Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-03-30


is left, some six feet in height by three
feet six inches in diameter Of course,
the machine can be worked or left un-
used as required, all ingress of steam
and water being regulated by valves.
When we started work as usual
next morning at seven o'clock, 1 got
my men to raise the dome within; we
then took out the coils, which, when
clipped, I put carefully away in the
locker in the Chiefs cabin. At dinner
time the Chief himself, who had been
ashore all the forenoon, came on board
with stranger. Believe me, 1
should never have recognized the un-
couth, weird-looking Him" in the
person that now stepped aboard. Our
Chief had evidently not wasted his
time, for he had taken q comb, pair
of scissors, and razor ashore, and cut
off all the Nihilist's superabundant
hair. Much soap had evidently been
used on the large person cf "Him,"
and now he really looked smart fell
low, arrayed in naval clothes. Old
Mac, our beloved chief, had bought
suit of clothes from a very tall en-
gineer belonging to a Swedish ship
lying close to us, and had equipped
Him" in them.
That evening, when the men had
left work, and our steward, who was
also Greek, had gone, as usual, to
gamble on the fore hatch, we took
''Him" down into the engine-room,
and silently placed him on the
evaporator base, finally covering the
dome over him. Next morning I
didn't forget to explain to the stokers
that had had to lower the dome my
self, as the Chief didn't like to see it
hanging in the sings all night. We
| next put in the bolts and fastened
down the dome as if ready for use.
No one would ever dream that the
coils of the evaporator were not in the
machine, their place having been
taken by stalwart Nihilist, whom we
were kidnapping, SO to speak, in this
very extraordinary manner. This
evaporator was fitted with safety
valve on top; this took out, SO as to
give our captive fresh air. Through
the hole food was also lowered to him,
| but we couldn't send down very large
| parcels because the hole was only
thirteen inches in diameter.
In the course Of the day we received
visit from the Russian police. They
had been to other ships also; and let
me tell you they searched our steamer
from end to end almost as thoroughly
as English Custom house officers
would do, but no one dreamt of look
ing into the evaporator. / really
thought we had got off very nicely
when we sailed for Antwerp that night;
but we soon found out that our troubles
had only just begun.
OF course, we had fully intended to
| liberate "Him" as soon as the ship
was fairly at sea; according to our
calculations, hew then to be located
in the store-room, which, as it was
only used by ourselves. would have
made "Him" comfortable home for
the three weeks run. The ship rolled
so heavily, however, that the Chief
would not allow us to raise the dome !;
he was afraid, and rightly so, too, that
it would carry away and either smash
something, or kill poor "Him" in its
mad movements.
But what were we to do with ''Him?"
We understood that he had been used
to roughing it, and could stand pretty
nearly anything. AS fact, he had
to, whether he liked it or not.
before he finished that journey, at all
events. We passed as much food
down to him as we could, and al
though he didn't understand word
of English, we cheered him up con-
stantly.
Forty hours steaming brought us
to the Bosphorus, and as we had to
coal here, aud should be very busy
on deck, we pulled up the dome,
and dragged poor Him" out. Oh!
what sight he was. He had been
very seasick, poor wretch, while the
heat had made him lose much flesh,
even in that short time, SO that his
clothes hung about him like sacks.
I think our sense of pity at his
condition made us fairly wild at our
folly in leaving "Him" there so long;
we really hadn't calculated on the
heat of his prison, for you must re-
member that he was in part of the
engine itself. We bathed him, how
ever, and changed his clothes as far
as we could we fed him on beef-tea
and arrowroot biscuits; walked him
gently up and down the engine room
floor, and finally when we thought he
was coming round a bit, we locked
him up in the store-room, and went
on deck to see that we were not robbed
of coal by those rascally Turks.
The usual hustle and excitement
were at their height, when the stew
ard ran up to me and said he had been
into the engine-room, and that a strage
man was walking round examining
everything
Gould Him" have got out, j Won
dered, Grossly; "what fool be must
be thus to expose himself to danger.
Hastily I told the Chief the news,
and ran down to the engine-room to
expostulate With Hin" You may