, 1882-09-08

OF SaNtuSt
On her next trip the schooner carried
q deck.load of lumber from the st. Croix
river. 1t was in some sense a cousr-
Grated cargo, for the lumber was iutcnl-
ed for new BAPTIST meeting house in
Southern New Jersey. Ii the praycrul
hopes Of the n'vIgltoys, combined with
the pray,rtJl cXp'ctut,uuS OF the con-
slgueeS, had avalled TINS VOYAGE, at
lr3p,t, would have been Successful " made.
But about sixty miles southeast Of Naa-
turket the Flying Sprte encountered n
mid September gale. She ought to
have weathcrrd it with perfect ease, hut
she hchayrd so ahOmnably that tine
church timber was scattered over the
suffice Of the Atlantic from about lati-
tule 4O degrees l. seconds 10 about
latitude ~ degrees 80 seconds. A month
on two later snc Coutrlved to 60 on h"r
team ends under gentle land brec2N,
dumping n lot o, eXpensivrly carved
grant, from the Fox island quarres into
a deep hole in LonS Island sound. On
the very next .rip she turned delbnr-
stely ont OF her course in order to sma4h
into the stnrhoard bow Of Norwegian
bark, and WAS subsequently libeled for
heavy damages.
1t was alter few experiments of this
sort that Capt. Cram erased In" old namo
from the schoOn"r's stern and from her
quarter, and substituted that of judas
IEcur,o'. He could discover no deslgnn-
tion that expressed so well his con-
temptuona opinion of her moral qualities.
min y, q
purposeless malice, of malignant perfdy.
She was floating tub OF cuss'dn 81.
4 Dnari OF nautical experts sat upon
the Juda, Iscsriot, but could find
nothing the matter with her physically.
The lines Of her hull were all right, she
was properly planked and ceiled and
caked, her splrs were OF good Oregon
piue, she was riggei taut and trust
worthy, and her canvas had been cut
and stitched by a Goi-iearlng sailmaker.
According to al theory, she ought to
have been perfectly responsible ~ to her
Keel. In practice she was frightfully
cranky. Sailing the judas Iscariot was
like driving horse with more vices than
hairs in his tail. She always did the
unexpected thing, except when bad be-
havior was expected OF her on general
principles. II the idea was to uff, she
would invariably fall off; ii to- jibe, she
would come around dead in the wind,
and hang there like Mohammed's coffin.
Sending man to haul the jib-sheet to
windward was sending man on for
lorn hope; the jib habituaIly picked up
the venturesome navigator, AMI, after
shaking him viciously in the air for
second or two, tossed him overheard. A
boom never crossed the deck without
breaking somebody's head. Start on
whatever course she might, the schooner
was certain to run before long into one
OF three things, namely, some other ves-
sci. fog. bank or the bottom. From the
day on which she was launched her scent
for good, sticky mud bottom was un-
erring. In the clearest weather fog fol-
lowed and enveloped her as misfortune
follows wickedness. Her presence on
the banks was enough to drive Goldfish
to the coast OF Ireland. The mackerel
aud porgies were always where the Judas
Iscariot was not. 1t was impossible to
circumvent the schooner's fixed purpose
to ruin everybody who chartered her. If
chartered to carry deck load, she
spilled it; il loaded between decks, she
diyed and spoiled the cargo. She was
like one OF the trick muas which, il they
can not otherwise dslodGe the rider, get
down and roll over and over In short,
the Judas Iscariot was known from
Marblehead to the Bay OF Chaleur as
the consummGte schooneration of NAL
evidence, turpitude ami treachery.
After commanding tho Judas Iscariot
for five or six years, Capt. Cram looked
fully twenty years Older. 1t was in vain
that he had attempted to sell her at
sacrifice No MIN on the coast OF Maine,
Massachusetts,, or the British provinces
would have taken the schooner as n gift.
The belief in her demoniac possession
WAS rs firm ~ it was universal.
Nearly Mt tho end OF season, when
the wretched craft had been even more
unprofitable than usual, conference OF
the owners was held in the Congrega-
tionnl vestry one evening after the
monthly missionary meeting. No out.
slider knows exactly what happened, but
it is rIimored that in the two hours dur
ing which these capitalists were closeted
certain arithmetical computations were
effected which led to significant results
and to singular decision. ..,
On the forenoon of the next Friday
there was q general suspension of bust.
ness at Newaggen. The Judas Iscariot,
with her deck secured and her spars
scraped till they shone in the sun like
yellow amber, lay ct the wharf by Capt.
Grams fish.house. Since Monday the
Captain and his three boys and Andrew
Jackson's son TobiAs, from Mackerel
Cove, had been busy loading the schoon-
er deep. This time her cargo was an
extraordinary one. 1t consisted Of nearly
quarter of mile of stone. wall from
the boundaries of the Captains shore
pasture. II calklet," remarked the
commander OF the Judas Iscariot, as he
saw the last bowlder disappearing down
the main hatch, "thar's nigh two hun
dud'n fifty ton of stone fence aboard
thet schOon'r."