The Republican journal., 1885-11-19
A Oneer Yarn.

F>NN'A-NNAA 'N'~s
house runner, the other day, as the pair
stood on East River pier, waiting for an
Incoming ship to be docked.
% do, said the runner.
Then you are out of your reckoning" ,"
continued the seaman, for have known
i man to command a ship, and make
good runs in her, and yet he didn't
know any more about navigation than
You do"
The runner. and several Others who
stood near, and who had heard the sea
mans peculiar statement, asked him to
ell them about the strange captain who
knew nothing about narigatiGn This
request seemed to strike the seaman as
quite reasonable, and he at once pro
ceeded to spin his yarn
About twenty years ago. he began,
"Whcu | WAS inst made an able snalnau
! shipped here Oh full riggcd clipper
bound fer Callao. Peru. The captain
WAS as fine looking skipper as ever
saw. He was tall and stout built, with
a heavy beard, which he took a good
dea! ii pans with. They called him
Captain Phillips. Though lie WAS mighty
fine looking, and talked as if he knew
everything. when you looked AT him close
to for a minute somehow nc didn't look
like a smart man. The first time | went
to The wheel be was on deck. and
watched Lin Il good deal more than !
did the compass, and the more | looked
at him the more made up my mind that
with all his taking ways and looks, he
wasn't what called a smart man
cone queer thing about Captain Phil
lips, was that he Kept servant. That's
something very strange for the Captain
oi an American ship to do. But they
said that the Captain was born in Eng
land. and he talked little as if he was
But that servant of his was queer look
ing fish. They called him Scotty. That
fellow was awkward. His legs and arms
seemed twisted. Nothing fitted him, and
he had red hair, and his ugly face was
all covered with big freckles. But some
how about the eyes he looked smart
Every now and then, While | was at the
wheel, the Captain and Scotty would be
on deck, and when | heard them talk
couldn't help thinking that Scotty was
much the smarter of the two. although
the skipper was man past forty, while
Scotty was little more than half that
"Scotty never had anything to do with
the men. He lived in the cabin, and was
almost always with the Captain. al
though they called him servant, never
saw him do any work. Sometimes he
would come on deck and give the mate
in, Oh f,t hn l1ql-
the Captain about changing the course,
or going about, or something else about
navigating the ship. At times, in heavy
weather, or when the Captain was put
ting the ship about, he would walk up
and down, leaning on Scotty's shoulder.
Scotty would look out kind of qucerly
from under bis eyebrow, While he walk
ed alongside the Captain, and he always
seemed to be mutterng something. All
this seemed kind of strange to me. Once
in while the Captain would be the
worse for liquor lie never came on
deck much then, but when he wanted
the course Of the ship changed, or any
thing like that done, be would send up
word to the mate in charge Of the deck,
10y Scotty. one night when we were
getting down near Cape Horn, our watch
had from eight to twelve O'Clock on
deck.
Il was standing near the pumps, and
the mate tuld me TO go aft and coil up
some ropes that the other watch had left
down: | went aft, grumbling, OF course,
and began coiling the ropes. Noticed a
lighted window, and getting down to it
! was curious when | was young, you
see-I could look into the Captains
cabin.
son the lounge lay Captain Phillips,
who looked as if he'd been drinking TOO
much but my eyes stuck out when |
saw Scotty. The young fellow sat at a
table, with a chart before him. He had
a pair of c0mpasses out, and was making
out his course on the chart. He jumped
up and took look lit the weather glass,
and then he started toward the after
companionway. | jumped up and went
to coiiing the ropes again. heart Scot
ty come on deck. Says he to the man at
the wheel
"The Captain says change the course
point to the West
"The mate came aft. then, and Scotty
lpltl Illlli ubtul llIt NtQl ot, anu
then he said :
"'Ihe Captain says when you change
the watches, iell your men to be ready
for a call, for the glass is going down.
and we are likely to have heavy breeze
before morning
81 finished coiing up the ropes, and
went forward. Thinks /:
"'This ship is navigated by Scotty,
and the Captain with ali his airs, isn't
any more of navigator than | am. He
may be Captain, but he's no more than a
speaking trumpet for Scotty, SO far as
handling this ship goes
"At twelve o'clock my watch turned
in, but somehow couldn't sleep. | kept
thinking about Scotty. | saw how he
had all along given his own orders about
handling the ship, while he seemed to be
only giving messages from the Captain.
When the Captain had come on deck
and given any orders, | felt sure that
Scotty had told him what to say before
he left the cabin. And when he had
given orders with Scotty by him, Scotty
had always muttered, and what had he
muttered but the very words that Cap
tain Phillips had repeated after him j.? |
saw what fraud the Captain was, when
| thought it all over, but what puzzled
me most was, why didn't Scotty strike
out for himself, and be Captain, in
stead of pretending to be servant, and
letting Captain Phillips use him that
way There was some mystery about
it, that was plain, but | couldn't guess
what it was could only suspect that in
some way or other the Captain had got
a tight hold on Scotty. While lay in
my bunk thinking about all this, it came
on to blow. and all hands were called to
shorten sail.
"Scotty was right when he told the
mate that we were likely to have a
storm, although when he said it the
weather looked as nice as you could ask
to have it in those lattudes. That
showed how well Scotty understood
what he was about.
ave got into Callao, and landed our
cargo all right. The Captain then said
that he would 60 to San Francisco,
where we would be paid off, and the ship
would take on cargo of grain for Eu-
rope. Early in the afternoon of the sec
ond day out from Callao, the mate went
out into the main channels to see if the
iii