Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-06

time the Chief himself, who had been
ashore all the forenoon, came on board
with q stranger. Believe me, l
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 a 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 q
suit of clothes from very tall en-
gineer belonging to 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 1
didn't forget to explain to the stokers
that had had to lower the dome N.Y.
self, as the Chief didn't like to see it
hanging in the slings 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 1 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. l 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, he was 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
7 nearly anything. AS fact, he had
| to, whether he liked it or not,
, before he finished that Journey, at all
l 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.
t Forty hours steaming brought us
to the Bosphorus, and as we had to
: coal here, and should be very busy
t on deck, we pulled up the dome,
l 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.
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
3 as we could: we fed him on beef-tea
and arrowroot biscuits; walked him
e gently up and down the engine room
: floor, and finally when we thought he
4, was coming round bit, we locked
g him up in the store-room, and went
on deck to see that we were notrobbed
: of coal by those rascally Turks.
t The usual hustle and excitement
= were at their height, when the stew.
Y ard ran up to me and said he had beer
into the engineroom, and that a strage
/ man was walking round examining
Q everything.
+ Could Him" have got out, I won
= dered, Grossly; "what fool he mus
, be thus to expose himself to danger.
e Hastily L told the Chief the news
= and ran down to the engine-room to
: expostulate with "Him." You may
: judge of my amazement on seeing
quite another individual calmly walk
= ing the staring platform" as though
b to the manner born. At first
J.; thought he was thief, bu
t he politely informed me tina
n he had booked passage to Antwerp
in this very boat, and he went on t,
i, apologize for going into the engine
a room without leave. L might, h,
l. said, be quite sure that he was doinl
N poth1no wronp The fellorv av;d on III