The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1888-03-15
A STOWAWAY.
The Boy Who Proved Himself a
"True Englishman."

GAY. ay, sir; they're smart scamer
enough. no doubt, them DalmatianS
and reason good. too, seem they man
half the Austrian navy; bat they AIM
got the seasonin' of an Englishman,
put it how yer will!'
am standing on the upper deck OF
the Aurtrian Lloyd steamer, and beside
me, with his elbow on the hand-rai
and his short pipe between his teeth.
lounges the chief engineer. delighted
to get hold of listener who Gas he
phrases i'd "has been about Bit"
mo. they amt got an Englishman'
.scasonin'," ne continues. land. what :
more. they amt got an Englishman'
pluck. neither, when it comes to a real
.scrape."
Can no one but an Englishman have
any pluck, thcn?" asked l. laughing.
We'll, l won't just 20 for to say that;
% course a man rs is man 'ull have
pluck in him all the world over. I've
seed a Frcnchcr tackle Il shark TO save
his mesamatc; and I've seed Rooshan
stand TO gun arter every man in the
battery, harrin' himself had been
blowed all TO smash. But. if yer come
to that. the pluckiest feller rs ever |
seed want man ut all?'
What was he, then-a woman?"
mo. nor that neither; though, mark
ye, don't go for to say rs how women
amt got pluck enough, too. some on
'cm. ut least. But this un rs I'm Il
talkin' on WAS a little lad, not much
bigger N Tom Thumb, only with a
spcrrit of his own as nd ha blowed up
n nan-o'-war almost. Would you like
to hear about it?'
eagerly assent; and the narrator,
knocking the ashes out of his pipe,
folds his brawny arms upon the top of
the rail, and commences as follows:
Bout three years ago, afOre | got
this berth rs I'm in now. was second
engineer aboard Liverpool steamer
bound for New York. Therc'd been
lot of extra cargo sent down Just at the
last minute, and we'd had no end of a
Job stowin, it away. and that ran us
late o startin'; So that altogether. as
You may think. the cap'n warn't alto
gether in the sweetest temper in the
world, nor the mate neither. As for
the chief engineer. he was an easy
goin' sort O chap rs no;hin' on earth
could put out. But on the mornin' of
the third day out from Liverpool, he
cum down to me in a precious hurry
lookin' as if somethin' had pus him out
pretty considerably.
Tom. says he, what We think?
Blest if we amt found stowaway.'
(That's the name, Won know, sir. as we
gives TO chaps As hides themselves
aboard outbound vessels, and gets
carried out unbcknown to everybody.
Il didn't wait to hear no more but
up on deck like sky-rocket; and there
! did see sight, and no mistake.
Every mau-Jack % the crew and what
few passengers we had aboard was all
in ring on the fo' castle. and in the
middle stood the first mate lookin' as
black as thunder. Right in front of
him. lookin' a regular mite among all
them big fellcrS was /. little bit o lad
not ten years old-ragged as 2 scare
acrow, but with bright curly hair and
bonnie little face o. his own, if it hadn't
been so wOeful thin and pale. But
bless yer soul. 20 SEQ the way that little
chap held his head up and looked about
him, you'd hS' thought the whole ship
belonged to him. The mate was a
great, hulkin'. black-bearled Teller.
with look that nd ha' frightened
horse, and a voice fit to make one jump
through a kcyhole; but the young un
warn't BIZ afearl-he stood straight
up, and looked him full in the face
with them bright. clear, eyes, o his'n,
for all the world as If he was Prince
HATRED himself Folk did say after
ward lowering his voice to whisper)
as how he'd come o better blood nor
what he ought and, for my par:, I'm
rayther o that way % thinlin' myself,
for never yet seed common street
Harab (as they calls 'em now) carry it
of like him. You might ha' heard a
pin drop as the mate spoke.
"'Well. you young wheip, said he.
in his grimmest voice. what brought
you here?'
alt was my step-father as done it
ssays the boy in weak little voice, but
as steady as could be-. Fathers dead,
and mothers dead again. and nv new
father says rs how he won't have no
brats about eatin' up his wages; and he
:stowed me away when nobody warn't
lookin'. and guve me some grub to keep
me goin' for day or two till got 10
sea He says I'm TO go to Aunt Jane
at Halifax: and here's her address"
.'And with that he slips his hand into
the breast of his shirt. and out with
scrap O paper. awful dirty, and crum-
bled no, but with the address on it, right
enough
I'VE all believed every word ont,
even without the paper; but his look
and his voice and the way he spoke was
enough TO show that there warn't
ina porth o lyin' in his whole skin. But
the mate didn't seem to swaller the
Yarn mt all; he only shrugged his
shoulders with kind o. grin. as much