Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-03-26
STORY OF A SLAYER.
Its Mates Regrets and Self-Con.
gratulations.

CALCULATIONS.
He was leaning against a pile of lum-
Der, the sunshine dropping its warm
blessings upon him and the brcezes of
the bay kissing his ruddy face, which
was fringed with silver whiskcrs. He
was an ancient tar, too old now for
work, but not too aged for reminiscent
reverie. His keen eyes were fixed upon
the dancing waters before him, upon
the lazy ships that lay at anchor here
and there, and upon the distant hill
sides. He was a perfect picture of
'contcntment, and it was quite obvious
that, like all old men who have passed
a life of hard work and usefulness, he
was living now in the past. 1t seemed
almost Il sacrilege to disturb him, but
the pleasant features which shone from
beneath the tarpaulin, which he still
insisted upon wearing, as if out of re-
spect for days gone by, assured the re-
porter that the old man would not
resent an abrupt intrusion upon his
self-communings. So he advanced and
saluted him with "good day"
"And the same to you, young man,
the same to you. This is a fine day,
sir, and | alters love to creep down by
the water when the sun shines like it
does to-day and the winds come in
brisk and clipper. l don't mind the
bit O. chill that in EN-, either, for old
as l am l don't feel the cold nigh as
much as do the young 'uns who've
never been outside o. Californy."
After chatting pleasantly with the
old sailor for a short time, the scribe
noticed that he kept his gaze almost
constantly On a ship that was riding at
anchor not far distant. Finally curl
osity prompted the question as to why
he seemed SO particularly interested in
the vessel, which resulted in the recital
of a story that proved to be deeply in
teresting.
"Well, my boy" he began, "that
there ship recalls many things that l
love to think of now. made three
passages around the Horn in her and
crossed from New York to Liverpool
twice on her decks. But it isn't par
ticularly Of the voyages Think of when
( look at her, although they had their
ups and their downs, their sunshine
and their shadow; but lookin' on that
ship makes me think O one O. the best
masters that ever walked a quarter
& deck and one O the best sailors that
evcr gave a command. He was alters
"a stickler for dis'pline, but he never
shnllied a sailor man. nor turned his
back on him whenever he had ANYTHING
to say. I,don't think there was any
thing in his life he regretted save one
thing
"And what was that ?" inquired the
reporter.
"Well, it's a long yarn, but if you
want to hear it I'll tell it. 1t was away
back in 80, Just before the wal broke
out, that 1 shipped aboard a rakish
little craft that was billetcd for the
Indies. The shippers name was Cor
don-a dapper little fellow, full of
pluck and nerve and Il first-rate sailor.
His first mates name l shan't tell, be-
cause, as you will see, 1 took an oath
to myself once that l wouldn't. But he
was the man who afterward COM
manded that there ship u there that
you see me lookin' at. Well, we
cleared from New York in due time, on
the vessel | was speakin' about Just
now, but instead O. goin' to the Indies
we headed straight for the coast O.
Africa. Though l was a young
teller, I knowed well enough
what that meant, but o. course,
as we were all in for it, 1 couldn't
say anything, and didn't. We dropped
anchor in the quiet little bay O. some
town whose name forgot. 1t wasn't
much O. a place, for there was nothin'
there but a lot O. matched huts, with
niggers hangin' around 'em. There
was one hut that was bigger'n the rest,
and l afterwards learned that the Gov
ernor of the place lived in it. The dav
after we anchored Skipper Gordon
went ashore and was gone three or four
days, leaving the first mate in charge
of the vessel. One day while / was
loafin' aft trying to catch a breath O.
fresh air, for it was hottcr'n a furnace
on that coast, the mate came along and
says to me: Tom, how do you like the
Indies?' There was a smile on his face
as he spoke, SO Isaid: %, pretty WE'LL
and l gave him Il wink. He didn't say
anything more, DuI Waikou lOi aru us
if thinkin' hard about somethin'. 1t
set me to thinkin', too, for l knowed
we was there to take on Il cargo of mig
gers, and l thought about what might
come if we should get overhauled by a
United States cutter on the high seas
;goin' back. But there was no use
kickin' against things then, or thinkin'
about the future. Matters couldn't be
.mended nohow, and so l quit mopin',
and se%ttlcddown to take the chances.
"On the fourth day Skipper Gordon
came on board. Shortly after we seen
a whole lot O niggers come down to
the shore. They was all us black as
coal, and hadn't much O. anything on
to cover their nakedness. Pretty soon