The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1898-11-11
A SAILORS REVENGE.

"a ton, first mate of the whaler
Il a IronbOw-a strong man among
the strong ones. In person he was six
feet in height and well proportional,
and for muscular power he beat any
thing ever saw In my life. Yet, some
how, In looking at his face, one could
mt get over the idea that he had suf-
fered great sorrow, or had some wrong
to avenge He seemed to be always
looking for some one, and we never
had a new mate and he never met a
stranger, but he'd give one single,
penetrating look and then drop his
eyes, as If it wasn't the man he was
looking for.
l told him one day how he seemed to
affect me, and he gave me one of his
strange looks.
Eyes, Jack, my boy" he said, I'm
looking for man, and I'll find him
yet, please Godl You may be thankful
for one thing, my lad
And what is thatT'' I said.
"That you are not the one I'm look
ing for" he answered, with look 1
didn't understand then, but learned the
meaning later "See here, Jack, l must
trust some one, or this thing will drive
me mad. ! want to find a man with
the little finger gone from the right
hand-a sailor man, with three stars in
India ink IN the palm of his right hand,
and the letter G below them. Find me
that man and you'n do an old mate a
kindness; that's all I've got to say"
l was n carpenter on the Ironbow,
and we had n captain who was a ter
ror. Oh, he was n tough old salt!-with
a face the color Of mahogany, and a
voice like the roar of the wind in a
gale. A stove boat made him happy,
If he only got the whale-thats all he
asked.
But we filled early in the season and
ran into port to get rid of our cargo,
reht a little and get some fresh pro-
visions. While we lay there man
came to the captain and wanted to
ship as harpooner. He was a fine, tall
fellow, just the kind of n man skip
per would banker after. and he proved
to the captains satisfaction that he
was a good harpOoner. too.
He sailed under the name of Gus
Williams and was every inch a sailor,
with n handsome face, black curling
hair and n devil-may-care look in his
eyes. Although he was hail fellow well
met with the crew, I didn't like the
look Of the man, and made up my
mind that 7 didn't want him for n
ehum. If I'd known what he was It
seems to me now that Td have drop
ped him over the rail- some dark night
before we We're fairly out of port
The captain shipped him when Tom
Dalton was away on another island
looking after n KanalSa or two that
used to sail with him. and so 1t hap
pened that they didn't meet until the
night before we sailed. and, as he al
ways did, Tom looked at the new man
hard for n moment and then turned
away.
When the new man heard the name
of the mate l thought he gave a little
start and turned a tribe pale, though
why he did that I didn't understand
We were well out to sea and bowling
along before a ten-knot breeze when
Tom came to me as I stood by the rail.
"Where does Gus William hail from,
Jack3 he asked.
"NIarthas Vineyard. he says. I
won't answer for 1t that he tells the
TRUTH" I replied.
"DO you like him p
"No. He's got the devil in him some
where, and it's bound to come out.
/ He's as queer a stick rs ever I saw
In my life, and I don't want to chum
with him"
There was one thing about Gus that
was rather queer. and I asked him one
day why he wore the finger of an old
glove on his right hand. He said he had
O bad join there and he had to wear
q cover to keep the salt water out
didn't mind that so much; but one
day was working on boat and he
was helping me and holding the spike
and somehow I managed to hit him
on the finger covered by the glove, and
he didn't even finch. and then was
sure of one thing-and that was that
he had no finger inside the glove.
l didn't say anything, but somehow
II struck me as queer that this man
should have finger missing and Tom
had asked me to look for such a man.
I didn't think any more OF It until
one night In the forecastle, when we
were all pretty full of grog. the young
men got 70 braC0inU about Themselves