Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-07-26

The poor fellow was so transported that,
after staring at me in silence with tho cos.
ners Of his mouth stretched to his ears. he
tossed up his hands, burst into a roar Of
laughter, and made several skips about the
deck.
"0f course, said /, addressing Wilkinson,
my figures may be ahead or short of the
truth. But if you are disposed to take the
chance, I'll tell you what I'll do; III stand by
my figures, accepting the risk of the value of
the lading being less than what say it is,
and undertake to give each man Of YOU 81 coo
for your share"
"Well, sir,n said he 81 don't know that
ought to object But few pounds is a mat
ter Of great consequence to me, and reckon
if these here goods and the vessel should turn
out to be worth more than ye offer. the loss
I'D 60 agin the grit--ay if 'twere $50 amaa"
l laughed, and told him to let the matter
rest; there was plenty Of time before us:
should be willing to stand bY my offer even
if l lost by it, 50 heartily obliged was | to
them for coming to my assistance And in
this ! spoke the truth, though, as you win
understand who know my position, had 10
finesse 1t went against my conscience to
make out that the chests were full of small
arms; but | should have been mad to tell
them the truth, and perhaps by the truth
make devils Of men who We're, and promised
to remain, steady, temperate honest follows.
/ was not governed by the desire to keep all
the treasure to myself; no, vow to God I
should have been glad to give them moiety
Of it had not unprecedented the very e1ayest
consequences if / were candid with them.
But this, surely, must be so plain that it is
idle to so on insisting on it.
The fire weather, the golden issue that was
TO attend our successful navigation, the salts
factory behavior of the schooner, put us into
a high good humor with one another; and
when it came to my collecting ill the clothes
in the after cabins. and to distributing them
among the three men, thought Billy Pitt
and Cromwell would have gone mad with
delight 70 the best of my recollection, the
apparel that had been left us by the Ameri-
can captain who, as you know had cleared
the forecastle of the clothes there consisted
Of several coats Of cut velvet, trimmed with
gold and silver lace some frocks of white
drab with large plate buttons, brocade waist
coats Of blue satin and green silk, crimson
and other colored cloth breeches, along with
some cloaks three corner hats, black and
white stockings, number Of ruffied shirts
and other articles of which l vecollect the
character, though my ignorance Of tho cos
TUNES Of that period prevents me from nam
ing them.
Any one acquainted with the Negroes de-
light in colored clothes, viii hardly need to
be told of the extrayagant joy raised in the
black breasts of Cromwell and Pitt by my
distribution Of this fine attire. The lace, to
be sure was furnished, and some of the colors
faded, but all the same the apparel furnished
brave show; and such was the avidity
with which the poor creatures snatchcd at
the garments as / offered them first to one
and then another, that believe they would
have been perfectly satisfied with the clothes
alone Us payment for their services. | made
this distribution on the quarter deck, or little
poop rather, that all might be present
Wilkinson was at the tiller, and appeared
highly delighted with the bundle allotted
him, saying that he might reckon upon
hearty welcome from his wife when she came
to know what was III his chest. The negroes
were wild to clothe themselves ut once; |
advised them to wait for the warm weather.
but they were too impatient 70 put on their
fine feathers to heed my advice. They ran
below, and were gone half TN hour, dur
ing which time l have no doubt they
tried on all they had and when at last
they returned their appearance was 50
exquisitely absurd that laughed till | came
near to suffocating. Each negro had tied
silver laced hat on to his woolly head; ono
wore pair Of crimson, the other pair Of
black velvet breeches; over their cucumber
shanks they had drawn white silk stockings,
regardless Of the cold their feet were in
cased in buckled shoes, and their costumes
were completed by scarlet and blue waist
coats, which fell to their knees, and crimson
and blue coats with immense skirts. What
struck me as most astonishing was their
gravity Their self complacency was pro-
digious; they eyed each other with dignifed
appreciation, and strutted with the air Of
provincial mayors and aldermen newly ar
rived from the presence Of ROYALTY.