The Forrest City times., 1896-01-17
tKEST CITY, ARK, FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JANUARY IT, 1s96

| the snip was known to the officers as
 Harry. He had never been to sea be.
 fore, although he told Capt Young
 when he came on board that he had
 made deep water voyage in an English
 bark. He was good lad for time, and
 It was not necessary to ask any ques-
 tions to discover that at one time f.e had felt the influences of a good mothers
 hand. He was only Is years old, rather tall for his age, with a fuli, open face
 light curly hair and blue eyes tha rlvaled the clearness of the sea itself | Somehow or other he evinced a fond
 ness for that little water sprite Hen
 rletta immediately after she came aboard. It was one of those attach.
 ments that an older brother forms for
 his little sister, and at the beginning of
 the passage he made frequent trirs be-
 tween the cabin and the headquarters
 of Charley Noble to get some dainty for
 l1,s little queen. But after the ship had
 been at sea seven weeks it was noticed that Harry was irregular in his habits
 and that his devotion ito the little
 woman aft'' was not as marked as it should be. The lad had had much oc- casion to associate with the men in the usual course of events, and presently
 his conferences with the green hands be
 came so frequent and pronounced that Capt. Young was obliged to reprove | him.
 It was like casting water on ducks back, though. These men seemed to have some unknown power over tE. boy. but the extent of this power was not | learned until the stewardess one day discovered that somebody was stealing l the condensed milk. watch was
 maintained but still the milk continued
 to disappear, and finally the butter be, | ran Co take French leave. Then the
 four followed to keep it company, and
 was soon joined by the sugar. Those
 whose duties called them aft began to ] suspect one another, but never for q
 moment was a thought given to the | honesty of Harry. Little Henrietta vouched for him, and that was enough He had told her repeatedly that his am- bition was to grow up a good, brave man that he might command a majestic ship like the Reaper, and on Sunday | afternoons, when he bored over be lit- | tie fnger-stained Bible that some Chris l tian mother had given him as an herr | loom and read aloud therefrom to the | girl, Harry was watched with envy But the dreadful blow came at last. Harry was discovered redhanded one morning stealing a quantity of stores
 To have the stores stolen bit by bit was | l,,,4 ( Ioo Ia+ | [, esteemed and loved by all, was the guilty wretch was crushing blow. | The stewardess wept in concert with Henrietta, Capt. Young felt as if he had | lost dear friend and the mates shook
 their heads in sympathy. As for Harry. | he told it all. The green hands had in- l duced him to bring them can of con densed milk one day, and when they asked for another and he had refused to get it they threatened to tell or, him ! unless he obeyed. He thought too much of the good will of his superiors aft to let the men carry their threat into execution, and as natural sequence he met their demands. And their de mands grew larger as his duplicity in
 creased, until finally it was too late for him 10 make his book of conscience ever balance.
 After that Capt. Young and his mates did not trust him. He could not go anywhere without watchful eyes upon him, for he had been tried and found wanting. But he could count upon one friend and comforter, after all. Henrietta knew him when he was a good boy, and she would not desert him when he had fallen from grace.
 "Oh," she exclaimed one afternoon, as a sort of exhaust to her wounded feelings, "why did you do anything like that, Harry; why did you do any thing like that? It was dreadful for you to steal for those bad, wicked men. Now we must all suffer for it. The ship has been making such bad weather of it that papa says the passage will last more than six months, and because of your helping yourself to everything we must run short of provisions before we arrive. It was dreadful of you to do."
 There was no mistaking the fact that the craft was making bad weather of it. Fifteen days had been consumed in an endeavor to round the cape in binding snowStorms and gales that were dead ahead and as sharp as the point of needle. Twice Capt. Young had a conference with his mates on the advisability of wearing ship and put ting before it so as to finish the pas sage by way of the Cape of Good Hope. When it was not blowing great guns it was a series of calms with the ship flaming along, as sailormen say when