Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-02-22

gust anu DAl4 AS1Ci'tN o 'NANANF
rimand for deserving his post and letting
the ship breach to-
Il thought it was one of them chaps
from the Lady Jane come to life. or may
be Yellow Jack himself" pleaded the
Quarter-master.
"And Il it had been, that was no reason
for letting the ship breach to-" said the
captain. severely; but when his momentary
fit of anger was over, he laughed as heart
lily as the other: and for the rest Of the day
all were enjoying the joke, and talking
about the apparition of Yellow Jack.
All, mel 1t was the last bit of fun we
had on board the Diana"
In talking the affair over with Peyton,
mentioned the portentous sight had just
seen. He seemed much disquieted.
''Rats'' he exclaimed. Rats running
along the hawsers? Are you quite sure'"
Quite; and the procession continued
until got on board and disturbed them"
"This may have been going on all night"
he said, uneasily. ut must be stopped. l
want nothing from the Lady Jane on
board this ship, least of all rats"
No wonder he felt Uneasy. The rats
saw had been living for days on the bodies
now thrown overboard-which we had
seen on the Lady James" deck. and now
they were among Us, running round the
ship, nibbling at our food, scampering
over the water-casks. If it were possible
to convey the infection, they would surely
convey it-had, perhaps, conveyed it al
readyl
The captain asked me to keep what Ihad
seen to myself-he feared it might alarm
the crew-and the carpenter received or
ders to fix on each of the hawsers a round
board, studded with nails. to prevent an
invasion of rats from the Lady Jane"
81 have heard of rats running along
ropes before now," he said to the carpen-
ter, land it is just as well to be on the safe
side"
| made no further remark, but | much
feared that it would prove another case of
shutting the stable door when the steed
was stolen. My worst foreboding revived,
and turned in that night with a heavy
heart. After lying awake several hours,
sunk into a dream-haunted sleep. My
dreams were all about rats, | saw the
procession over again; saw the little black
demons crawl along the hawser and sweep
in thousands over the deck; saw the watch
fighting with them; and PeytOn, coming
out OF NfS cabin see was the maj
ter, the creatures fell fiercely upon him,
and In few minutes there was nothing
left but skeleton.
When | awoke the sun was shining, and
a huge rat sat on the side Of my bunk. For
a moment l thought that l still dreamed,
but as l moved and stirred the bedclothes
it jumped on the floor with a squeak and
scurried out OF my sight.
The first rat | had seen on board the
DIANA" and no doubt one of the horde
from the fever-ship. AS likely as not, 1t
had been playing about my bunk and run
ming over my bed all night.
My fellOw-passengers were all early ris-
ers, though not quite so early as myself,
and found them at breakfast, Peyton, as
usual, at the head of the table.
"Halloo" cried BulnOis, the young fell
low who was voyaging in search Of health.
81 hope you are not out of sorts. | never
knew you late for breakfast before You
are not an early bird this morning, and II
you had been you would not have picked
up worm. No worms on board the 'Dt-
ana only rats and apparitions of Yellow
Jack-ha, hap'
"Ratsl rats! What do you mean, Bull
nois'"
you have not seen any, them We
have-lots-exCept the captain here; he has
not"
glanced at Peyton, and felt sure, from
his uneasy, anxious look, thai, despite his
denial, he, too, had been visited by one or
more of our unwelcOme guests.
81 saw one as | turned in last night
went on Bulnois, "and there were two
whoppers on the floor this morning; and
Robinson found one in his shoe, did you
not, ROBINSON"
'Ratherl And 1t gave me a scare. too.
/ was putting on my boot when l felt
something soft; but it bit lard, l can tell
YOU"
Got hold. did iti' said, with assumed
carelesSness.
"Ratherl Stuck its sharp teeth into my
big toe. But had my revenge. l kicked
the beggar off, and then knocked it on the
head with my other boot. Where did they
all come from, Captain Peyton? There did
not used to be any on board you said SO
yourself"
Il did not think there were; but rats are
very unaccountable creatures. You can
never tell. Two or three pairs may have
come aboard at Liverpool, and been in
creasing and multiplying down in the
hold. You have no idea how fast they
breed"
"Gadl il two or three pairs have increas-
ed into two or three hundred since we left
Liverpool, they do breed fast, and no mis-
take" returned Bulnois, dryly.
Two or three hundredl Nonsensel l
dom believe there are two or three DOZENS"
Aren't there, thought Why, they are
all over the ship; and il some are so bold
as to come into our hunks and crawl into
our boots, just think how many must there
be down in the hold. l hope they won't
eat through the sides and sink US, that's
all"
At this point Peyton (whom the CONVEX
sation evidently annoyed) remembered that
his presence was required on deck, and
left US to ourselves, on which we had
long talk and many stories about rats; but
made no mention of the strange sight l
had seen on the occasion of my late invol-
untary visit to the Lady Jane"
The captain afterward told me ION the
quiet" that las l suspected) he had seen
several rats in his cabin, only it would not
do for him to admit the fact.
1--WE must make the best of it. ;" he said;
mo use crying over spilled milk, you
know. II we were to cast Off the Lady
Jane we would not get rid of the rats; and
1t may be false alarm, after all. 1 really
don't see what harm they can do"
But this was all make -beleve-whistling
to keep his courage up. l knew that In his
heart Peyton thought just as l did, and
feared the worst.
When l went on deck next morning I
missed Bill Bailey, and asked Bucklow
what had become OF him.
ION the sick-list"
"What is the matter'"
az don't know; but believe he II very
sick. The captain has seen him; he will
tell you"
We had no surgeon on board, and the
captain in addition to his other functions,
acted as doctor. When | saw him, asked
what was wrong with Bailey-ifi twas any
thing serious
Very serious" was the answer.
sit surely Is not"
81 am sorry TO say it Is"
but is it not possible you may be mis-
tskeu' Are Won certain that your dag
nosis is correctS'
do know a case of yellow fever when
see it, you meant ought When was
second officer Of the 'Neva,' one of the
Royal Mail steamers, you know, we once
had seventy deaths from yellow fever
within q week OF leaving st. Thomas.
Yes, Bailey has got it; and fear it will 60
hard with him, poor fellow"
1t did go hard with him. Forty-eight
hours later the Quarter-master's body was
stitched up in his hammock and committed
= ba nj at ba iDfS 7