The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-07-03
I TO H MAST.
How the Brutality of n Captain Proved
Blessing In Disguise.

"Iell us q story, papa, chorusea
half dozen voices. "We must have :
story"
ooh you've heard all my yarns al
ready, answered Captain Martingale.
laughing. eff you want a story this
gentleman will tell you one"
"This gentleman" was n tall, broad
chested 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 fitfully on his dark,
bearded, weather beaten face.
cam I to tell you a story ?" asked the
visitor, in q deep, hoarse voice. quite as
piratical as his appearance. well,
then, listen: There was once a poor
boy who had no father or mother. nc
friends and no home, except the wet,
dirty forecastle of o trading schooner.
He had to go about barefoot in the cold.
and rain, with nothing on but m old
ragged flannel shirt and a 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 thrasling with q ropes
end into the bargain. ALI the sailors
were very rough and ugly to him, but
the worst of all was the captain. himself.
He had been badly treated himself
-ul... l.. 500, - 1~- . n,l r~ f,,, ,@,,1o
men willy he took a delight in
ll-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"
wicked wretch!!" cried Bob. indig.
nantly. 81 hope he got drowned OF
eaten up by savages."
"Or taken for a slave himself. and
we'll thrashed every day." suggested
Dick.
"Ohno, Bob" said little Helen, who
was sitting on allow stool at her fathers
feet; II hope he was sorry for being sc
cruel. and got very good"
Lie SGluliSe SlttSt StDppeN uuQ Illtcd
the little girl into his lap and kissed
her. Helen nestled closer to him and
looked wonderingly up in his face, for.
as he bent his head toward her. some
thing touched her forehead in the dark
ness that felt very much like a tear.
well" resumed the speaker, after a
short pause, ''the schooner, heading
eastward across the Indian Ocean, cams
at last among the Maldive Isles, where
it's always very dangerous sailing. The
coral islands, which lie in great rings
or 'atolls' all around, like so many
strings of beads, airs 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 al.
didn't make his temper any the sweeter,
us you may think. SO that every even
ing, when the cabin boy had displeased
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 8
mast.
But the towards were soon paid for
their cruelty. They were SO busy tor
menting the poor lad that none of them
had noticed how the sky vas darken.
ing to windward; and all at once a
squall came down upon them as sud-
denly as a cut of a whip. In a moment
the sea all round was like a boiling pot,
and crash went the ship over on he1
side, and both the masts went by the
board Cell down into the sea, that ISL
carrying the boy with them.
1t was just as we'll for poor Harry
that he had been tied to the mast,
otherwise the sea would have swept
, he was almost stited by the bursting OF
, the waves over his head. He was still
peering into the darkness to try if he
could sec anything of the ship, when
: there came q tremendous crash and 6
= terrible cry. and then dead silence.
! The vessel had been dashed upon q
!, coral reef and stove in, and the sea,
= breaking over, had swept away every
mar on board.
J "But storms in those parts pass ava,
as quickly as they come; and it was no
long before the sea began to go down
e the clouds rolled away, and the mool
broke forth in all its glory. The1
Harry, finding that the rope which tiet
his arms had been o good deal strained
by the shock that carried away til,
mast, managed to free one hand ant
J, unbind the other arm and his feet
! Just then q face rose from the waite
9 within q few yards of him, and Harr,
recognized his enemy, the cruel cap
tain.
"There he was, the man who ha,
abused, starved and beaten him, dying
It or just about to die, almost within
i. reach Of safety. Though barely twic
II his w length divided him from til
floating man, SO strong was the edd
against which the captain was battlin;
- in vain that he had no more chance G
4, reaching it than if it had been a mil
81 away. A few moments more
d and he would have sunk, nev
= er to rise again; but the sigh
' Of that white, CHASTITY face, and thos
wild. despairing eyes, was too much TO
" Harry. He flung out the rope that Ii
* held; the Captain clutched it, and i
ne mother minute was safe on the mast
y rescued by the boy he had been so Cruz
$, TO-"
a "o-ohl" said Bob, drawing a Ion
n Breath.
,t I'm SO gladv piped Helen's tin
~ voice. Il was so afraid he would Il
- The poor Captain drown"
~ "About sunrise, CONTINUED hegues
~ "some natives who were out fishing in
small boat caught sight of them an
came to the rescue. The Maldir
Il Islanders are much better fellows tina
ae the Malays, farther east, and they toe
:. good care of them both for q month {