Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-07-13

by his account, that minded for nothing
either in heaven or earth; one that. as
people said, would "crack on all sail into
the day Of Judgment rough, fierce, I'M
scrupulous and brutal; and all this my
poor cabin-boy had taught himself to adj
mire as something seamanlike and man
~. He would only admit one flaw in his
idol ''LIe amt no seaman he adj
mitted. That's Mr.. Shuan that navi-
gates the brig; he's the finest seaman in
the trade, only for drink: and | tell you
| believe it! Why, look 'ere;, and turn
ing down his stocking, he showed
made my blood run cold. He done
that-Mr. Shuan done it," he said with
an air of pride.
''Whatv' l cried, "do you take such
savage usage at his hands? Why, you
are no slave to be so handledp'
ing his tune at once, 'and 50 he'll find!
See ERE" and he showed me great
case-knife, which he told me was stolen.
60" says he, ''let me see him try; [
dare him to; I'll do for him! O, he amt
the frst!'' And he confirmed it with a
poor, silly, ugly oath.
/ have never felt such pity for any
one in this wide world as | felt for that
half-witted creature; and it began to
come over me that the brig Covenant
flor all her piOus name) was little better
than a hell upon the seas.
'Have you no friends?' said |.
He said he had a father in some Eng
lish seaport forget which. he was a
fine man, too," he said, ''but he's dead"
''In heavens name," cried I, ''can you
find no reputable life on shore?''
80, nor says he, winking and looking
very sly; "they would put me to trade.
I know a trick worth two of that,
I asked him what trade could be SO
dreadful as the one he followed, where
he ran the continual peril of his life, not
alone from wind and sea, but by the
horrid cruelty of those who were his
masters. He said it was very true; and
then began to praise the life, and tell
what a pleasure it was to get on shore
with money in his pocket, and spend it
like a man, and buy apples, and swagger,
and surprise what he called stick-in-the
mud boys. ''And then it's not at all as
bad as that says he: there's worse
off than me; there's the tWenty-pound-
ers @, laws: You should see them
taking on. Why, I've seen a man as old
as you, 1 dessay"-(to him I seemed
and as soon as we cleaned out Of the
river, and he had the drug out of his
head-my! how he cried and carried on!
/ made a fine fool Of him, / tell you!
And then there's little uns, too. O. little
by me! / tell you, [ keep them in or
der. When we carry little uns, | have
ropes end of my own to wollop EN-"
And so he ran on until it came in on me
that what he meant by twenty Founders
were those unhappy criminals who were
sent overseas to slavery in North Amerl-
ca, or the still more unhappy innOcents
who were kidnapped or trepanned (as the
word vent for private interests or ven
geance.
Just then we came up to the top of the
HILL and looked down on the ferry and
the hope The Firth of Forth Gas is
very well KNOWN narrows at this point
to the width of a good-sized river, which
makes a convenient ferry going north,
and turns the upper reach into land
locked haven for all manner of ships.
Right in the midst of the narrows lies
an islet with some ruins: on the south
shore they have built pier for the serv-
ice of the ferry; and at the end of the
pier on the other side of the road, and
backed against a pretty garden of holly
trees and haWthOrns, | could see the
building which they call the Halves Inn.
The town of Queensferry lies farther
west. and the neighborhood of the inn
looked pretty lonely at that time OF day,
for the boat had just gone north with
passengers. A sklff, however, lay be-
side the pier, with some seamen sleeping
Oh the thWartS; this, as RanSome told
me, was the briggs boat waiting for the
captain; and about half mile off, and
all alone in the anchorage, he showed
me the Covenant herself. There was
sea-going hustle on board; yards were
swinging into place; and as the
wind blew from that quarter, | could
hear the song of the sailors as they pulled
upon the ropes. After all | had listened
to upon the way | looked at that ship
with an extreme abhorrence: and from
the bottom of my heart pitied all poor
souls that were condemned to sail in her.
We had all three pulled up on the
brow of the hill; and now | marched
across the road and addressed my uncle.
81 think it right to tell you, sir" says
1, there's nothing that will bring me
on board that Covenant
He seemed to waken from dream.
CHIP he said. whats that?"
| told him over again.
''Well, well,' he said ''Well have to
please ye 1 suppose. But what are we
standing here for? It's perishing cold,
and if I'm no mistaken they're busking
the Covenant for sea-"