The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1885-06-25
TIED TO rHE,MAsT.

II TIED TO THE MAST. @
How the Brutality Of a Captain Proved
4 Blessing IN Disguise. I.
David Kerr in Harper's Young People
"Tell US story, papa, & ohorused
halt adozenl voices. .We must have o
story" sss,sss5s }s3s5
ooh you've heard all my yarns al
ready" answered Captain Martingale.
laughing. "H you want al story this
gentleman will tell you :one.n =
This gentleman was q 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 sal
in the great oaken chair, with the Are.
Light playing .fitfully on his dark,
bearded weather heaten face. Il *
"Am I to tell you story 2" asked the
visitor, in deep, hoarse. voice, quite as
piratical as his appearance Well,
thens listen :-s There was. once poor
boy who had no father or mother, nc
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 itrousers; and instead Of landing
on beautiful islands and digging up
buried treasures, and having q good
time all round, like the folks in the
story books, he got kicked and cuffed
from morning till night, and sometimes
had q sound thrashing 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
when he was d boy, land so las some
men wild he took . delight" in
in-treating somebody; else in
the same way. Many q time
did; he send the poorsl ittlesfellow alof.
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. wretchr" cried Bob, indig.
nantly. II hope he got drowned OF
eaten up by sayagss.'"s a 49, - Il
Or taken for asslave himself, and
we'll thrashed every day." suggested
"Oh no, Bob,"' said little Helen, who
was sitting on q low stool at her fathers
feet; IT hope he was sorry&for being, SO
cruel, and got very good" s''r ~
The strange guest stopped and lifted
the: little girl into his lap; and kissed
her. Helen nestled closer to him and
looked wond eringly 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 tear.
swell, nfresumed the3speaker, after q
short pause s the schooner, heading
| eastward across the Indinn Ocean, came
at last among the Maldiye Isles, where
it's always very dan erous sailing. The
coral islands, which lie in great rings
4 or fatolls' all around, like, SO, many
| strings of beads, airs SO low and flat that
even in the day time it's not easy ia
| avoid running aground upon them; but
| at night you might as well try to walk
through o room full Of stools without
tumbling over one Of them. 3s5S6@
asOf course the captain had to be al.
ways on deck looking out, and that
didn't make his temper any the sweeter,
US you may think. So that every even
ingj when the cabin boy had displeased
him in some way, what does he do but
\ tellthe men to sling him up into the
rigging and tie him hand and foot to o
mast. u. 55 81 :7- - . ri
But the towards were soon paid fol
their cruelty. They were SO busy tor
menting the poor lad that none Of them
had noticed how the sky uas darken.
ing to windward and all at once, q
squall came down upon them as sud,
denly as cut Of a whip. In a moment
the sea all round was like boiling pot,
and crash went the ship over on her
side, and both the masts went by II the
board Qell down into the sea; that il, J
carrying the boy with them. X ai,:sa
It was just as we'll for poor Harry
that he had been tied to the mast,
otherwise the sea would have swept
him away like straw. Even as it was,
hewas almost stifed by the bursting of
the waves over his head. He was still
peering into the darkness to try if. he
could see any thing Of the ship, when
there came tremendous crash and s
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. t;s "A "a; :.
II But storms in those parts pass away
as quickly as they come; and: it was not
long before the sea- began to go down,
the clouds rolled away, and the moon
broke forth in all its glory. Then
Harry, finding that the rope which tied
bis arms had been D 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 Them q face rose from the water
within q few yards Of him, and Harry
recognized his enemy, the Cruel cap
tain. .S \ 5ga3S
AThere he was, the man who had
abused, starved and beaten him, dying,
orr just about to- die, utmost within
reach Of. safety. Though barely twice
his own length divided him from the
floating man,T+.so strong was the eddy
against which the captain was battling
in vain that he had no more chance ol
reaching it than if it had been mile
away, a few VI moments < more;
and he would have sunk, new
er TO rise again :. but. the sight
of that white, CHASTITY face, and those
wild, despairing eyes. was too much fol
Harry. He flung out The rope that he
held ;.the Captain clutched ii, and in
another minute was safe on the mast,
rescued BY the boy BE. had been so cruel
u. /
10 Oh 7. said Bob drawing along
breath. IS
I'm 30 glad r piped Helen's tiny
voice; Y was 60 afraid he would lei
the poor Captain drown. r, 5its
& bout sunrise, continued the guest,