Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-12-16

quakes-what do the doctors know oi
lands like that? and l lived on rum,
tell You. It's been meat and drink, and
man and wife, TO me; and if I'm not to
have my rum now I'm poor old hulk
on a lee shore, my blood'll be ON you,
Jim, and that doctor swab;" and Re ran
onagain for awhile with curses. Look,
Jim, how my fingers fidges," he con-
tinued, in the pleading tone. Il can't
keep 'em still, not l. l haven't had a
drop this blessed day. That doctors a
fool. tell you. IL l don't have a drain
o rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; ]
seen some on 'em already. l seen old
Flint in the corner there. behind you I;
as plain as print, | seen him; and IL
get the horrors, I'm n man that has
lived rough, and I'll raise Cain. Your
doctor hisself said one glass wouldn't
hurt me. I'll give you golden guinea
for noggin, jim"
He was growing more and more ex-
cited, and this alarmed me, for my fa-
ther was very low that day, and
needed quiet; besides, l was reassured
by the doctors words, now quoted to
me, and rather offended by the offer OF
II tribe.
Il want none of your money" said
I, 'but what you owe my father. I'll
get you one glass, and no more"
When brought it to him, he seized 1t
greedily, and drank it out.
"Ay, ay," said he, that's some bet
ter, sure enough. And now, matey,
did that doctor say how long l was to
lie here in this old berth? %
"a week at least" said /.
"Thunder!" he cried. "a week! l
can't do that; they'd have black spot
on me by then. The lubbers is going
about TO get the wind of me this blessed
moment; lubbers as couldn't keep
what they got, and want to nail what is
another's. Is that seamanly behavior,
now, / want to know? But I'm saw
ing soul. l never wasted good money
of mine, nor lost it, neither; and I'll
trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em.
I'll shake out another reef, matey, and
daddle 'em again"
AS he was thus speaking he had risen
from bed with great difficulty, holding
to my shoulder with n grip that almost
made me cry, and moving his legs like
so much dead weight. His words,
spirited as they were in meaning, con-
trasted sadly with the weakness of the
voice in which they were uttered. He
paused when he had got into sitting
position on the edge.
THAT doctors done me-" he muir
INJURED. MY ears is singing. Lay me
back"
BeforeI could do much to help him he
had fallen back again to his former
place, where he lay for awhile silent.
"Jim," he said, at length, you saw
that seafaring man to-day?"
BLACK Dog?" asked.
"Ah Black Dog" says he. Hes a
bad 'un; but there's worse that put
him on Now, If can't get away no.
how, and they tip me the black spot,
mind you, it's my old sea-chest they're
after. You get on horse-you can,
can't you? Well, then you get on a
horse, and go to-well, yes, I willl-to
that eternal doctor swab, and tell him
to pipe all hands-magistrates and sich
and he'll lay 'em aboard ut the Ad-
miral Benbow-all old Flint's crew,
man and boy, all on 'em that's left. i
was first mate, l was, old Flint's first
mate, and I'm the on'y one as knows the
place. He gave it me to Savannah,
when he lay a-dying, like as if was to
now, you see. But you won't peach un-
less they get the black spot on me, or
unless you see that Black Dog again,
or a seafaring man with one leg, Jim
him above ALL"
But what is the black spot, captain ?'
I asked.
That's n summons, mate. I'll tell
you if they get that. But you keep your
weather-eye open, jim, and I'll share
with you equals, upon my honor"
He wandered little longer, his voice
growing weaker; but soon after I had
given him his medicine, which he took
like a child, with the remark, ''if ever
seaman wanted drugs, it's me" he fell
at last into heavy, swoon-like sleep in
which L left him. What should have
done had all gone well do not know.
Probably 1 should have told the whole
story to the doctor; for 1 was in mortal
fear lest the captain should repent of
his confessions and make an end of me.
But as things fell out, my poor father
died quite suddenly that evening,
which put all other matters on one side.
Our natural distress, the visits of the
neighbors, the arranging of the funeral,
and all the work of the inn to be car
ried on in the meanwhile, kept me so
busy that L had scarcely time to think
OF the captain, far less to be afraid of
him.
He got downstairs next morning, to
be sure, and had his meals as usual,
though he eat little, and had more, 1
am afraid, than his usual supply of
rum, for he helped himself out of the
bar, scowling and blowing through his
nose, and no one dared to cross him.
On the night before the funeral he was
as drunk as ever; and 1t was shocking,
In that house of mourning, to hear him
singing away his ugly old sea-song;
but, weak as he was, we were all In fear
of death for him, and the doctor was
suddenly taken up with case many
miles away, and was never near the
house after my fathers death. / have
said the captain was weak; and indeed
he seemed rather to grow weaker than
regain his strength. He clambered up
and downstairs, and went from the
parlor TO the bar and back again, and
smell the sea, holding on to the walls
as he went for support, and breathing
hard and fast like a man on a steep
mountain. He never particularly adj
dressed me, and it is my belief he had
as good as forgotten his condolences;
but his temper was more fiighty, and,
allowing for his bodily weakness. more
violent than ever. He had an alarming
way now when he was drunk of draw
ing his cutlass and laying it bare be-
fore him on the table. But, with all
that, he minded people less, and seemed
shut up in his own thoughts and rather
wandering. Once, for instance, to our
extreme wonder, he piped up to diff
ferent air, "A kind of country love-song,
that he must have learned In his youth
before he had begun to follow the sea.
SO things passed until, the day after
the funeral, and about three o'clock of
II bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, was
standing at the door for n moment, full
of sad thoughts about my father, when
I saw some one drawing slowly near
along the road. He was plainly blind.
for he tapped before him with q stick,
and wore great green shade over lis
Eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as
4 with age or weakness, and wore
huge old tattered sea-cloak with a hood