The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-02

forward of the bridge, and the skippe
addressed them as follows:
"Now, look yer, boys, I Irecken, takil
you all roun', you're as smart lot a
ever shipped, but thar's .derned THE
amongst you, lowminded cuss, wha
can't content hisseH with the regylatio
skinful, but must go sneakin' an prov
lin around like a coyote, and freezir
to things as don't belong to him.
don't suspect nary man in partikle1
but he's amongst you, an if I nab him
I set him afoat in the dinghy with
bit O. hard tack, an an anker of water
as sure as my names Hosea E. Bart
lett, an that's fact"
The men skunk off grumbfing.
That very evening bottle of three
star Exshaw disappeared from tn
swinging shelf in the saloon, and
packet of Virginia from the Captain
own cabin.
Bartlett was furious: he swore tina
the steward was in league with the
crew; he swore that he didn't trust
man in his ship from the first mat,
downwards.
More depredations occurred in the re-
gions of the cooking galley. Marcus
the cook, was furious, and the onl,
thing that prevented row en- boart
was the alternate intercession of LITTLE
Mary Jane with the skipper and the
cook.
There was but one solution to the
mystery. The ship was haunted
Strange stories were told with bated
breath about spirits who lived on board
ships, of which the skipper or an officer
was bad man; big, bearded men, who
had braved danger in every part of the
world, related all they had ever heard
of gnomes and sea spirites with a
spite against certain craft, or GER
tain member of its:crew, with serious
mods and winks.
Bartlett alone pooh-peohed these idle
tales, and linked the believers with
Captain Brandy in his category of
"derned fools, "and almost got angry with
the little girl for sharing the popular
creed.
Mary Jane enjoyed herself immensely.
The weather was perfect, so that she
could ronp about as much as she liked !;
her appetite maintained its invariable
excellence, although she generally had
her meals alone, and nobody could
swear that she ate all that was placed
before her.
This last fact gave Captain Bartlett
an idea. She was the thief. He knew
and he knew from long experience that
the men were up to any dodge to get an
increase of rations and grog. They had
got over the innocent little thing with
their soft sawder. He watched her.
The steward set before her for supper
one evening meat and biscuit enough for
three men, and left her. Bartlett from
the bunk of an empty cabin saw her fall
to with fair appetite for a while, al
though he remarked that she did not
eat extraordinarily for healthy, grow
ing child.
When she had finished, she pulled
out linen bag from her pocket, and
into it she put all that was left. Then
she rose gently, got on to the seat, took
down the whisky bottle from the shelf
swinging above her head, and poured
half its contents into flask.
Then she stole away, Bartlett after
her. Right forward she went along the
deserted deck, and disappeared in the
darkness under the raised foc's1e.
''Wall," said the skipper to himself,
"ef this don't beat 'possum trackin',
bust me eff I know what does, an that's
a fact. They're cunnin lot O. rascals
they are! Jes' think that they should
come it over poor innocent little kid
like that thar, AM then try an blarney
me with lot of yarns bout spirits
We're ten days out, anyway, an we'll
make Liverpool to-morrer, so that it
doesn't signify wuth much, an Brandy's
hundred pound ii pay; but it's real
mean, that's what it is"
Bartlett, who, with all his rough
ness, was a kind hearted man, could
not bring himself to tell Mary Jane
what he had seen, but he became con-
cerned with a new thought. What
was to be done with her on landing?
She lived in Birkenhead, but how was
he to find out in a huge place like
Birkenhead where she lived and who
her parents were? Take her to his own
home he dare not; partly because Mrs.
Bartlett had five youngsters of her own,
and, partly, because she was bit of a
Tartar, and would be sure to be down
pretty heavily on him for taking so
much notice of strange, stowaway
child, when he was always complain
ing about the expense and worry of
his own.
So this question as to the disposition
of Mary Jane Johnsworth vexed Cap
tain Bartlett all the next day, and un-
till next evening, when Holyhead
Light was sighted, and his attention
was directed to other matters.
Little Mary Jane was in state OF
great excitement at the approach to her
land, now running to one side of the
deck, now to the other, then scuttling
up the companion ladder to the bridge,
then darting into the galley to pester
Marcus with all sorts of questions, to
which the faithful negro had to invent
answers, then dashing away into the
foc'sle until it was dark and she could
see no more.
At midnight, the "Picayune," Cap
tain Bartlett, was safe alongside the
dock quay, and the Captain himself, af-
ter bothering day, was at liberty to
tT1rn in