The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-07-03
TIED TO THE MAST.
How the Brutality OF = Captain Proved =
Blessing In Disguise.

How the Brutality of . Captain Proved Z
Blessing In Disguise.
David Kerr in Harper's Young People
"TelI us story, papa" chorused
half dozen voices. "We must have a
story"
ooh you've heard all my yarns al
ready" answered Captain Martingale,
laughing eff you want q story this
gentleman will tell you one."
"This gentleman" was tall, broad
chested man, with 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 ftfully on his dark,
bearded, weather beaten face.
Gam to tell you story ~" asked the
visitor, in deep, hoarse voice, quite as
piratical as his appearance. "Well,
then, listen There was once poor
boy who had no father or mother, no
friends and no home, except the wet,
dirty forecastle of trading schooner.
He had to go about barefoot in the cold
and rain, with nothing on but an old
ragged flannel shirt and 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 ropes
end into the bargain. All the sailors
were very rough and ugly to him, but
He had been badly treated himself
when he was a boy, and so Gas some
men wilD he took delight in
ill-treating somebody else in
the same way. Many 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"
Wicked wretch!" cried Bob, indig-
nantly. II hope he got drowned or
eaten up by savages"
"Or taken for slave himself, and
well thrashed every day." suggested
Dick.
"Oh no, Bob," said little Helen, who
was sitting on low stool at her fathers
feet; 81 hope he was sorry for being SO
cruel. and got very good"
The strange guest stopped and lifted
he little girl into his lap and kissed
her. Helen nestled closer to him and
ooked wonderingly up in his face, for,
IS he bent his head toward her, some
hing touched her forehead in the dark
less that felt very much like tear
"Well," resumed the speaker, after
hort pause, "the schooner, heading
across the Indian Ocean, came
It last among the Maldive Isles, where
t's always very dangerous sailing. The
oral islands, which lie in great rings
r 'atolls' all around, like so many
trings of beads, ars so low and flat that
ven in the dayt it's not easy to
void running aground upon them; but
t night you might as well try to walk
trough room full of stools without !
umbling over one of them.
"Of course the captain had to be al
7ays on deck looking out, and that l
idn't make his temper any the sweeter, !
8 you may think. So that every even
lg, when the cabin boy had displeased
i'm in some way, what does he do but
III the men to sling him up into the c
gging and tie him hand and foot to q 9
last. Il
But the towards were soon paid for =
leir cruelty. They were so busy tor +
enting the poor lad that none Of them
ad noticed how the sky was darken-
q to windward; and all at once a
Iuall came down upon them as sud- il
emily as cut of whip. In moment o
lie sea all round was like boiling pot, q
Id crash went the ship over on her 81
de, and both the masts went by the Fl
oard (fell down into the sea, that isl d
Irrying the boy with them. n
1t was just as we'll for poor Harry b
at he had been tied to the mast, II
herwise the sea would have swept IL
m away like straw. Even as it was, p
, was almost stifed by the bursting of IL
Q waves over his head. He was still A
ering into the darkness to try if he W
uld see anything of the ship, when m
ere came tremendous crash and a Pr
rrible cry. and then dead silence. di
le vessel had been dashed upon a m
raj reef and stove in, and the sea, H
eaking over, had swept away every al
IN on board. 81
But storms in those parts pass away til
quickly as they come; and it was not to
lg before the sea began to go down, in
, clouds rolled away, and the moon ae
oke forth in all its glory. Then WI
Irry, finding that the rope which tied II
arms had been good deal strained in
the shock that carried away the sil
st, managed to free one hand and tn
bind the other arm and his feet. liz
st then a face rose from the water b
hin few yards of him, and Harry ge
ognized his enemy, the cruel cap pr
q. in
There he was tho man wbo bo1