Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-02-22

can speak like a bookwhen so minded;
and brave-lion's nothing alongside of
Long .Johnl l 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
ticular service. To me he was un-
wearied1y kind, and always glad to see
me in the galley. which he kept as clean
as new pin; the dishes hanging up
FURNISHED and his parrot in cage in
the corner.
Come away, Hawkins" he would
say; "come and have 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 wage. Wasn't you,
cap'n?"
And the parrot would say, with great
rapidfty: "Pieces of eighth pieces of
eight! pieces of eight" till you won
dered that it was not out of breath, or
till John threw his handkerchief over
the cage.
'sNow, that bird" he would say, sis,
maybe, 200 years old, Hawkins
they live forever mostly; and if any
body's seen more wickedness, it must
be the devil himself. She's sailed with
England-the great Capt England,
the pirate. She's been at Madagascar,
and at Malabar and Surinam, and
Providence, and Portobello. She was
at the fishing up of the wrecked plate
ships. It's there she learned Pieces of
eight and little wonder; 100000 of
'em, Hawkins She was at the board
ing of the 'Viceroy of the Indies out
Of Goa, she was; and to look at her
you would think she was babby. But
you smelled powder = didn't you,
cap'n?"
"stand by to go about" the parrot
would scream.
"Ah, she's handsome craft, she is"
the cook would say, and give her sugar
from his pocket, and then the bird
would peck at the bars and swear
straight on, passing belief for wicked
ness. There" John would add, "you
can't touch pitch and not be mucked,
lad. Here's this poor old innocent
+, bird of mine swearing blue fire, and
none the wiser, you may lay to that.
She would swear the same, in manner
! of speaking, before the chaplain" And
John would touch his forelock with a
solemn way he had, that made me think
he was the best of men.
In the meantime, the squire and Capt.
Smollett were still on pretty distant
terms with one another. The squire
made no bones about the matter; he
despised the captain. The captain, on
( his part, never spoke but when he was
spoken to, and then sharp and short
! and dry, and not a word wasted. He
4 owned, when driven into a corner, that
! he seemed to have been. wrong about
! the crew, that some of them were as
brisk as he wanted to see, and1a had
| behaved fairly we'll. As for the ship, he
| had taken a downright fancy to her.
She'll lie u point nearer the wind than
a man has a right to expect of his own
married wife, sir. But" he would add,
"all say is. we're not home again, and
l don't like the cruise
The squire, at this, would turn away
and march up and down the deck, chin
in air.
"a trifie more of that man." he
would say, "and | should explode"
We had some heavy weather which
only proved the qualities of the
"Hispaniola." Every man ON board
seemed well content, and they
must have been hard to please
| if they had been otherwise; for
it is my belief there was never a ships
company SO spoiled since Noah put to
sea. Double grog was going on the
least excuse; there was duff on odd
days, as for instance, if the squire
heard 1T was any mans birthday; and
always barrel of apples standing
preached in the waist, for anyone to
help himself that had fancy.
"Never knew good to come of it vet"
the captain said to DR.. Livesey. "Spoil
folk's'le hands, make devils. That's my
belief"
But good did come of the apple bar
rel, as you shall hear; for if it had not
been for that, we should have had NO
note of warning and might all have
| persisted by the hand of treachery.
This is how it came about:
We had run up the trades to get the
wind of the island we were after-I am
| not allowed to be more plain--and now
we were running down for it with a
bright lookout day and night. 1t was
about the last day of our outward voy-
age, by the largest computation; some
| time that night, or, at latest, before
noon of the morrow, we should sight
the Treasure island. We were heading
S. S. W.. and had steady breeze
abeam and a quiet sea. The "Hispan.
lola" rolled steadily, dipping her bow
spirit now and then with a Whit OF
spray. All was drawing allow and aloft;
every one was in the bravest spirits
because we were now so near an end
of the first part of our adventure.
I, Now, just after shutdown, when all
my work was over, and I was on my
way to my berth. it occurred to me
that 1 should like an, apple. ran on
deck. The watch was all forward look
ing out for the island. The man at the
helm was watching the huff of the
sail, and whistling away gently to him.
self; and that was the only sound ex.
cepting the swish of the sea against the
bows and around the sides of the shin
In ! got bodily into the apple barrel
and found there was scarce an apple
left; but, sitting down there in the