Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-03-22


arms, and lifting the lids of two or three of
the others. They were perfectly satisfied;
fully believed the chests to be filled with
small arms and nothing else, and SO we camo
away and returned TO tho cabin, where TO
please them, | put down tho value of the
cargo at venture, setting figures against
each article, and making cut a total of 81. $40.
This, Of course, included the ship
GLOW muchll dat be o man, nassa2n
asked Cromwell.
"Six hundred and sixty pounds I an
swcred.
The poor fellow was SO transported that,
after staring at mo in silence with the cor.
ners of his mouth stretched to his ears, Inc
tossed up his hands, burst into roar of
laughter, and made several siips about the
deck.
"Of course said !, addressing Wilkinson,
"mv figures may be ahead or short of the
truth. But if you are disposed to take the
chance, I'll tell you what I'll do; Ill stand by
my figures, accepting the risk of the value of
the lading being less than what say it is,
and undertake to give each man Of you { 900
for your share"
"Well, sir said he II don't know that l
ought to object. But few pounds is a mat
ter of great consequence to me, and reckon
out to be worth moro than We offer. the loss
I'D go asin the grit-ay, if 'twero $50 man.
| laughed, and told him TO let the matter
rest; there was plenty of time before US; |
should be willing to stand by my offer even
if ! lost by it. So heartily obliged was | to
them for coming to my assistance. And in
this | spoke the truth, though, rs You will
understand who know my position, | had to
tinosse. il went against my conscience TO
make out that the chests werc full of small
arms: but I should have been mad to tell
them the truth, and perhaps by the truth
make devils of men who We're. and promised
TO remain, steady, temperate, honest fellows.
I was not governed by the desire to keep all
the treasure to myself; no, | VOW to God |
should have been glad TO give thcm q mOiety
of it had not apprehcndeh the Nt-'Y gTavoat
consequences if | werc candid with them.
But this, surely, must be SO plain that it is
lille to 90 on insisting on it,
Tho fire weather, the golden issue that was
10 attend orr successful navigation, the satis-
factory behavior OF the schooner, put us into
a high good humor with one another: and
when it came to my collecting all the clothes
in the after cabins and to distributing them
among the three men, thought Billy Pitt
and Cromwell would have gone mad with
delight To the hest OF my recollection, the
apparel that had been left us by the Ameri
can captain Nybo. rs vC, know had cleared
the fc..cco,tle of the CLOTHES thpre, consisted
OF several coats of cut velvet. trimmed with
cold and silver iace. some froclls Of white
,rab with LARGE plate buttons. broca,le waist
coats of blue satin and Green silk. crimson
and Other colored cloth brooches. along with
some cloaks. three corner hats. black and
white stockings. number of RULED shirts.
and other articles of which | recollect the
character. though NV Ignorance of the cos
fumes of that period prevents me from nam
ing them.
ANY oua ACQUAINTED with the nerro's de-
light in colored clothes. will hardly need to
be told of the extravagant iov raised in the
black breasts of Cromwell and Pitt bv nv
distribution of this fine attire. The lace, to
be sure, was furnished. and some of the colors
faded but all the sane the npparcl furnished
n brave show: and such was the aviditv
with which the Door creatures snatched at
the garments as | offered them first to one
and then another. that believe they would
have been perfectly satisfied with the clothes
alone as pavment for their services. | made
this distribution on the auarter deck, or little