Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-10-20
A sHIPWREcKED CREW.
BY GEORGE H. CooMER.

''That fine-looking boy who holds the
bat" said the new master, indicating a
young lad in the center of the play
ground, sis one of my best pupils. He is
English, and was brought here year
ago, after being taken from wreck"
"Ah," replied, you like him, then. I
am glad of that. AS to his studies, there
is certainly one in which he will be like
ly to excel, and that is geography"
Geography" exclaimed the master.
."It is really pleasure to hear the little
fellow recite it. He fairly devoWs it. I
think he would be able to floor the COM
mittee in that branch of study
The new master was grave, elderly
man, who, whenever met him, seemed
to take pleasure in talking to me, though
our acquaintance had been only for
week or two.
But now Arthur, the English boy,
catching sight Of my calico shirt and
blue jacket, came eagerly to the spot
where we stood; and then, for the first
time, the teacher knew that his young
pupil and myself were fast friends.
"You must tell me the story. from first
to last" he said, after listening to the
greeting between Arthur and me, in
which we had dropped some remarks
that aroused his curiosity. Unjust hear
it, for feel great interest in both Of
YOU"
We seated ourselves on the school
house steps-the master, Arthur and I.
But how difficult it seemed to realize the
past and feel that this happy schoolboy
had ever looked upon terrors so dreadful
us those amid which had once seen him,
far out upon the greatd deep.
How his bright eyes sparklcd or mois-
tened, as I related the circumstances
which had, year before, brought us
acquainted, and which 1 will repeat in
substance for the reader:
had sailed in the ship Altai, bound
for Maranham, in Brazil, and on the
equator we were becalmed for 90 days.
There was from the first, sail in
sight, which after time was brought
quite near us by those momentary puffs
of air which will occasionally ripple the
water in such a calm; and we at length
found her to be the whaling brig Cath
erwood, of London, Capt. Dore.
Her officers were several times on
board of us, while the vessels lazily
drifted within half a mile of each her,
and it seemed very pleasan. TO meet
such neighborly people upon the ocean.
They laughed, however, when we COM
planned of the tediousness of our pas
sage, which had up to that time occu-
pied five or six weeks, and sail they had
not seen land for seven months!
1t was then that I first saw young
Arthur, whom 1 found to be the cap
tain's son. Mrs. Dore, he lads mother,
was also making the voyage; and COM
ing on board with the others fairly
charmed our crew with her sweet face
and manner.
Seven months out from port, the cap
tain's wife and son were hungry for
books and papers, and we were happy
in being able to supply them, in ex-
change for the well-thumbed reading
matter which they brought us from
their brig.
Capt. Dore told us that rs soon rs the
calm should be over, h would go north
wardly, toward the West Indies, to give
everybody good run ashore; but that
he did not wish to enter Maranham, near
Which we then We're. as a vessel he had
spoken had reported the yellow fever
there, and he feared for his wife and
boy.
When the wind again sprang up, we
stood for the Brazilian coast, while the
Catherwood bore away to the north
carrying away with her more domestic
happiness than had ever before asso.
ciated with the idea of whaler.
Arthur waved his handkerchief to us
from the maintop, and then DINNER and
DINNER grew the white sails of the
English brig, till even her main royal
disnppcnred-a demonstration, if ony
were needed, that the world is mere
ball.
We lay at Maranhan for a number OF
weeks, then started on the return pas.
sage. once more at sea | speculated
on the chances of again falling in with
the Catherwood; but the old proverl
of "a needle in haystack," naturally
rccurred to me, rs ! felt how improb.
| 'piS ~ WIS titil we NCuli meet WIZ II her
In the meantime, | had been much inter
ested in the whalsr's books, and won.
dered how Mrs. Dore and her boy liked
those which they had obtained from
the big merchant ship.
But we We're fast sweeping to tn,
northward. The West India island:
We're passed. and I ceased to think O
the English brig as lowering anywhere
near our path.
One night, however, when we wer,
almost up with Bermuda. dreamed O
going on board the Catherwood, ant
!. seeing her crew in the most terribi,
distress. have little faith in dreams
yet SO vivid was the impression con
peyed by the one in question, that dur
ing all the following watch l felt N.
spirits oppressed by a melancholy whicl
would permit me to think only of ship
wreck, starvation and death.
1t was early that forenoon, when on
CT our men, at work aloft, reported al
unusual object off the lee-bow. Upol
standing in its direction, we discovere
1t to be portion of vessels deck, o
which were five men. Yet they hardl
seemed men, for their faces and form
were those of frightful skeletons. The
had almost lost the power of articula
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