Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-12
READING FOB THE YOUNG.
lAsHEp TO THE MAST.
The Cruel Captain and the Poor Little
Cabin 10y.

"Iell us q story, papa, cnoruSeu
half a dozen voices. 1--WE must have a
story"
ooh, you've heard all my yarns
already" answered Captain Martin
gale, laughing. IF you want a story
this gentleman will tell you one"
"This gentleman was a tall, broad
cbested man, with a thick black beard,
which was fast turning gray, who had
come in just before dinner and had
been warmly welcomed by the Captain.
A very grim fellow he looked as he sat
in the great oaken chair, with the fire
light playing titfully on his dark,
bearded, wcather-beaten face.
cam l to tel you a story?" asked
the visitor, in a deep, hoarse voice,
quite as piratical as his appearance.
"Well; then, listen: There was nee a
poor boy who had no father or mother,
no friends and no home except the wet,
dirty forecastle of a trading schooner.
He had to go about barefoot in the cold
and rain, with nothing on but an old
ragged flannel shirt and q pair of sail
cloth trousers; and instead of landing
on beautiful islands and digging up
buried treasures, and having a good
time all round, like the folks in the
story-books, he got kicked and cuffed
from morning till night, and sometimes
had a sound thrashing with a ropes
end into the bargain. All the sailors
were very cross and ugly to him, but the
worst of all was the captain himself. He
had been badly treated himself when a
boy, and so Gas some men Willy he took
a delight in nl-treating somebody else
in the same way. Many a time did he
send the poor little fellow aloft when
the ship was rolling and the wind
blowing hard, and more than once he
beat him so cruelty that the poor lad
almost tainted with the pain"
''Wickcd wretch!" cried Bob, indig-
nantly. II hope he got drowned or
eaten up by savages."
"Or taken for slave himself and well
rhrashed every day." suggested Dick.
ooh, no, Bob" said little Helen, who
was sitting or a low stool at her faith
er's feet; II hope he was sorry for being
SO cruel and got very good"
Tho strange guest stopped and lifted
the little girl into his lap and kissed her.
Helen nestled close to him and looked
wonderingly up in his face, for, as he
bent his head toward her, something
touched her forehead in the darkness
that felt very much like a tear.
"Well," resumed the speaker, after
q short pause, 'the schooner heading
eastward across the Indian Ocean, came
at last among the Maldive Isles, where
it is always very dangerous sailing. The
coral islands, which lie in great rings or
rolls all around, like so many strings
of beads, are so low and flat that even
in the daytime it's not easy to avoid
running aground upon them; but at
night you might as well try to walk
through a room full of stools without
tumbling over one of them.
''Of course, the Captain had to be
always on deck looking out, and that
didn't make his temper any the sweet
er, as you may think. So that very
evening, when the cabin boy had dis
pleased him in some way, what does he
do but tell the men to sling him up into
| the rigging and tie him hand and foot
to the mast.
"But the towards were soon paid for
oA4N1A ANCAUJs A1CJ WC1C SO DuSt lOl~
menting the poor lad that none of them
had noticed how the sky was darkehing
to windward; and all at once a squall
came down upon them as suddenly as
the cut of a whip. In q moment the
sea all around was like a boiling pot,
and crash went the ship over on her
side, and both the masts went by the
board (fell down into the sea, that is),
carrying the boy with them.
1T was just as well for poor Harry
that he had been tied to the mast, other
wise the sea would have swept him away
like a straw. Even as it was, he was
almost stitled by the bursting of the
waves over his head. He was still
peering into the darkness, to try if he
could see anything of the ship, when
there came a tremendous crash and q
terrible cry, and then dead silence.
The vessel had been dashed upon a
coral reef and stove in, and the sea,
breaking over, had swept away every
man on board.
"But storms in those parts pass away
as quickly as they come; and it was
not long before the sea began to 90
down, the clouds rolled away, and the
moon broke forth in all It's glory. Then
Harry, finding that the rope which tied
his arms had been a good deal strained
by the shock that carried away the
mast, managed to free one hand and
unbind the other arm and his feet, Just
then a face rose from the water within
few yards OF him, and Harry recog-
nlzed his enemy. the crnel Captain.
"Therc he was, the man who had
abused, starved and beaten him, diving.
or just about to die, almost within
reach of safety. Though barely twice
his own length divided him from the
floating man, SO strong Was the eddy
against which the Captain was battling
in vain that he had no o chance Of
reaching it than if he had been a mile
away. A few moments more and he
would have sunk, never to rise again:
bu: the sight of that white, ghastlyface.
and those wild, despairing eyes, WAS
too much for Harry. He flung out the
rope that he held; the Captain clutched
1t, in another minute was safe on tho
mast, rescued by the boy he had beer
so cruel to-"
"O-oh!" said Bob, drawing a lono
breath. "ons