Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-01-19
THE LITTLE SIONANAY.

| eagerly assent, and the narrator folds
his brawny arms upon the top of the rail
and commences as follows:
"'Bout three years ago, before l got
this berth as I'm in now, [ was second
engineer aboard a Liverpool steamer
bound for New York. There'd been
lot Of extra cargo sent down just at the
last minute, and we'd no end of a job
stoWin' it away, and that ran us late O.
startin' SO that, altogether, you may
think, the cap'n warn't in the sweetest
temper in world, nor the mate, neither;
as for the chief engineer, he was an easy
goin' sort of chap, as nothing on earth
could put out. But on the mornin' OF
the third day out from Liverpool, he
come down to me in precious hurry,
lookin' as If somethin' had put him out
pretty considerably.
''Tom,' says he, what dye think
Blest if we amt found a stowaWay.
THAT'S the name, you know, sir, as we
gives the chaps as hide themselves aboard
outwardbound vessels, and gets carried
out unbclnown to everybody
"'The dickens you have!' says /. Who
is he, and where did you find him?
"'Well, we found him slowed away
among the casks for'ard; and ten to one
the shippers dog hadn't shifted him out
mite as he is too! 1 could ha' most
put him in my baccypouch, poor little
beggar. but he looks to be good plucky
I'm for all that
81 didn't wait to hear no more, but up
on deck like a skyrocket; and there l
did see a sight, and no mistake. Every
man Jack O the crew, and what rev
passengers we had aboard, was all IN
ring on the fo'c'stle, and III the middle
was the fust mate, lookin' as black as
thunder. Right in front of him, iookln,
regular mite among them big refers,
was a little bit of a lad not 10 years old
ragged as a scarecroW, but with pright,
curly hair and bonnie little face O. his
own if it hadn't been so WOeful thin ana
pale. But, bless your soul. to see the
way that little chap held his head up,
and looked about him, you'd ha thought
mate was a great hulkin' black-bearded
teller, with a look that nd ma frightened
| q horse, and a voice fit to make one jump
through a keyhOle; but the -young-un
warn't a bit a-feared-he stood straight
up, and looked him full in the face with
them bright, clear eyes o his'n, for all
the world as if he was Prince Hatred
himself Folks did say afterwards
lowering his voice to a whisper-"as how
he coined O. better blood nor what he
seemed, and for my part, I'm rather o
that way O. thinkin myself; for l never
calls them now-carry it off like him.
You might a heered pin drop, as the
mate spoke.
"'Well, you young whelp' says he, in
his grimmest voice, what's brought you
here"
saws the boy, in a weak little voice, but
as steady as could be. Fathers dead,
and mothers married again, and my new
father says as how he won't have no
brats about eatin' up his wages; and he
slowed me away when nobody Warn't
lookin', and guy me some grub to keep
me goin' for day or two till | got to
sea- He says I'm to go to Aunt Jane, at
Halifax; and here's her address, And
with that he slips his hand into the breast
of his shirt, and out with a scrap O.
paper, awful dirty and crumpled up, but
with the address on it, right enough.
1--WE all believed every word ont, even
without ne paper, for his look, and his
voice, alu tho way he spoke, was enough
to show that there warn't ha'porth O.
lyin' in his whole skin. But the mate
didn't seem to swallow the yarn at all;
he only shrugged his shoulders with Il
kind O. grin, as much as to say, I'm too
old a bird to be caught by that kind c.
chaff;' and then he says to him: Look
here, my lad, that's all very fine, but it
won't do here-some o. these men o mine
out of 'em. Now you just point out the
man as slowed you away and fed you,
this very minute; if you don't, it'll be
worse for your
''The boy looked up in his bright, fear
less way lit did my heart good to look
at him, the brave little chapD and says,
quietly: I've told you the truth; l amt
got no more to say.
'The mate says nothin', but looks at
him for a minute, as if he'd see clear
through him; and then he faced round to
the men, lookin blacker than ever. Reeve
a rope to the yard! he sings out, loud
enough to raise the dead. Smart, now
''The men all looked at each other, as
much as to say, What on earths COM
in now? But aboard ship O. course,
when you're told to do thing, you've got
to do it; so the rope was rove in jify.
Now. my lad,' says the mate, in a
hard, square kind O voice, that made
every word seem like fttin' stone into
wall, you see that ere rope? Well,
if you don't tell the truth afore the times
up. III hang you like a dog!
The crew all stared at one another as
if they could not believe their ears Il
didn't believe mine, [ can tell ye), and
then a low growl went among 'em like
a wild beast waking out of a nap.
Silence, there!' shouts the mate in a
voice like the roar of a nor-easter. Stand
by to run for ard! as he held the moose
ready to put it round the boys neck. The
little fellow never flinched bit, but there
was some among the sailors Chg, strong
chaps, as could "a felled an OK as hook
like leaves in the wind. AS for me, I be-
thought myself o. my little curly haired
lad at home and how it 'ud be if any one
was to go for to hang him, and at the
very thought ont [ tingled all over, and
my fingers clinched themselves as if they
was agrippin' somebody's throat: |
clutched hold o a handspike, and held it
behind my back, all ready.
Tom whispers the chief engineer to
me, dye think he really means to do it?
81 don't know, says l, through my
teeth, but if he. does, he shall go first
if l swing for it,
GIVE baen in MANY an uplv scrann in