Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-28

lib. Presently there was a shout and a
curse, and from out the folds of the sails the
two men dragged and held between them
the oldest specimen of living humanity I
had ever seen. They pulled him over the
bows and let him drop heavily on the deck.
All the crew and passengers crowded
around, myself with the foremost. The
stowaway [for such he evidently was), rose
slowly and stifiy to his feet and looked
about him. His face was the face of a full
grown man OF 40; his body and limbs those
of a boy OF Is. His hair was thick, black
and curly; his complexion very dark and
swarthy and his eyes black as coal. His face
was devoid of any hair, but with many
wrinkles around the mouth and forehead.
He wore q dirty shirt of blue flannel that
hung in wrinkles about his diminutive fig
ure. He was not more than five feet in
height. He glanced at us all and smiled
blsnkly.
Narrowly Escaped Threshing.
"Who are your Where do you come
from, you dog3" sputtered out the captain
shaking him roughly. He turned his eyes
toward him and with the same bland smile,
answered, in the purest French, "From
Mauritlus, captain; am going to NADIA
gascar; my parents are there at Mahanoro
1 will not disturb you-if-if, but alas L am
hungry-if you viii please give me to eat"
A torrent of questions followed, and the
fierce captain had snatched up a piece of
rope to strike with, shouting at him, "You
viperl You stowawayl I'll teach you
better trick than that"
To all of which this odd being only
answered with his black eyes and bland
smile, and repeating gently, "Alas, if but
you would give me to eat.
put out my hand and touched him on
the shoulder. "Come att, lad-I'll see what
1 can do for you. -
So L was introduced to my fnture friend,
guide and interpreter. 1 took him down
into the little cabin and got out some potted
meat and crackers with lump of cheese.
I told him kindly to pitch in. He did with
out a word and ate with the voraciIy of q
hungry animal 1 waited patiently till he
had finished He stood more steadily on
his feet then and gazed long at me wonder
ingly. with his black eyes. I waited for
him to speak. He did presently in voice
as deep as that of a grown person, but to
my utter astonishment in most excellent
English.
He Made Willing Servant.
'Thank you, sir; you are very, very good
and kind 1 will serve you" And he
quickly put away the tins of meat and
bread from whence he had seen me take
them. After that, our acquaintance ripened
rapidly. In the few days that remained be-
fore our schooner dropped anchor off the
little Malagasy village of Mahonoro, in
Southeastern Madagascar, 1 had learned
much of the story of his life, at least as
much as he may have deemed advisable to :
tell me.
He was born, so he said, in Port Louis, of
q French Creole father and an English
mother. The former was the oYerseer of a
large sugar plantation in Mauritius and the
latter the gOverness of the several children
of an English officer stationed on the island
He had been the only child when his En-
glish mother died of the fever ten years ago
He had been sent first to q French school at
Port Louis for awhile, and afterward to a
Jesuit college at Bourbon, the adjacent
French island. His father had remarked
and gone with his Creole wife to Madagascar
TO start sugar plantation. He soon learned
that he had been purposely deserted by his
father, so he had worked his way in little
coasting vessel from Bourbon to Mauritius
and had lived, God knows how (for he only
came out at night, he said), for eight months
in the streets of Mauritius.
Companion in a Dreary March.
Hearing of our schooner, he had slowed
himself away the night before we sailed,
and had eaten nothing till he had been |
found. That was all his story. So he went |
with me through the vast, dim forests of |
Eastern Madagascar toward the capital of |
the Queen. In the middle of the year 1884 |
Ireached, with my-party, Antanarivo, the |