Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-09-01
CHAPTER Y.
THE VOYAGE.

friends, MT. blanulN ana the like, com
ing off to wish him a good voyage and
safe return. We never had night
at the Admiral Benbow when | had
half the work; and | was dog-tircd
when, a little before dawn, the boat
swain sounded his pipe, and the crew
began To NAH the capstan-hars. | might
have been twice as weary, yet | would
not have left the deck; all was so new
and interesting to me-thc brief com
mandS, the shrill notes Of the whistle,
the men bustling 10 their places in
the glimmer of the ships lanterns.
Now, Barbecue, tip Us a staye,"
cried one voice.
The old one" cried another.
"Ay, ay, mates" said Long John,
who was standing by. with his crutch
under his arm, and at once broke out
In the air and words knew So we'll:
Fifteen men on the dead man s chest
And then the whole crew bore Choir
us:
''Yo-ho-ho. and bottle of rum
And at the third "ho!" drove the bars
before them with a will.
Even at that exciting moment il car
ried me back to the old Admiral Ben
bow in second; and | seemed Ia hear
the voice of the captain piping in the
chorus. But soon the anchor was short
up; soon il was hanging dripping at
the bows; soon the sails began 10 draw,
and the land and shipping 60 fit by on
either side; and before l coLld lie down
TO snatch an hour of slumber the His
PAMELA" had begun her voyage TO the
Isle of Treasure.
| am not going TO relate the voy-
| age in detail. 1t was fairly prosperous.
The ship proved TO be good ship, the
| crew were capable seamen, and the
captain thoroughly understood his
business. But before we came the
length of Treasure Island, two or three
things had happened which require 10
! be known.
Mr.. Arrow, first of all, turned out
even worse than the captain had feared.
lie had no command among the men,
and people did what they pleased with
! him. But that was by no means the
worst of il; for after day or two a
sea he began 10 appear on deck with
haZy eve, red cheeks, suffering tongue,
| and other marks of drunkenness. Time
after time he was ordered below in dis
| grace. Sometimes he fell and cut him
self; sometimes he lay all day long
in his little bunk at one side of the
companion; sometimes for a day or
two he would be almost sober aud at
tend TO his work at least passably.
In the meantime, we could never
make out where he got the drink That
was the ships mystery. Watch him as
we pleased, we could do nothing to solve
| il; and when we asked him to his face,
he would only laugh, if he were drunk
and If he were sober, deny solemnly
| that he ever tasted anything but
water.
He was not only useless as an officer,
| and "A bad influence amongst the men.
but il was plain that at this rate he
must soon kill himself outright; so
nobody was much surprised. nor very
sorry. when one dark night. with a
head sea, he disappeared entirely and
was seen no more.
"Overboard!"s said the captain. "Well.
gentlemen, that saves the trouble of
putting him in irons"
But there we were, without a mate,
and il was necessary, Of course. to adj
vance one Of the men. The boatswain.
Job Anderson, was the likeliest man
| aboard, and, though he kept his old
| title, he served in a way as mntc. Mr..
| Trelawney had followed the SET. and
his knowledge made him very useful.
for he often took a watch himself in
| easy weather. And the cockswain, Is.
rael Hands, was careful. willy, old. en-
| perienced seaman. who could be trusted
at pinch with almost anything.
He was a great confidant of Long
John Silver. and so the mention of his
name leads me on TO speak of our ships
cook. Barbecue. as the men called him.
Aboard ship he carried his crutch by
lanyard round his neck, TO have both
hands as free as possible. II was some
thing TO see him wedge the foot of the
crutch against bulkhead. nd, propped
against it, yielding to every movement
Of the ship, get on with his cooking like
/
strange was it to see him in the heaviest
| of weather cross the deck. He had a
line or two rugged up TO help him across
the widest spaces-Long Johns ear
rings, they were called; and he would
hand himself from one place TO another,
now using the crutch, now trailing il
alongside by the lanyard, as quickly as
/ kar
the men who had sailed with him before
expressed their pity TO see him so re.
duced
| lies no common man, Barbecue"
said the cockswain to me. "He had
good schooling in his young days. and
can speak like book when so minded:
and brave-lion's nothing alongside OF
Long John! see him grapple four and
knock their heads together-him I'M
armed"
All of the crew respected and even
obeyed him. He had way of talking
TO each and doing everybody some par.
,icular service. To me he was IN
weariedly kind, and always glad TO see
me in the galley. which he kept as Gle IN
as a new pin; the dishes hanging NJ
FURNISHED and his parrot in cage in
the corner.
Come away. Hawkins" he wou ID
say; come and have a yarn with John.
Nobody more welcome than yourself, my
son. Sit you down and hear the news.
Here's Cap'n Flint calls my parrot
Cap'n Flint, after the famous buc-
caneer-here's Cap'n Flint predicting
success to our v'yage. Wasn't you,
cap'n?"
And the parrot would say, with great
rapidity: 'Pieces of eight! pieces of
eight! pieces of eight" till you won
dered that 1t was not out of breath. or
till John threw his handkerchief over
the cage.
fro BE Continued