The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-05-08

Gensed milk cle day, and when they
asked for another and he had refused
TO get il they threatened to tell on hin
unless he obeyed. He thought toe
much of the good will Of his superiors
aft to let the men carry their threat into
execution, and as a natural sequence he
met their demands. And their de-
mands grew larger as his Implicitly in
creased, until finally it was too late for
him to make his book Of conscience ever
balance.
After that Capt. Young and his
mates did not trGst him. He could not
go anywhere without watchfui 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.
"0h," she exclaimed one afternoon,
as 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. 1t 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 series of Gains with the ship
tanning along, as sailormen say When
the canvas collapses every other min
ute. In these light airs she was as
slow IS blind man cropping his way.
The topsawers of the crew said they
never saw such weather before, and
they were about right. The gales had
played sad havoc with the sails and
spaFs, and the lusty seas which arose
in their wrath ate big chunks out of
the decks, their fixtures, and the hull
itself.
Then the food gave out, as was pre-
dicted, and dark looks were flashed at
Harry. The butter, milk and sugar
had been exhausted some time when
the news was passed around that the
-four had given out. The growing be-
came general then, and even the green
hands turned up their noses every time
Harry put in an appearance. Some
thing had to be done. The last few
pounds of -four had been used one Sun
day, when Capt. Young thought of
some old wheat, the sweepings of that
famous cargo which was slowed in
the lower hold forward, This wheat
the hens on board had previously re-
fused to eat, probably because of its
bilgelike color. How to get it was
the thing that troubled Capt Young
most, for he knew that hungry men
would not refuse it even if chickens
would.
There was only one thing TO do, and
that was to break out the cargo slowed
under the fore hatch 1t was a long
and difficult job, and the deck of the
ship was like a huge dry goods estab-
lishment while it was in progress, but
it was gotten at last, the green hands
working harder than anybody else,
their appetites urging them On, per-
baps. Once on deck the wheat was
ground in the coffee mill and the stew
ard converted it into what Henrietta
describes as good bread and pan
cakes" It could not last forever,
though, and finally it gave out, too,
Then the last remaining stores were
taken in hand. These consisted Of peas
and beans, and Mate Harris thought
them so valuable just then that he had
them counted as a prelude to distribu-
ton.
Harry, who was primarily response
BILE for all the trouble, did not suffer
from hunger as much as did the other
men. A worse fate was reserved for
him. The Reaper was about a month
in the Pacific when she encountered
a terrific storm that lasted three days
and nights,
There was an old man in the crew
who had made several voyages in the
ship before and who was as capable
a sailor as ever let go and hauled. To-
ward midnight On the second day Of
the storm this old man was struck by
a sea which came on board, and the
ship being we'll heeled over was being
rapidly carried over the side, when
Harry, who was passing, grabbed him.
In doing so the lad fell and a succeed
ing wave caught him, and, picking him
up much as it would a straw, tossed
him into the dim, dark sea alongside.
The cry of "man overheard" brought
all hands to the deck. and the roars
of the mates could be heard above the
bowling of the wind and the painful
creaking Of the spars. An attempt
was made in response to an order to