Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-01-11

WOuOp luo COo OA1Cu dDOut ~ OAC
night we wos dredgin' of the river,
near Lime'ous reach, and we didn't
get notnin' for three hours, and father
had been a drinking ha the day afore,
and he wos cussing and following so
as he frightened me, aud L wos afraid
he would throw me hout of the boat,
COS he was wild like.
"Fust he felt a pull on the dredge,
and he histed it up, and it was SO
heavy that we thought it wos good
find,' but it wos nothing but a
broken piece of hanchor as wos lyin
for ever SO many years at the bottom
Of the river, and when father looked
at it and saw it was rotten, he swore
lawfully and rolled his eyes all
around. he was 50 crazy. Then he
says to me, savage-like:
"sYe lazy young cub, Wy don't ye
pull the boat out O this tide; there's
nothing ere to "Hnd" Pull l must
have ten bob afore morning 1t was
near II o'clock at night, and I wos
afraid to be hout on the river at such
a late hour, but wot could cove do?
l had to pull away afeerd I'd get an
other wollopin. | rowed down the
river along Millwall side and pulled
slow, father telling me to stop every
now and then until he could dredge a
bit.
"The next thing we found wos a
carpenters plane, which father picked
up in a lot of mud, and some damp
grass and seaweed wos a-hangin' to it..
But this was rusty too, and father
went a-cussin' agin. Then he told me
to pull across to the Deptford side
from Millwall, where the R'yal docks
are, and we ished there for half an
hour, but got nothing but an old ragged
woman dress, with the steel hoops in
it, and it was not worth shillin'.
"Father said he'd go ashore and get
a dram, and he left me to watch the
boat and the dredge until he came
back. l sat a-looking' into the dark
water a-shiverin' preshis hard and
wishin' I wos in bed, when back comes
father in a bad humor cos he had a
quarrel with one Of the sojers as wos
a-walkin' around the dock yard to
guard it. He had been drinkin' a good
deal and his face was flushed and he
stumbled in the boat when he got in
across the hoars. He had been drink
in in public in Butcher row, which
is near the river in Deptford, and
some of his cronies were there, and he
was in bad humor because he had to
leave them. When he got in the boat
he said to me:
~sPull out, Jack. I'll find some
thing yet
Il was getting more and more
frightened all the time, but l wos
afraid to ask him to let me go home
where we lived with mother; so
pulled away until we got below the
railway wharf, and then we went out
in the middle Of the stream and an
chored, and father had his dredge out
in minute. We were nearly an
hour there and did nothing at all, and
father was in bad temper and kept
swearing all the time.
"Just then he pulled the dredge,
and he thought there wos something
at the bottom Of it, and he halloed
for me to come aft and help him, it
wos so heavy. The more we pulled
the more it seemed to slip away from
us, and the boat began to drag the an
chor, which got loose. and then father
swore agin. Just then we felt some
think a-comin' near the top of the
water. and / leaned over the top OF
the boat to see what it wos; and it
came up with a quiet splash; and by
the light Of the moon that shone on
the river l could see it wos a dead
body; and 1 screamed out and fell back
in the boat, letting so Of the rope at
the same time.
But father did not let go, and he
cursed me and told me to take hold
agin, and was SO afeerd Of gittin a
wollopin that took hold of the rope
and helped him to hold it.
81 was a shalin all over cos the
face of the dead man wos under the
stern of the boat, floatin, and I could
see its face. The eyes were wide open
and the hair wos all wet and sticky
and the face wos bleached white like
wall and all bloated like balloon
Father tied the body to the rudder and
told me to go for'ard, which / did
and then he leaned over the boat and
looked in all the pockets of the deat
man and turned them inside out. But
he could find nothing in the trousers
or coat and he cursed awful agin, and
then ! saw him tear open the vest ant
look in the pockets and he took out
something bright and sparkling, and
when he did he looked at the fingers
and there wos ring on one of them
that glisterned and he could not get il
off, so he took a jack-knife out of his
pocket and cut off the finger at the
joint and then the ring came off, and
he threw the piece of finger back in
the water. / wos afeerd to say WORD