Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-04-25
allied me and asked if l had any sus-

y
ing into each cabin, and peering and
listening. Somehow 1 had a fancy
that there might be a stowaway on
board intent on a criminal purpose, in
league, for all l knew, with some one
interested in the vessel to defraud the
underwriters. Seeing and hearing
nothing l withdrew to my berth and
turned in.
I slept soundly, and at s o'clock
turned out and went on deck. The
first person / met was the boatsWain,
Matthews. He said to me: 1.-The
captain seems to have made up his
mind, SIR
"On what"
"As to the man WHO'S holed the
Ship
"Have they discovered him."
''Jackson's in irons. That's all I can
say, SIR" he answered with a singular
expression Of incredulity and temper
in his face.
Just then the captain came out of
ward.
Mr. Fletcher" said Captain Jortin,
reckoning me to him, and speaking in
a low, level, preaching voice, eve shall
be able to prove that Jackson's the
man who attempted to scuttle the
ship"
'Indeed" said l, vastly astonished.
Jackson was an able seaman in my
watch. | had always found him a re-
spectacle, willing, alert sailor. "What
in that man has excited your suspicion,
sir?"
Il heard him muttering the other
day" said he, when he was at work
on a sail stretched along this poop.
Every time passed he glanced as
kance at me and muttered. l don't
like the mans looks. He has a hang
ing face. Then again, yesterday after
noon he was observed to go forward
as though he was Just come out of the
cuddy."
who saw this, sir?'
ITS so,'' he answered abruptly, with
a short, spiritless stare at me, and
then stepped to the pinnacle.
In the course of that morning asked
the steward if it were true that the
man Jackson had been seen to walk
out of the cuddy. He answered that.
happening to come up through the
steerage hatch he had seen Jackson 60
ing forward close from the cuddy
front as though the man had just
stepped from the cuddy itself.
well, but" said l, you were in the
Storage, and had he been there with
an auger, you'd have seen him
wouldn't you?"
II don't think it was him that did
it," said the man.
/ looked hard at him; for, to be sure,
if the thing was not the work of a
StOwaway-of some one hidden in the
steera ge--it must at least be the act
Of some person lying aft, with access.
without suspicion, to the cabins.
From 10 o'clock till four bells in the
afternoon watch we were employed
in Overhauling the vessel. We probed
every nook and Granny of her from
the forepeak to the lazaret, diligently
seeking likewise for any signs of d
hidden man in the steerag e-al to no
purpose. The villain, whoever he was,
must certainly be one of the ships
company.
For my part, | suspected the stew
ard, and so did Shirley, the carpenter;
Matthews did not know what to think.
The captain Stalked apart, gloomy and
silent
That evening in the first dOg-watc I
was in my cabin smoking a pipe. turn
ing over in my mind some schemes for
protecting our lives by stationing a
watch day and night aft, and wonder
inc if Captain .Jortin would see his
way to some arrangement of this sort,
when the steward knocked on my
cabin door and walked in. The fell
low addressed me civilly, with an air
of reluctance and establishment
He said Captain Jortin had just given
him instructions to lock me up in my
ca bin, where I was to consider myself
under arrest, on suspicion of attempt
ing TO scuttle the ship. My meals
would be served regularly. I'm sorry.
sir" added the fellow. "to have to do
this duty.
SO. saying, he closed and locked the
door, and | heard him withdraw the
key. | think it was about $50 when
the steward unlocked the door and en-
tered with a tray of food, some cold
water and few gills of rum in pan
nikiD. He seemed very shy in his
manner. and was for making haste.
hade him tell the captain l was an in
nocent man, and begged for an inter-
view. He promised to deliver my
message.
and I will ask you," said [. ''to re-
member, should they sound the well
and find the ship taking in water, that
l am locked up here and helpless"
He said, "Ay, ay, sir" and left the
cabin, turning and withdrawing the
key as before.
On the evening of the third day of
my Imprisonment I was startled out of
a nap by a disturbance in the cuddy
outside. l heard the tramp of feet and
the growing sound of seamen'S voices
l thought a mutiny had happened, and
listened with my heart beating hard in
my ears.
: Presently my door was struck upon
and the handle violently tried. Then
the voice of Matthews bawled for the
steward tO hiring thp kew In q few