Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-18


NG3yhsving for the most part Of his life
sailed in a species of ship upon whose CON-
manders and officers the state makes few or nc
demands in an educational sense.
Robert Ridley. having on several occasions
served as a second mate and once as an only
mate, returned to his earlier condition OF able
seaman, and whist still acting in that capacity
Quilted the ocean forever and settled down q,
. gentleman ashore in a comfortable little cot.
tege BY the seaside. This Achievements of in.
dependence the population of great maritime
country will not for on instant suppose wss the
result OF his commercial prosperity as a fore.
mast hand. After twenty years Of working
like dog at sea, all that Robert Ridley had te
show In the shape Of effects was comprised
In a small sea chest half full OF clothes and a
suit Of oilskins, with perhaps q matter of 81
lodged in post Office savings bank.
No, My friend Bob Ridley gained an indie
pendeDce not through old ocean-that most
beggsrly Of callings--but through al uncle who
had been an Italian warehouseman, aud who
LETT the worthy fellow. to his astonishmens and
Joy, the handsome sum Ito an able seaEan) OF
l1 thousand pounds.
was recently in the town whero Bob Ridley
lives, and spent an hour with him. We smoked
our pipes together, drank to each other IN a
glass of Hollands. and talked of the sea. nc
carried me into his little garden, and with
much pride pointed to the various flowers and
to what he called his kitchen garden, q con-
siderable bed of soil full of carrots, cabbage
aud the like. At the extremity of his half
acre of land stood summer arbor, the fruits
of bis own skill-for he had been a ships car
penter in his day and few men were smarter with
the ehisel and the saw than he. On entering
this building / observed little wooden obelsk
about three feet IN height erected in the center
of II. On the apex rested piece of carving in
wood OF which could mako neither head nor
tail Upon the body of the obclisk were carved
the words
I'm Memory of JACKSON,
'Sunday morn, MDCCClXXY"
At the hinder base OF this queer little struc-
turs was the model OF wreck. Many queer
devices representing mermaids. tho sun, an
chors. hearts. and so forth, we're artfully CHS
eled ON the sides.
Pray, what have you here, Ridiey?" said j.
~ memorial" he answered.
Gay, that's clear enough. But what sailor
friend of yours lies buried heret''
mo sailor at all, he answered, laughing.
jackson was a dog. and he, poor beast, doesn't
lie here, either. i wish he did. 1t would some
times give my mind sort Of satisfaction to
feel that his remains lay snug under this here
mark
And what" cried l. peering at the little bit
of carving on top OF the obelsk, lis this?"
Its the portrait Of the half OF a vessels
caboOse. sir-of vessel that was los:
Sunday morning.
By the word 'caboose" he signifed galley,
or the kitchen of little ship. / could now
make out that il was the representation Of the
roof and portion of the sides of a caboose. as
he called it, with g hole atop for the reception
of q chimney.
IL sec there is a yarn here" said l.
Not much of yarn" he answered; Just the
tale of poor beast of dog that in course Of
time / got to love as truly as If he'd been a
Christian msn and brother. That's where
fell in with him." said he, pointing to the
model wreck he
indicating the fragment of miniature caboose
''ls where he died"
looked at my watch.
Come" said /, you shall tell me the story
OF Jackson whilst We sat here and smoke our
pipes and survey your clever piece of car.
pentry. There's no hurry" and SO saying
seated myself and he alongside of me, slowly
extracting brass tobacco box out of his
breeches pocket as he did SO.
well" he began, with a sort of cropping
look around the summer arbor, and then
bringing his eyes to bear in a squint of earn
est memory upon his obelisk, ''this was how it
fell out was able seaman aboard little
barque, and We were bound for the River
Thames from Port Allegro. We fell in with a
deal of bad weather which drove US well TO the
BASTARD, and then for three weeks we were
staSnated with Gains. so that putting the fine
weather along with the bad. we reckoned that
the vessel had lost her luck, and that ne'er a
man of our little company to consider it
well with US till we were in situation to pick
up our bundles and step over the side OH to
good English dOckyard soil 1t is supposed
that there are no superstitions now going at sea-
You know better than that, sir. Any man with
that notion in his head should have been aboard
of us. The captain himself came forward one
day and nailed horse shoe to the mast. re-
member being weak enough myself TO lament
that there wasn't Finn amongst u.s. SO that
We might have been able to say: Its you,
mate, that's the cause of these here Gains and
contrary gales, and then have locked him up
with nothing to eat until he should have been
coaXed by famine into correcting his Miniature
and into giving US the breezes we wanted.
Zone black night were ratching along
under reefed topsails and the forecourse.
was at the wheel The barque having her nose
TO II put spite into the wind and u nasty sea
was washing past. There was nothing to see
but the white water that would flash out in the
darkness alongside as though the beams of an
electric light were travelling round and round.
touching the ocean in places they travelled
All on a sudden the mate. who was standing at
the weather rail Just abreast Of the skvlight
gives sort of shrek and then fell yelling;
but there was no time for me to catch what he
said; for whilst his cries were still ringing
just caught sight of a huge lump Of black
ness oozlng out over the weather bow like a
bIacker night still coming down through the
darkness upon US with one spark of light
showing; but IL wasn't green nor red. and what
II was can't say. The next instant we were
In collision with some vessel; she caught US on
tAo OAuu VI tuo DOW anu slowed US clean
round with such noise of splintering wood of
washing waters and of human cries that I've
only to recall 1t to feel deaf
She went clear and vanished, leaving rs
sinking. She had torn out our bows and
wrecked our spars forward, but she never
showed a flare. never shifted her helm never
% much as hailed Us after she had slipped past
She left US TO our fate and by that token / al
low that she was a foreigner. We had to feel
for the boats. SO black was it, and God knows
hOv rcs. HoeH ho hf,.+
old-fashioned style, dangling overheard at the
ends OF daylts and steadIed by gripes. Had
they been slowed as the fashion now is every
mp i'll the wind without way, rolling brisklv,
and the curl of the foam off her side to the
smIte OF the sea showed "a men who were
the boat as we lowered her. We entered her
Us. leaving six others of our company wrestling
ter and the two mates. and US i've were men
hands. as the term Is. The moment the boat
was liberated she blew away. We never again
saw the others nor did We ever hear Of them
When the day broke we were alone, nothing
In sight. the hot sun rising, nothing TO drlnl
but four bottles OF red wine. which a fellow
brought along with him. aad nothing TO cal
make about seven whole biscuits.
CHAPTER IL
"Ihe outlook was not very encouraging, bu