Connecticut western news., 1893-07-27
THE STOWAWAYS.

HE SIUWA WA YS.
 Suppose, suggested Tommy Hilton, bright and early one Saturday morning, ''that we go down to the dock on the East river and see if we can't find some ship that will take us away to the other end of the world" This proposition made favorable inn precision on Charley Wines, who was also of an adventurous turn of mind, and so the two little boys decided to em- bark without delay, and to take no bag gage but dark lantern and a large package of sandwiches and cake, which they begged from the cook. a So early did they start that it was not much after o'clock when they appeared on the dock and looked about them for a vessel suitable for the proposed trip.
 "Iwish, said Tommy, "that there was good pirate ship in the harbor now one of those long, low, rakish looking craft such as we read about in The Pi- rates Bride and which are always rac- ing up and down along the coast of China on the lookout for rich merchantmen"
 II don't believe there's pirate ship here, !" said Charley, ''but there's brig antine that sails for Cuba today for cargo of oranges and bananas. If we were to ship aboard her, we'd get lots of good things to eat and have no end of fun" ....
 "Of course we would," chimed in Tommy approvingly. ''I am glad to see you coming round to my ideas. Why, Fatty, there's not only oranges and ba- nanas and cocoanuts down there, but there's guava jelly and yams and sugar cane and pineapples and an elegant beach to go swimming on and monkeys and parrots in the trees and everything else till you can't rest. Now, I'll tell you what we'll do. If we like the looks of the captain and particularly the mate-for he's the one, don't you know, who is always cruel to the sailor boys in the stories, and if we like the ship her self we'll just sail in her today. Maybe we could find 8 place in the cargo that we could fit up for ourselves, as that boy in the Mayne Reid story did, bring in food enough to last through the voyage and not show ourselves till we felt like it."
 Fatty had always had weakness for sweet things, and the prospect of going to land productive of every known delicacy fired his imagination and drove out from his mind for the moment all thoughts of the brilliant career of ad- venture that he had often planned for himself as scout and slayer of Indians. Aboard the brigantine, which was called the Mary Jane, they found themselves in the midst of the hustle and excite ment incident to the lading of a large cargo. The sailors were hoisting num- Der of boxes from the dock and lowering them into the vessels hold by means of an apparatus rigged to the mainmast, while the officers of the ship were so busy that they paid no attention to the two we'll dressed little boys who were roaming about the ship, now peeping into the cooks galley and now appear ing in the forecastle, running about the deck and making themselves thoroughly at home after the fashion of young Amer ican boys generally.
 It was not long before they contrived to slip away into the vessels hold, where the sailors were slowing away the boxes and barrels as fast as they were lowered | from the deck. They grouped around | among the different casks and big cases until at once they came upon an open space between two enormous boxes, which was just big enough to accom- | modate them both and reminded them instantly of the place in which the stow away in Mayne Reid s romance had made his famous voyage.
 "Eurekap cried Fatty, who knew the Greek alphabet and was proud of his classical attachments, "all we have to do now is to hide here until the ship is well out to sea and then show ourselves on | deck"
 And so it happened that when the lad | ing of the cargo was finished two small boys with no other equipment but dark lantern and a package of sandwiches were snugly slowed away in little open space among the big cases and hogsheads. | It was not cold down in the ships aold, and there was smell of sugar, which was not at all disagreeable. They could hear the water dashing against the dock outside, and then something shut out the few rays of light that had pene- trated their hiding place. The captain ordered the cover put over the hold and fastened down. Whether it would be reopened the next morning or whether | they would be kept there until the ship reached Havana they did not know. An awful fear came over Fatty Wines, and he said in voice that trembled in spite | of himself:
 | Were in for it now, Tommy, sure popr | "Wen," said Tommy, i've might as we'll make the best of it here, and not let these rats frighten us to death. We'll have to keep stiff upper lip now that we are out for life of adventure
 They were lin for it" and no mistake, but they did not lose heart. For awhile they lay listening to the scampering of rats and the sound of waves dashing against the vessels side Before long their eyes began to droop, and they fell into dead sleep, from which they were awakened by the jolting of the ship, which told them that they had started on | their way. It was pitch dark when they awoke, and as neither boy had a watch they could not tell whether they had been asleep six hours or 24. But there
 was no mistake about the motion of the ship. She was fairly under way and
 very likely out of sight of land.
 Tommy put good face on the matter,
 but Fatty was very quiet. He was think
 ing of his home and wondering whether
 he would ever see his father and mother
 again. Just as he was on the point oi
 turning upon his companion with tor.
 rent of rsproaehes for having induced
 Aia ss m away ha bsaE4 . sndasr