Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-07-28
CHAPTER I.

round The cove and whistling 10 him
self as he did 50, and then breaking out
! in that old IA song that he sung So
I often af>>SSarM
1fteen men on the dead mans chest
No-ho-ho. and a bottle OF rum
in the high, old tottering voice that
seemed TO have been tuned and broken
at the capstan bars. Then he raped
on the door with bit of of stick like a
hsndspike that he carried, and when
my father appeared called roughly for
n glass of rum. This, when il was
brought TO him, he drank slowly. like a
connoisseur, lingering on the taste.
and still looking about him at the cliffs
and mp at our signboard.
This is a handy cove" saws he, at
length; land a pleasant sittvated
grog-shop. Much company. mate?"
My father told him no. very little
company, the more was the pity.
We'll. then" said he, this is the
berth for me. Here YOU, matey." he
cried TO the man who trundled the har-
row; bring up alongside and help M
my chest. Ill stay here a bit," he con-
tinued. I'm a plain mar; rum and
bacon and eggs is what l want, and
that head up there for TO watch ships
on. What you mought call me? You
mought call me captain. Oh. see
what you're at-there;" and he threw
down three or four gold pieces on the
threshold. "Nou can tell me when I've
worked through that" SAYS he, looking
rs fierce as a commander.
Md. indeed. bad as his clothes were.
and coarsely as he spoke. he had none
az the appearances of n man who sailed
before the mast; but seemed like a.
mate or skipper, accustomed to be
"heyed ar 20 strike. The man who
-~ith the barrow told us the mail
set him down the morning before
the Royal George; that he had in
.quired what inns there were along the
coast, and hearing ours well spoken of,
] suppose, and described as lonely, had
chosen IL from the others for his place
of residence. And that was all we
eould learn of our guest.
He was very silent man by custom.
All day he hung round the cove. or up
on the cliffs, with a brass telescope:
all evening he sat in a corner of the par
Tor next the fire, and drank rum and
water very strong. Mostly he would
not speak when spoken TO; only look
up suddenly and fierce. and blow
through his nose like fog-horn; and
we and the people who came about our
house soon learned 10 let him be.
Every day. when he came back from
his stroll, he would ask IL any seafaring
men had gone by along the road? At
first we thought il was the want of
company of his kind that made him
ask this question; but at last we began
70 see he was DESTROYS TO avoid
them. When a seaman put up at the
Admiral Benbow las now and
then some did, making by the coast
Goad for BristoD, he would look at him
the curtainej door before he
parlor; and he was always
- silent rs n mouse when
as present. For me, at
- was no secret about the
- Iwassin-a way, sharer in
hs-->z
he had taken me aside one day, and
first of every mouth if l would only
keep my "weaiher-eye open for a sea-
faring man with one leg" and let him
know the moment he appeared. Often
enough, when the first OF the month
came round, and / applied, to him for
my wage, he would only blow through
his nose at me, and stare me down, but
before the week was cut he was sure to
think better of il, bring me my four
penny piece. and repeat his orders TO
look out for 1.-The seafaring man with
one leg"
How that parsonage haunted my
dreams. need scarcely tell you. On
stormy nights, when the wind shook
the four corners d the house. and the
surf roared along the cove and up the
cliffs, l would see him in a thousand
forms, and with a thousand diabolical
expressions. Now the leg would be cut
of at the knee, now at the hip; now he
was a monstrous kind of a creature
who had never had but the one leg.
and that in the middle of his body. To
see him leap and run and pursue me
over hedge and ditch, was the worst of
nightmares. And altogether paid
pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny
piece in the shape of these abominable
fsncies.
But though ! was so terrified by the
idea of the seafaring man with one leg,
was far less afraid Of the captain him.
self than anybody else VINO knew him.
There were nights when he took deal
more rum-end water than his head
would carry; and then he would some
Times sit and sing his wicked, old, wild
sea songs, minding nobody; but some
times he would call for glasses round,
and force all the trembling company TO
listen TO his stories or bear a chorus
10 bis singing. Often | have heard the
house shaking with "Yo-ho-ho, and
bottle az rum;" all the neighbors join
ing IN for dear life, with the fear of
death upon them, and each singing
louder than the other, TO avoid remark.
For 10 these fits he was the most over
riding companion ever known; he
would slap his hand on the table for ST.
ience all round; be would fly up in pas
sion of anger at a question, or some
times because none was put and so he
judged the company was not following
his story. Nor would he allow anyone
10 leave the inn till he had drunk him.
self sleepy and reeled off to bed.
His stories were what frightened peo-
re worst Of all Dreadful stories they
ntFs: about hanging, sld walking the