The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
PART H.-CHAPTER III.

drinking in every word.
PART u.-CHAPTER Ill
THE CAPTAINS STORY
/ spoke of the sum of fifty Thousand
dollars (began Captain Willis), that
had secreted.
Why did / hide it? why conceal an,
knowledge of it from my wife anG
child? for. certainly love them as much
as most men love their families
To answer these questions, it will be
necessary to go back to the beginning
and make you acquainted with my
whole life.
The amount that 1 have named is
considered, l believe, quite a fortune.
Three times before, have been in pos.
session OF almost as much; three times
l have lost all by the misconduct OF
Others whom l trusted. My reasons
for hiding this money, and locking the
secret in my breast, have much to do
with my previous losses. You shall
hear.
You have lived in Boston, and YOU
! know where ProvincetOwn is, across
the bay, on the point of Cape Cod.
was born in that old town something
less than sixty years ago. My parents
were as poor us poverty could make
them, and died when Iswas thirteen
years old. never went to school a
day in my life; what knowledge l have
got, afioat and ashore, has all been
picked up. ran about the wharves.
waited on the sailors, heard their won.
derful tales, and when | was sixteen |
, made my first voyage before the mast.
Now look on, eight years from that
time. With all kinds of hard knocks,
and such privations and perils as sailors
only know, l had steadily risen until
l was first mate of fine ship in the
/ India trade. had none of the sailor s
ordinary vices. was steady, temper
ate and industrious. To say that | was
bound to rise is only to state the fact.
l had accumulated large sum of
money. A friend on Long wharf of
whom I had high opinion happened
to learn it, and he asked me one day to
: deposit it with him.
81 can use it to advantage he said,
''and pay you interest on it. You can
have it whenever you want it,
Perfectly unsuspicious as | was, and
with the highest confidence in his in
tegrity, | handed the whole sum over
to him, not even taking his receipt for
it. On my return from my next voy-
age, found he had fled the country,
taking many peoples money with him
mine among others.
This was my first rude discipline
from the world; and 1 suppose l did
not bear it as well as those misfortunes
that followed later
Six years passed, and my earnings,
savings and tradings on my own ac-
count in the countries to which l
sailed had quite replaced all l had
lost. Absurd as it may seem, used to
carry it about with me, and got we'll
laughed at for it. My captain joked
me numerically on the subject, and
one day he persuaded me to deposit it
in the bank where he kept his account.
1t was the old story in different
shape; the bank burst in three months,
and l lost every cent.
Twas now thirty years old, and was
beginning the world over again. A
! year later l was master of a ship, and
was laying up money fast. l was so
bound up in my duties and loved the
sea so we'll that the idea of falling in
| love with woman never occurred to
me - till it happened. In fact, at
| thirty-tive l knew nothing of women;
SO you see was just the man to fall an
easy prey to ore of the worst of the
sex. She was a dashing. black-eyed
| beauty of twenty-five, and had three
husbands already in different parts of
the country. This, of course, l did
| not learn till it was too late, and be-
lieved her story, that she was the
widow of a bankrupt Boston merchant.
first met her when she came on board
my ship with a party of visitors, to
look at it; l showed them all about,
explained every thing to them, and en-
tertained them in the cabin. She put
forth all her powers to fascinate me,
| and she did it. Some of my friends
warned me, but it was no use; my
head was completely turned We were
married in two weeks from the day of
our first meeting. Before that, the
woman got me completely into her
clutches; Twas merely the puppet that
she made dance. bought a house for
her in her own name. l handed over
all my money to her. In ten days
after our marriage my ship sailed for
Bombay. l ought to have become
! suspicious at her refusal to 90 with
me; but where is the man deep in love
who is not blind as a bat? 1t has al
ways been so since the days of Adam.
The next week after my departure she
sold the house, drew the money from
the bank, and ran away with another
man. l heard of her death some years
later.
This blow wounded me most cruelty,
for l was really attached to the worth
less woman. | became kind of mis-
anthrope, but never lost my enthusiasm
for my ship and the sea. Long before
owned and sailed my own vessel, !
used to have an interest in the cargo.
and was always buying unusual freights
abroad, and selling them at home for a
Vons( l. IL