The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-05-21

No eae On eas u ehp Let's - ab0u
| that"
With his naked fingers he lifted up
| piece and bit off mouthful and swal
lowed it. At that moment the mat
! appeared on deck, and the captain cal
led: ''Mr. Berry, the men declare thi
meat unfit to cat. Come and taste il
and give me your opinion"
The mate came forward and tasted il
saw him vince as he chewed at tn
stuff. but he bravely swallowedit down
and exclaimed: 1.-THE best beef l eve
saw aboard . ship"
'You whelps! You hounds! Yo'
gang Of lazy sojers, but I'll teach you +
find faultr' screamed the captain, rs b.
threw the tub at the nearest sailor; ant
then he dashed among them. followe'
by the mate, and four or five men wer'
Knocked down and kicked about in tn
most brutal manner. Not one of then
made any attempt at resistance. ant
they were not followed beyond the
| foremost.
''There! guess they've had an in
| PRODUCTION to me, and will hereafter
know how to brace their yards" chuck
led the captain as he came aft. II rur
this craft, Mr.. CARING. and I wan
every man aboard to know it I wan
no man in the cabin who cOddles to thu
fo'castle. Why didn't you knock thu
dog down when he came aft with the
beef"
''Oaptain Burrows" replied, IL was
never aboard of a vessel vet where the
master would not listentO a complaint
when respectfully and regularly SCI
FORTH
''Oh. you weren't! And so I've got q
second mate who can teach me some
thing. How very fortunate l am! Let
me say to you, sir. that you had better
go slew. can break you and send you
forward among the men, and I'll do it
if you give me the slightest excuse"
With that he turned and went below.
In a little time the watches were named
and set, and as was ready to turn in
the mate took occasion to observe:
''The old man is little headstrong,
but it needs strong hand over these
fellows. If once you begin to palaver
with 'em they'd demand cabin stores
within a week"
s.But the meat was horrible"
swell, I've seen better; but they had
no business to kick up row over it.
They're lucky to get meat of any sort. !"
went below realizing that Ihad ship
ped aboard a floating hell, and that my
position was a precarious one. As for
following the example of captain and
mate would not. and if was degraded
and sent Forwards matter which lay
entirely with the captain-I had better
go overheard at once. Had the captain
been a Just and mild-tempered man the
mate would have been under restraint.
As the captain had taken the lead and
shown that he intended to govern by
kicks and blows, the mate felt free to
exercise his brutal nature. Within half
an hour after l had left the deck he
forced an excuse for knocking one of the
men down, and an hour later he report
ed to the captain that he had never
sailed with such a gang of mutinOus
dogs.
During midnight watch saw and
heard enough to realize that feeling
of deep indignation had taken hold of
the crew, and that it needed only an
other act of brutality to incite rebellion.
The man at the wheel invented an ex-
cuse to speak to me, and presently OBJ
served:
''Some of the men feel pretty sore,
Mr.. CARING. and hope they won't be
driven to"
He did not finish the sentence, and I
said:
''Let them take their grievances before
the first American Consul. There are
laws to protect the sailor as well as the
officer"
'.But who of us ever saw those laws en-
forced. sir? Jack is q dog at sea, and
a nobody ashore. The captain tells his
story to the Consul. and if Jack follows
after, he's more likely to be sent to
prison than to receive justice"
l could not gainsay it, and /. as an
officer of the ship, had no right to en-
spirit of complaint Sailor
men will stand poor ratiOns and the
most brutal abuse SO long as they are
without a leader. What had happened
during the day might have been passed
over and forgotten had not the scenes
been renewed. The mate came on deck
in bad temper, and as my watch turned
in he was abusing them for their tardi-
ness in answering the call. though
never saw quicker change on any
craft. 1t happened that the man who
acted rs spokesman in regard to the
beef was the last one out of the fD castle.
1t was no wonder, for several of his
teeth had been loOsened and one of his
eyes closed by the blows, and he was
probably stiff and sore. As went
down the companion l heard the mate
'Ahi you internal skulker, but I'll
cure you of this! II you've come aboard
this bark to sojer and live on sweet
cake, you want to look out for metz
1 turned in sick at heart, now realiz-
ing that there would be no let up on the
part Of the captain or mate to the end
of the voyage. 1t did not seem as if I
had been asleep half an hour. though
in reality three hours had passed, when
some one pulled at my arm. and voice
said:
.Mr. CARING. you are wanted on
deck. SIR"
ssWho is it," asked.
"Its me, sir-James Martin, will you
come ON deck at Once?"
l knew that the man was a common
sailor, though l did not know any
of them by name as yet. 1 Preached the
deck a minute behind him. The bark
was on her course, but the breeze was
very light To my astonishment found
most of the men aft, and was no soon
er on deck than l saw something was