Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-01-13
CHAPTER Y.
rIIE VOYAGE.

All that nlght we were IN great
hustle getting things slowed in their
place, and boatfuls OF the squre's
friends, Mr.. Blandly and the like, com
ing off to wish him good voyage and
safe return. We never had night
at the Admiral Benbow when | had
half the work; and | was dog-tired
when, little before dawn, the boat
swain sounded his pipe, and the crew
began to man the capstan-bars. ] might
have been twice as weary, yet ] wChld
not have left the deck; all was so new
and interesting to me-the brief COM
mands, the shrill notes of the whistle,
the men bustling to their places in
the glimmer of the ships lanterns
"Now, Barbecue, tip us n stave.'
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 well:
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest"
And then the whole crew bore Choir
IO-nO-HO hild q bOhIAO VA
And at the third "ho!" drove the bars
before them with will.
Even at that exciting moment 1t car
ried me back to the old Admiral Ben
bow in second; and l seemed to hear
the voice of the captain piping In the
chorus. But soon the anchor was short
up; soon it was hanging dripping ut
the bows; soon the sails began to draw,
and the land and shipping to fit by on
either side; and before / could lie down
to snatch an hour of slumber the His
PAMELA" had begun her voyage to the
Isle of Treasure.
1 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 TO
be known.
Mr.. Arrow, first of all, turned out
even worse than the captain had feared.
He had no command among the men,
him. But that was by no means the
worst of it; for after day or two at
sea he began TO appear on deck with
hazy eye, 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
companions; sometimes for II day or
two he would be almost sober and nt-
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
it; 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 n bad influence amongst the men,
but it 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.
"Overboardl" said The captain. well,
gentlemen, that saves the trouble OF
putting him In irons"
But there we were, without mate,
and it was necessary, of course, to ad-
vance one of the men. The boatswain,
Job Anderson, was the liltclicst dnan
aboard, and, though hc kept his old
title, he served In way as mate. Mr..
Trelawney had followed the sea, and
his knowledge made him very useful,
for he often took a watch himself In
easy weather. And the coclswain, Is
rael Hands, was a careful, willy, old, ex-
perienced seaman, who could be trusted
at a pinch with almost anything.
lie was great confldant of Long
John Silver, and so the mention of his
name deads me on to speak of our ships
cook. barbecue, as the men called him.
Aboard ship Ire carried his crutch by
Il lanyard round his neck, to have both
hands as free as possible IL was some
thing to see him wedge the foot of the
crutch against bulkhead. and, propped
against it, yielding to every movement
OF the ship. get on with dis cooking like
some one safe ashore, Still more