The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1899-02-01

ashore all tne forenoon, came on board
with a 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 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 OF "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 a 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 I
didn't forget to explain to the stokers
that l 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 L 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 dpeamt 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.
Butwhat were we to do with "Him2"
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 a 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.
1 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 a part of tha
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 bit, we locked |
him up in the store-room, and went
on deck to see that we were notrobbed |
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 strage
man was walking round examining
everything.
Could Him" have got out, won
dered, Grossly; "what fool he must
be thus to expose himself to danger"
Nastily 1 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
to the manner born. At first l
thought he was thief, but
he politely informed me that
he had booked a passage to Antwerp
in this very boat, and he went on to
apologize for going into the engine
room without leave. L might, he
said, be quite sure that he was doing
nothing wrong. The fellow evidently
understood modern machinery, for he
calmly asked me where the evaporatcI.
coils had got to. L was SO thunder
struck that 1 couldn't reply for the
rnnnnnnt for. thnra was the avannratnr |