News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-05-20
"You whelps! You houndsl Yo

4
gang of lazy sojers but I'll teach you to
threw the tub at the nearest sailor; and
then he dashed among them, followed
by the mate, and four or five men were
knocked down and kicked about in the
| most brutal manner. Not one OF them
made any attempt at resistance, and
they were not followed beyond the fore
mast.
"Therel I guess they've had an intro
duction to me, and will hereafter know
how to brace their yards, ;" chuckled the
captain, as he came aft. 81 run this
craft, Mr. CARING, and I want every
man aboard to know it. want no man
in the cabin who coddles the fo'castle.
Why didn't you knock the dog down
when he came aft with the beef2"
Captain Burrows" l replied, 81 was
never aboard of vessel yet where the
master would not listen to complaint
when respectfully and regularly set
forth. y
"Oh, you weren'tl And so I've got q
second mate who can teach me some
thing. How very fortunate l ami Let
me say to you, sir, that you had better
go slow. l 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 little time the watches were named
and set, and as l was ready to turn in,
the mate took occasion to observe:
"The old man is little headstrong,
but it needs a strong hand over these
falloyUc IF Won HARM fo var
with 'em they'd demand cabin stores
within week"
''But the meat was horrible"
"We'll, 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 l had
shipped aboard floating hell, and that
my position was a precarious one. As
for following the example of captain
and mate l would not, and if l was de-
graded and sent Forwards matter
which lay entirely with the captain-I
had better go overheard at once. Had
the captain been just and mild-tem-
pered man the mate would have been
under restraint. As the captain had
taken the lead and shown that he in
tended 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 reported to the captain
that he never sailed with such q gang
of mutinous dogs.
During my night watch I saw and
heard enough to realize that a feeling
of deep indignation had taken hold of
the crew, and that 1t needed only an
other act of brutality to incite rebellion.
The man at the wheel invented an
excuse to speak to me, and presently OBJ
served:
''Some of the men feel pretty sore,
Mr., CARING, and 1 hope they won't be
driven To-
He did not finish the sentence, and
said:
Let them take their grievances be
fore the first American Consul. There
are laws to protect the sailor as we'll as
the officer"
snfoTced a Sir sif Of jack IS % dSg ths al sea and
d 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 I, as an
officer of tie ship, had no right 10 en-
courage a spirit of complaint. Sailor
men will stand poor rations and the
most brutal abuse so long as they are
without 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 his for their tardlness
in answering the call, though | never
saw quicker change on any craft. 1t
happened that the man who had acted
as spokesman in regard to the beef was
the last one out of the fo 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 com
panion l heard the mate shouting:
"Ahl you internal skulker, but Tll
cure you of this! If you've come aboard
this bark to sojer and live on sweet
cake, you want to look out for men
| turned in, sick at heart, now realiz-
ing that there would be no let up on the
part of captain or mate to the end of
the voyage. 1t did not seem as if had
been asleep half an hour, though in re-
atty three hours had passed, when
some one pulled at my arm, and voice
said:
"Mr. CARING, you are wanted on
deck, sir"
''Who is itY" I asked.
''It's me, sir-James Martin. Will
you come on deck at once?"
knew that the man was common
sailor though / did not know any of
them as yet. l reached the deck min
ute behind him. The bark was on her
course, but the breeze was very light
To my astonishment found most of the
men aft, and l was no sooner on deck
than l saw that something was very
wrong.
'Mr. Carling," said the man who had
complained of the beef, and whose name
was johnson, 1.-The Midway is in our
possession. We have been driven to
mutiny."
cit can't ber' l exclaimed, as looked
about.
''But it is true, sir, and now we want
to know whether you are going to stand
by US or side with the Captaina"
"Where is the Captain2'
Giving over there in the lee scuppers,
bound hand and foot. The mate went
overheard half an hour ago"
81 walked over to where the Captain
was lying. He-was securely bound, but
no harm had come to him as yet. He
was, however, in mortal terror, and as
soon as he set eyes on me he called out
in broken tones:
"Nr. CARING. for Gods sake, save my
life! Don't let them murder me In cold
blood"
AS looked from Captain to mutineer,
johnson said:
"Thc mate was among us with belay-
ing-pin seeming bent on murder, and we
had to do for him Then we reasoned
that we might as well be hung for a
sheep as a lamb, and we secured the
Captain"
tMen, you have done terrible thing
Don't YOU know every one of you Will