparkle
with the May sunshine. Boats were
passing to and fro, and, quite regardless
OF their presence, big shells We're being
hurtled over them ut the target beyond.
There would he Just one puff of white
smoke from the wall OF the fort on the
right, then the roar Of the gun, then the
dull thud near the target If a shell or il
shot, You could mark its further pro
gress by the tiecks of foam it raised as il
went rcochcting away and away ant
away, till ii sank at last in the depths OF
the sea.
had met my new messmatcs on til,
previous evening for the first time in life
Just about half an hour before we sa
down to dinner. We We're pretty nearly
all strangers to each other. Some of III
might have met before, but no two OF III
had ever been shipmates, We naturally
therefore, tried to do the pleasant one t,
the other, and not for II single momen
during dinner nor desert, nor Will,
smoking together afterward under tn,
screen, did conversation flag. And W,
Ind not parted for the night without dis
covering that everybody knew somebod,
that somebody else knew, and that every
body had been somewhere in the worlt
where somebody else had been.
At two bells, while we were all at full
blast under the smoking screen, oul
marine officer stride-legs over a gun, an,
myself leaning on the breach of it, talk
ing to him
''Gentlemcn' (our paymaster, who's,
name was Pumpkin, and who was Just n
round and plump ms II pumpkin, and VIII,
later on III the commission got to be call
lI Snnush thnIinIt Ia, mood ka ,,,,k
foil or fist, ii he had not been the best
natured little fellow that ever wor,
Queens livery, he might have squashe,
any one i'll the mess gentlemen, sup
pose We return to the wur,l-room. 20
present of jar of Jolly nice Scotcl
whiskey when ! was up in Glasgow
What do You all say to wee nip by tin
way OF a night-cap?"
"Hurrah !" That is what we had al
said.
We had waxed even more friendly afte
that, and all felt III fine form, and i
would have made the heart of the veries
old curmudgeon warm to have listened t,
some Of the songs that were sung or tn
yarns spun, before we had wished eacl
other good night and retired to our re
spective cabins.
-NoN, my Iuu all uDDtufpt
to be the finest fellows in the world tn,
night before, and when met them a
breakfast ON the morning after, though
quieter IN manner, they seemed, one ant
all, gentlemen every inch.
Hence the soliloquy with which com
mence my opening chapter. And who
ever does me the honor to read this mar
rative Of mine will discover that through
- tba ,t,L,1a I /.
casion to alter my opinion. Yes, the ole
Wanderoo was happy ship. But we die
not all return to England. Death ant
sickness thinned us Il bit, and during tn,
cruise more than one new face appeared
at the festive board of whom NOR,
anon.
Every man i'll our mess had his diosyn
Grassy, his hobby, his whims, his "facls'
and his faults. do not wish, for n sin
gle moment, to set up the Wandered az
paragon of virtue but, in justice to my
messmates, must say that, as a rule, W,
studied each other, and whenever any
one lost temper, and threw down the
glove, SO to speak, everybody else laugh
ed or chatied him into good humor again.
I'll tell you wherein ! think lay the secret
or Mt least n portion of the secret, of the
general jolhty that reigned paramount in
our ship ; our Captain made himself
loved or liked by all told. I'm not going
to tell you his real name, because he is
still in the service; so will call him
Captain Sherwood
Next morning. when went on deck be-
fore breakfast, | found the signalman
very busy with the bunting and, on go
ing below, ! was not surprised to learn