Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1894-12-15

smoke our pipes and survey your clever
piece OF carpentry. There's no hurry"
( ana so saying seated myself and he
alongside of me, slowly extracting a
brass tobacco box out of his brccchcs
pocket rs he did so.
WELL" he began, with q sort Of crop
ing lcoli around the summer arbor, and
then bringing his eyes to bear in n
squint of earnest memory upon his
obclisk. this was how it fell out.
YVES able seaman aboard little bark,
and we were bound for the River
Thames from Porto Allegro. We fell
in with deal of bad weather which
drove MS well n the BASTARD, and then
fer three weeks we were stagnated
with Gains. so that putting the fine
weather along with the bad, we
rrc!;uncd that the vessel had lost her
luck, and that ne'cr man of our little
company was to consider II well with
our bundles and step over the side ON to
good English docliyard soil. Ii is sup
posed that there are no supcrstitions now
goiuc ut sea. You know better than
th;.; sir. Any man with that notion in
his hcad should have been aboard of us.
The captain himself came forward ono
day and nailed q horseshoe to the
mast. remember being weak enough
myself to lament that there wasn't
linn amongst us, SO that we might
have been able to say: It's you, mate.
that's the cause of these here Gains and
contrary gales, and then have locked
him mp with nothing to eat until he
should have been coaXcd by famine into
correcting his ill-nature and into giving
Us the breczcs we wanted.
zone black night we were ratching
clong under reefed topsails and the
forecourse. was ut the wheel. The
bark having her nose to it pu. spite
into the wind. and n nasty sea was
washing past. There was nothing Ia
see but the white water that would
flash out in the darkness alongside rs
though the beams of an electric light
were travelling round and round. touch
ing the ocean in places as they Travelled.
All on u sudden the mate, who was
standing ut the weather rail just abreast
of the skyliglt. gives n sort Of shrek
and then fell a-yclling; but there was
no time for me to catch what he said:
for whilst his cries were still ringing.
Just caught sight of huge lump Of
blackncss oozing out over the weather
bow like blackcr night still coming
down through the darkness upon us
with one spark of light showing: but 1t
wasn't green nor red, and what 1t was
can't say. The next instant we were
in collision with some vessel; she caught
us on the bluff of the bow and slowed
us clean round with such noise of
splintcring wood, of washing waters,
and of human cries that I've only got to
recall II to feel deaf.
"She went clear, and vanished, leav-
ing us sinking. She had torn out our
bows and wrecked our spars forward,
but she never showed fare, never
shifted her helm, never SO much rs
hailed us after she had slipped past.
She left us TO our fate, and by that
token allow that she was foreigner.
We had to feel for the boats, so black
was it, and God knows how we man.
aged. The boats were slung in the old
fashioned style. dangling overheard at
the ends of davits, aud stcadied by
gripes. Had they been slowed rs the
fashion now is, every soul of us must
have persisted. The vessel was up in
the wind without way, rolling brissly.
and the curl of the foam of her side
to the smite of the sea showed W. men
who were standing on the starhoard
side the outline of the boat Us we
lowered her. We entered her in scram-
bling fashion by the tacklcs-Gve of us,
leaving six others of our company
wrestling Mt the port falls: amongst
them was the master and the two mates.
and us FIVE were men-hands rs the
term is. The moment the boat was lib
Grated 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 drink but four bottles of red
wine, which fellow amongst us who
had acted rs steward had brought along
with him, and nothing to eat but as
many broken bits Of ships bread Ms nd
make about seven whole biscuits.
.sThe outloolx was not very encourage