Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-05-30

Il
you were not a pirate, sir. You
were common thief, and, and-oi
course, you must be punished. You
rascal, you eat up all our goose. Now
choose your manner of DEATH Will
you be shot or decapitatedp
Nathan looked Mt the big pi-tol and
shook, for Ben made believe roo we'll.
He didn't know what decapitated
meant but he thought it couldn't be
as bad as the pistol.
81 tiuks I'd raider be decaptered,
he said.
".No, sir, the axe is not ready, and
the pistol is. Knecl down! One. two,
three
"Thcn l thought the whole island
was bowed up. The captain, he tum.
bled down backwards, and his heels
quivered up in the air. Nathan was
rollin' over and over, and screechin'.
"'Oh, I'm dead. Pm shot. Oh,
nanny! mammyr
Poor little Susy was holdin' on TO
my legs, and screamin' at the top OF
her voice. Ben seemed to come to
himself in minute, but he was that
pale and tremblcd so, he couldn't stand
on his feet.
80 Nolan!' he says, go and see il
Nathan is badly hurt. II he is, I'll
drown myself. Who dreamed there
could be load in an old pistol that's
been kickin' underfoot for twenty
years. Go right Off
II went but when / saw Nathan's
head all covered with blood, turned
so sick I thought I'd faint. But l
found out that only the tip of his ear
was shot of, though how he wasn't
killed outright l can't imagine for the
life of me.
80 Marse Nolan is killp' he groan-
ed. Is my brains all shotted outP Take
me to my nanny. want to see her
fore dies
"'You're not hurt much / said,
Just little piece of your ear I'll
wash it and tie it up, and it'll stop
bleedin' directly, | guess But let's
get out of this and 60 home!
eyes groaned Ben, Just let me
get out of this COMPOUNDED scrape, and
you'll never catch me playin' pirate or
any thing else again. might have
killed him dead. / might have shot
Susy,' and then he shivered asif he had
u chill.
1--WE hurried to the boat for the storm
was rising, but what with all we had
gone through, / was that shaky and
nervous, l let the rope slip through
my fingers and first thing we knew,
the wind had whirled the boat from
the shore. ran i'm the water after
1t, but was soon out Of my depth,
and drownin', for l couldn't swim o
stroke.
ben, who can swim, dragged me
out somehow. and when come to my
self they were standin' over me with
such awful scared, dirty faces, that it
would have been funny if it hadn't
been so terrible. AS for Ben, what
with his exertions In playin' pirate,
and shootn' Nathan, and pullin' mo
out of the water, he was just tuckered
out. Inever saw such smeared, pale
lookin' face in my life, and there was
Nathan a-blubberin' and his ear bleed
in, and poor Susy sobbin'.
"'How are we goin' to get offP' says
Ben. Look at that boat bobbin'
against the other shore. We may
holler till doomsday, and nobody'll
hear us.
"Oh, I'll bleed to def, I'll bleed to
def cried poor Nathan. 1t did look
as though he would bleed to death,
sure enough. So Ben, he tears up his
shirt and makes bandsges, and as we
had taken down the flags when we
reached the island, we tied his man.
my's red skirt over his head, and then,
you know, we couldn't see the blood,
which was great comfort.
1--WE all hollered together, as loud as
we could, hoping some one might hear
us. but by that timo the storm burst
upon u.s. and we had to lie down fat in
the bushes. the wind was so high. The
rain poured till we thought that we'd
be drowned, but we wrapped Susy up
in mas cashmere dress, and kept some
of the water from her.
"The storm didn't last long, and
when it stopped little we saw Aunt
Dora runnin' to the shore and howlin'
like wild Injun. Nathan he runs
down, and hollers nanny, nanny!
and claps his bands till we thought he
was ravin' maH Ben, he called out
and told her the boat had got away,
and send one of the men with 1t direct
ly. But 1t was some time before we
got back to the shore, and / tell you
we were nice, draggled set of pirates.
As for Aunt Dora, after she had Rugged
and cried over Susy, and abused us till
she was weak, she suddenly spied her
red skirt on Nathan's head.
"You awdacious limb, she shouted,
'wot you dom wild my new pettycut
on your headP Wet as rag, too, and
spilled foreber.'
Before we had time to speak she
gave him box on the very ear that
had been wounded, and he dropped
like q log, howlin at the top Of his
voice.
"He's shot i'm the car, Ben cried,
and you've started II to bleedin' again,
you cruel woman
Poor Aunt Dora, she looked just
stunned, but she asked sharply; Who
shot himp'
1--WE told her, but she didn't seem to
have no feelin' for the tip of his ear,
she was that mad with him and us.
She marched him home and put him to
bed, and there she kept him for week
Just to spite him. Pa and ma came
home the next day, and when they
heard the story, they thought they'd
better ship us of to school before we
made finish Of somebody. So that's
the way came here, and Ben he's at
S. University.
$50 you sec, Ned, that's why hate
pirates So despise 'cm all root and
branch and If I pet IN no ono huudred