St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-02-21
The QuarterInaster's story.
BY ARCHIBALD II. MACBRIDE.

BY ARCHIBALD IL. MACBRIDE.
Some years ago, having occasion ia
90 to Nova Scotia, took passage i'll
the ALLAN line" steamer Nova ScOtian
and on a fine spring morning we left
the noble Mersey, and the Good Old
Town. for Halifax, via Queenstown,
where we called next day, and then
steamed rapidly "Westward HO."
am not going to describe the voyage,
which, though rough one, had its
pleasures.
What | am about to relate was one
of many yarns | heard in the fore
castle, whittier used to stroll IN the
evening for the purpose of enjoying
joy it) of the sailors, and particularly
that of an old quartermaster, whose
story give yOu, as nearly as | can re-
member, i'll his own words.
He was ii grand old sea lion of some
sixty winters; for his long hair aad
beard were so white, and his face and
hands so weather. beaten, that it really
seemed as if he had seen few, if any,
summers.
He had been born at sea, ut sea he
had been all his life, and he said he
hoped to die at sea, and be buried il
the seas mighty bosom, as many an
other true blue had been before him
He belonged to the sea, and the sea tC
him, and better seaman it were hard
indeed to find.
The men land the officers tOo) had {
great respect for this old fellow, ant
! II hig 1.,ti., AI 1,i, -.
and cup of collector he never
touched stronger liquOr-it was the
acme of bliss to the ''watch below" t,
get him to spin yarn, and shared
this pleasure with them on more than
| one occasion.
"Yes, sir, I'm teetOtal, and have
been for five-andthirty years and III
tell you how it came about, sir anC
mates, if you've IA mind" OF course
we gladly agreed.
81 was nigh on my twenty-fiftl
birthday when | shipped AS seconC
mate aboard the Mary Jane of Pictou
Il three masted schooner; and | ma!
tell You, mates-that is, sir and mate
that ! had been carrying on iin'
game in Liverpool for fortnight o
so, and was obliged to take the frs
ship | could get; for yOu see I'd beel
paid off from the Eagle, after tw'
years voyage, and being young ant
thoughtleSs, why, I'd done what man.
another poor Jack ashore has done
many's the time afore and since, and
well-never mind how it came about
| hadn't anything but the duds stoo,
in when | signed for the trip out an,
home.
.'The skipper, though a Yankee, wa
the best | ever sailed under-aye, lads
the very best-and I'll never forge
him to the day of my death, nor afte
it either, if | can help it, though he j
safely anchored in the port of glor,
this twenty years.
"Well, we had Il pretty fair run, an
one day we found ourselves becalme
off the banks, and as the skipper cal
culated he was rum 'un to calcnlat
too-abOut a days sail to the sout'ar
of Cape Race | was leaning over til
side looking at an immense iceberg
the largest of some hundreds that wer
almost within hail of us and wonder
ing how the seals which were playin
about on it were enjoying themselves
and thinking how very like Ion
street it was, for | could make Ou
quite clearly the shapes of houses, wit
church here and there. | was
thoughtless slip of younker then, 81
and mates, and dye see hadn't any
thing else to think about.
"Well, as | was a-saying, | wa
wondering all sorts of silly thing:
when the skipper came forrard
where l was, and he says: Bill,
calculate them seals is having goo
time
81 says: Yes, sir. l was just
thinking So
Would you like sealskin cal
Bill p says he.
"'Aye! that | would SIR says
but don't see how I'm a-going to g
one : for dye see, sir and mates,
knOwed he was a-hankering after ii
skins the moment he spoke, for like
a good many more of his nation,
= made money out of notions An
sealskins are pretty valuable notion,
dye mind. And that's what he wi
a-calculating of now.
''Weil, he walked aft again, an
presently | seed him talking to II
d. mate, and after a bit he has the ding
lowered for there wasn't a breath
n wind, and the water was as smooth
a. sheet of glass-and | am a-pullil
him TO the big berg as hard as ca
: Well. that didn't take long, but Il
bother was how to get on to her. So
pulled about bit, aud at last he MAJ
aged to climb up ON to ledge, and
handed him his gun, and lay off a b
pulling stroke or two just to ke'
the circulation up, for although we ft
the cold pretty keen on board the shi
al it was nothing to what We felt whit
'b we got right up to the ice. The ski
ss per seemed TO be getting on pref
well, for he had a pair of stockin
" drawn over his boots, and | suppo
they made it easier for him to wal
le 1e And saw him moving along TO whe