The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-05-26

mo. can't 90 with you; but J want
you TO come along with me Annie's
down here to meet me, and ] want to
spend the evening with her. Wen 60
up to sthe house where she's stopping,
on harrington street Shes dying to
hear all about the little scrape; and
I'll save lot of breath by telling you
both at the same time"
This was exactly the invitation had
been angling for, and, in consequence,
] was not slow to accept it. Miss An
ME was staying at a quiet, attractive
boarding house, and when the captain
led me into her little parlor, She re-
ceived us with an inclusive cordially
which quite dispellcd my doubts as to
the propriety Of obtruding my presence
on that particular evening. When she
had poured us each cup OF coffee, the
captain proceeded to unburden his
sou
| "you see," began the captain, when
he had secured an even light, 1--WE
weren't more than day out when we
discover edtnat our cook was an opium
smoker. or an opium eater, / don't
know that it mattersswhi 1t seems
tome that most OF those Malays use
i the stuff more or less; but in this case
the stuff used him, and used him
rough
'.But what were you doing with a
i Malay cook on board the Amanda" 4
inquired Wasn't an ordinary white
man good enough for you, or had you
got it into your head that you weres a
sort of eastern potentate?" At this
feeble pleasantly of mine, Miss Annie
was kind enough to smile. s
-"Ohr, replied the captain, 81 forgot
to say that Sleeves, our old cook-you
know him, Cheverie man and right
good cookie took down with fever
just the day before we sailed. had
to do the best / could. The Malay
him. though never liked his breed. !
was considerably influenced in his
favor, too, by the fact that he had his
youngster with him and appeared
mighty fond of the child. 1t was a
fat little, brown, velvet-eyed thing OF
not more than four years old. Its
| mother was dead, and that wicked
looking foreigner seemed to set just as
much store by it as if he'd been a
Christian. This proved him TO be hu,
man, like the rest of us, and thought
l was pretty safe in hiring him As il
@Eprovetl; s1e@se fls;s#ca pab fc=enough fit
| hadn't been for that accursed drug,
| and the first two3 or three messes he
cooked for us were done up in style.
| We began to think we had tumbled on
to treasure.
THAT heather baby took to the ship
like a duck to the water The hands
all made up to him right off and
christened him Bunny, which was
something near enough to the out
landish name his father called him by.
The cook tried to keep the little fellow
in the galley with him, but the men
they made such pet Of him, the
cook soon gave up trying to keep him
in. Heather as he was, he proba bly,
knew enough of sailors to know his
youngster would be well talsenscale of.
And he was-a sight better than his
father could take care of him, as II
turned out.
/ "Maybe it was the feeling that
Bunny was all right that made the
cook break loose. Anyways, it twas
along the second day out that the Sec
ond mate came up to me and said he
feared the cook was getting sick.
went to the galley and found our gen.
tleman lying on the floor half curled
up. His face was turned away from
the door As he lay there unheeding,
Bunny had come in, got hold of some
matches, and was trying to start fire
on the floor just back of his fathers
head. / stepped ON the fire and took
away the matches, and shock my head
fiercely at the little rascal, SO he ran
out of the galley. Then / looked at
the big rascal His eyes were halt
open. He appeared to be gazing at the
roof of the galley, where, to judge by
the contented smile that hung on his
lips, he must have seen something
much more ornamental than anything
my eyes could discover. l spoke to
him sharply, but he took no notice.
ordered him to get up, but the seraphic
smile only deepened about his ugly
black mouth. Then l shook him rough
ly, whereupon look of terror came
into his eyes, then a look of recogni-
ton, and lastly an expression Of devil
ish hate, as he picked himself up and
went about his work among the pots
and pans.
after few words of energetic eau
ton, l turned away. Outside the cook
house / said to Mr.. Lowarsen: Queer
case that, eh?'
"It's opiumr answered Lowarsen.
No doubt of it at all! I've seen just
such cases before among these fellows.
l don't like the look of it; but having
the young one with him he may be all
right, for this voyage anyway! He may
not be very far gomez
"'We'n keep our weather eye on
him, anyway said l.
The dinner that day was all right,
though on one or two new dishes which
adorned it we could not help looking
with suspicion. That evening there
came on gale from the nor west, which
soon blew up hurricane and drove
us far out of our course. For the next
forty-eight hours we were so busy TAX
ing care of the ship that we were pre-
pared to eat anything we could get
without asking questions How he
managed it, the way the ship was work.
ing, could never make out; but that
cook he cooked things somehow, and
he gave our stomachs the most wonder
4 fnl surprises they ever got His messes
were spiced in every conceivable fash
ion, and some of them SO hot that l
haven't got rightly cooled off inside
even yet