The Osceola times., 1886-05-22
No one can eat ID ehR Let's see about

appeared on deck. and the captain cal
led: "Mr. Berry, the men declare tbis
meat unfit to eat. Come ard taste il,
and give me your opini9M.n
The mate came forward and tasted it.
saw him vince as he chewed at the
stuff, but he bravely swallowedit down,
and exclaimed: "The best beef l ever
saw aboard shipr'
you whclps! You hounds! You
gang OF lazy sojers, but I'll teach you to
md fault!' screamed the captain, as he
threw the tub at the nearest sai,ey; and
then he dashed ameng 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
foremast
"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 ~ run
this craft, Mr.. CARING. and l want
every man aboard to know it, / want
no man in the cabin who coddles to the
fo'castle. Why didn't you knock the
dog down when he came aft with the
beefp"
Captain Burrows" replied, IL was
never aboard of vessel yet where the
master would not listen to complaint
when respectfully and regularly set
forth"
''Oh, you weren't! And so I've got a
second mate who can teach me some.
thing. How very fortunate am! Let
me say to you, sir, that you had better
go SLOW, | can break you and send you
forward among the men, and I'll do it
il 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 strong hand over these
fellows II once you begin to palaver
with 'em they'd demand cabin stores
within week"
"But the meat was horrible"
"Well, 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 had ship
ped aboard 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 forward-a matter which lay
entirely with the captain-I had better
90 overheard at once. Had the captain
been 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 | 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 gang of mutinous
dogs.
During midnight watch saw and
heard enough to realize that a feeling
of deep Indignation had taken hold of
the crew, and that it needed only an
othei act of brOality to incite rebel Jon.
The man at the wheel invented anfex-
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 iipish the sentence. and |
said:
"Let them take their grievances before
the first American Consul. There are
laws to protect the sailor as well rs the
officer"
"But who of us ever saw those laws en-
forced, sir9 Jack is 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" "
| could not gainsay it, and ]. as an
officer of the ship, had no right to en-
courage 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 them for their tardi-
ness in answering the call, though |
never saw n quicker change on any
craft 1t happened that the man who
acted as spokesman in regard to the
beef was the last one out of the o'castle.
Ii was no wonder, for several of his
teeth had been loosened and one of his
ewes closed by the blows. and he was
probably stiff and sore. AZ | went
down the companion ! heard the mate
shouting.
"Ah! YOU Internal skulker, but I'll
cure YOU of this! If you've come aboard
this bark to sojer and live on sweet
cake. you want to look out for mel"
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 !
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"
"Who is it?" asked.
'sIt's me. sir-Jamcs Martin, will you
come on deck at onceP'
knew that the man was common
sailor, though l did not know any
of them by name as yet. | reached the
deck 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 ! saw something was
very wrong.
.Mr. CARING" said the man who
had complained of the beef. and whose
name was johnson, ''the Medway is in
our possession. We have been driven
to mutiny."