Wichita eagle., 1888-01-07
The aaieita au Eagle Saturday ornne, ganaru 1888

skipper. Capt Lawson was on deck
promptly, and after hearing Mr.. Bubble g
huddled narrative requested him to re-
! turn to his duties on the bridge, and went
for ard himself
The men were all congregated under
! the shelter of the weather bulwark, one
or two standing, the rest crouching down
/ together like lot of sheep. They had
turned out in all sorts of haphaZard
clothing, and most of them in bare feet.
/ They were all sulky and scared and silent
except one of the fremen, who was re-
/ lieving his feelings in the choicest Ian
! guage of the stokehole. The skipper was
among them before they were aware.
''Now, my men," he demanded briskly,
whats ali this nonsense about! Who
/ gave you orders TO turn out and lie
around on the decks in this way? Where s
! the bo'sun?'
One or two drew in their legs timidly,
but nobody attempted to reply.
! 'Well?'' sharply Intercepted the skip
/ per. ''Is the bo'sun among you? Why
doesn't he answer"
! Silence The light Of the freman's
! lamp ''glinted' on a small bright object
/ in Capt Lawson's hand. The sight Of it
/ brought the carpenter to his senses, and
/ he shouted sulkily; 'Bo'sun amt 'ere,
/ Cap'n Lawson. He's mad. And no won
| der neither. 1t 'ud drive NE mad myself
/ if I was TO pass another night in that
I there fo'c'sle. Why, the ships 'aunted-
! There, listen to thatm
/ Again the faint, despairing cry made
/ Itself heard above the roar of the waves
/ The wind seemed to bring it and the
/ wind swept it away again Its weird
! agony awakened something of a super
stitious dread even in the shippers mind.
/ The men covered close together.
Leaving his crew where they were, the
captain made his way 10 the starboard
focsle, and called the bo'sun by name.
1 No answer Then he entered the alley
way and walked up the length OF it. Be
/ hind the stove at the far end be found the
bo'sun, hudGled down on his launches, IN
nothing but his sleeping shirt. The man
was staring, stark mad. His one eye was
( bloOdshOt and wild, and the other empty
pit glared up darkly. The skipper was
no coward, yet at the sight Of this half
naked mailman he qUailed 8 little and felt
sorry that he had found him; but only
for moment. He stepped quickly past
the stove TO lay hands on Dredge, and as
he did so, once more that wailing voice
bore through the storm its message Of in
finite, helpless agony. At the sound
Dredge leaped to his feet, and crying out
loudly, OTIS Bill as is callin' Of met I'm
comm, lad-father's comin'r' burst out
! OF the fo'c'sle and away across the deck,
and was up on the lee bulwark and over
the side in flash. The skipper made q
rush for the door, to attempt to secure the
fleeting figure, but in vain. Just for half
q second the mailman was visible in his
futtering shirt on the reeling bulWark,
and then went over into the darkness and
those tumbling seas.
MIR. Bubble saw the deed from the
bridge and, springing to the telegraph,
rang the ship 10 a full stop; and then,
whipping out his knife, ripped and sawed
at the cords with which the lfeboat was
dashed to the bridge rail, and dashing
down the ladder to the &fterdesk, flung
the belt overheard from the stern. But,
Of course, it was trouble thrown away.
And even il q boat could have lived in
such q sea and men found to man it, the
/ b0sun would have drowned three times
over before we could have got one lowered
and started out to find him in a waste OF
black and stormy waters. After wallOw-
ing about some ten minutes or so for de-
cency's sake, the skipper rang the ship
under steam again, and we slowly drew
away, leaving the body Of our bo!sun
tossing somewhere in our wake.
That was the last Of the voice. Neither
out nor home did we hear any more talk
about the ship being haunted. We made
q prosperous run, and weIe dOcked again
/ in the Tyne before the seventh week was
over. Then the secret came out. The
Valiant was scraped and painted, and ran
sacked and repaired from stem to stern
post. In that narrow den called the fore
peak, which serves as the ships lumber
room, beneath a mass of old iron cables
and rusty cordage, we found the corpse OF
lad withered to a mummy. The rats
had been at him, too, and his feet were
gone Beside him there lay an empty
meat tin; and in one of his pockets was an
old silver watch with this inscription on
il: Ito BILL, with Fathers love" II
was the bo'sun's son. The poor fellow
had stolen aboard as a stowaway; for,
being a sickly lad, his father had been
strongly against his following the sea. IN
the storm the plunging of the ship had
shaken down upon him all the lumber in
the fCrepeak. and he had screamed for his
father till he died.-Chambers Journal