The morning call., 1890-10-26

wrestling at the port falls; amongst them
was the master and the two mates, and us
five 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 Using, nothing
to drink but four bottles OF red wine. which
a fellow amongst US who had acted as stew
ard had brought along with him, and moth
ing TO eat but as many broken bits of ships
bread as nd make about seven whole biscuits.
The outlook was not very encouraging,
but as you know, | was always of a very
hopeful disposition, and therefore deter
mined to make brave fight for life. There
was one thing that encouraged me, and
that was the thoroughly stanch and sea
worthy condition of the boat in which |
now found myself together with for fell
low-creatureS adiift, with an ugly sea run
ming. l say adrilt, for there was no mast
and only one pair of oars in the boat, and
we hadn't strength TO use them with any
effect. ! needn't tell you that this wasn't
the first time that | had made fight for
life against terrible odds, for you know all
about it. Well, the consequence was that it
occurred TO me | was the proper person to
take command of the little party OF cast
aways, and see that fair play was the rule
OF the day in dealing out the scant supply
of broken biscuits ana red wine which the
steward had brousht along %ith him.
" SO put the question to the men wheth
er they were willing that | should act as cap
tain, and Il CHEEKY AYE. aye, sir, was the
answer | got from all of them except Hal
NescCtt, a huge mulattO Of tremendous
strength and not extra good temper. Hal
was splendid looking fellow physically and
put me in mind of one of the bronze
statues that I've seen 'em dig out of the
sand in the eastern countries. The mus cleS
of his arms and chest were something fear
full to look at, especially when he was out OF
humOr ut some trick played upon him.
Then these muscles would knot and twist
and his great round chest would hpave lk
an ocean ell. Hal and | had always got
along pretty wei! together, a TACT which L
attribute to my pair Of keen black
eyes which, as you used TO say,
were bright enough to be seen in
the dark, like cats eye. Then
again Hal knew that | wasn't afraid of him
as the other men were and so he never at
tempted to browbeat or bully me; in fact,
he was ever ready to do me 4 good turn. l
always made 1t point to keep my eyes
fixed hard and full upon HAS face when
talking to him, and the consequence was
that | finally succeeded in getting the same
sort Of control over the huge animal, for
such ne was in plain words, that the trainer
gets over lion or tiger. Ius)inctively he
felt that | was different from the usual run
OF men. which | am, as you know. | never
was known TO lose my head, even when
yoUng>ter at school, ard so | was always the
chosen ringleader IN times of mischief or
danger.
well, that's neither here nor there all
that | need tell you is that the big black fel-
low was afraid OF me; but, Sir would you
believe it, when the other men sent up their
CHEEKY 'Ay, ay, sir WescOtt never opened
his mouth, never drew muscle. | saw it,
and 1t made deep impress on on me. 1t
was just as if linn-tamer upon entering
the cage had caught glimpse of one Of his
animals crouchng and Sulkng in the corner
and refusing to obey his call. It's hardly
necessary for me to tell yOu how | acted
under the circumstances. My mind was
made up in an instant. l heard
voice ringing in my ears above
the scream of that nasty sea.
which was tossing our boat about ike a
cork in mill-race. 1t said: Whip him
up to the scratch, or you're lost, so letting
fly my leg gave the big Swarthy giant a
sharp kick on the shin, and fixed my keen
est glance upon hin: full in the face.
g Hal Wescott," said |. ''if you're agin ME
for captain of this boat. say so. man.
That glance was too much for him. He
WINGED ike dog under the lash, and, turn
ing his bloOdShot eyes away. he muttered
out:
That's all right. messmate, I'm for you
l votes ay, ay, sir
1.-The men seemed to draw long breath as
they heard these words.
listen to me. We're in bad way, 4 very
bad way. We haven't any water at all. ami
only about half dozen biscuits, half of
which are soaked with sea water, but I'll
dry them as soon as the sun comes out. It's
more than likely that we're in for long
FAST before we're picked up, but I've been
in just such fix before this and if You'll be