The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1898-04-09

/ was far less afraid OF the captain him
self than anybody else who knew him.
There were nights when he took deal
more rum and water than his head
would carry; and then he would some
times sit and sing his wicked, old, wild
sea songs. Winding nobody; but some
times he would call Tor glasses round,
and force all the trembling company TO
listen to his stories or bear chorus
10 his singing. Often have heard the
house shaking with "Yo-ho-ho. and
bottle of RUM" all the neighbors join.
ing In for dear life, with the fear OF
death upon them. and each singing
louder than the other, 10 avoid remark.
For in these fits he was the most over
riding companion ever known; he
would slap his hand on the table for ST.
lence all round; he would fly up in pas
sion OF anger at question, or some
times because none was put and so he
judged the company wss not following
his story. Nor would he allow anyone
TO leave the inn till he had drunk him
self sleepy and reeled off 10 bed.
His stories were what frightened peo-
pie worst Of all. Dreadful stories they
were; about hanging, and walking the
plank, and storms at sea, and the Dry
Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on
the Spanish main. Ry his own account,
he must have lived his life among some
Of the wickedest men that God ever al
lowed upon the sea; and the language
in which he told these stories shocked
r,lafn oil "a
much as the crimes that he described.
My father was always saying the inn
would be ruined, for people would soon
cease coming there TO be tyrannized
over and put down, and sent shfvering
TO their beds; but / really believe his
presence did MS good. People were
frightened at the time. but on looking
back they rather liked it; ii was a fine
excitement in quiet country life; and
there was even party of the younger
men who pretended TO admire him, call
ing him 'true sea-dog." and a real
old salt" and such like names, and say
ing there was the sort OF man that
made England terrible at sea.
In one way, indeed. he bade fair to
ruin us; for he kept on staying week
after week, and at last month after
month, SO that all the money had been
long exhausted, and still my father
never plucked up the heart to Insist on
having more. IL ever ne mentioned II,
the captain blew through his nose so
loudly that you might say he roared,
and stared my poor father out of the
room. / have seen him wringing his
hands after such rebuff, and j am sure
the annoyance and the terror he lived
In must have greatly hastened his early
and unhappy death.
All the time he lived with us the cap
tain made no change whatever in his
dress but TO buy some stockings from
n hawker. One of the cocks OF his hat
having fallen down, he let il hang from
that day forth. though IL was . great
annoyance when II blew. ! remember
the appearance Of his coat, which he
patched himself upstairs in his room,
and which. before the end, was nothing
but patches. He never wrote or re-
ceiyed a letter, and he never spoke with
any but the neighbors, and with these,
for the most part, only when drunk on
rum. The great sea-chest none OF vs
had ever seen open.
He was only once crossed, and that wss
toward the end. when my poor father
was far gone In n decline that took hiru
oft. DR.. Livesey came late one after
noon 20 see the patient. took bit OF
dinner from my mother, and went into
the parlor 10 smoke pipe until his
horse should come down from thu ham
let. for we had no stabling at the old
Benbow. followed him In. and re-
member observing the contrast the
neat, bright doctor, with his powder as
white as snow, and his bright, black
eyes and pleasant manners, made with
the coltish country folk. and, above all
with that filthy, heavy, bleared scare
crow Of pirate ST ours, sitting far gone
in rum, with his arms on the table. Sud-
denly he-the captain, that is-began
TO pipe up his eternal song:
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest
Yo-ho-ho, and n bottle OF rumi
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho. and bottle OF ruml'
AT first l had supposed "the dead
mans chest" to be that identical big
box OF his upstairs In the front room.
and the thought had been mingled in
my Nightmares with that OF the one.
legged seafaring man. But by this time
we had all long ceased to pay any par
ticular notice TO the song; IL was new,
that night. to nobody but DIR. Livesey,
and on him / observed that IL did not
produce an agreeable effect, for he
looked up for a moment quite angrily
before he went on with his talk TO old
Taylor, the gardener, on n new cure for
rheumatics. In the meantime the cop
tain gradually frightened up at his
own music. and at last tapped his hand
upon the table before him In way we
all knew TO mean--silence The voices
stopped at once, all but DIR. Livesey's;
he went on as before. speaking clear
and kind, and drawing briskly at his
pipe between every word or two. The
captain glared at him for awhile,
tapped his hand again, glarcd still