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

time the Chief himself, who had been
ashore all the forenoon, came on board
with a stranger. Believe me, /
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 bad taken a comb, pair
OF scissors, and razor ashore, and cut
OF 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 a
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 q 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
evaporation was fitted with q 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 daywe received
a 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. 1 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 veeks'ru run. The ship rolled
30 heavily, however, that the Chief
would not allow US to raise the dome;
be was afraid, aud 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 "Him?"
We understood that no had been used |
to roughing it, and could stand pretty |
nearly anything. As a 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 a word |
of English, We cheered him up con-
stantly.
Forty hours steaming brought us
10 the Bosphorus, and as we had to
,oal here, aud should be very busy /
IN deck, we pulled up the dome,
md dragged poor Him" out. OH
What a sight he was. He had been
yery seasick, poor wretch, while the
leat had made him lose much flesh,
wen in that short time, so that his
lothes hung about him like sacks.
l think our sense of pity at his
made us fairly wild at our
oily in leaving "Him" there so long;
Ve really hadn't calculated on the
Ieat of his prison, for you must re-
member that he was in a part of tia
ngine itself. We bathed him, how
yer, and changed his clothes as far
s we could: we fed him on beef-tea
nd arrowroot biscuits; walked him
emily up and down the engine room
oor, and fnallJ Jewhen we thought he
Tas coming round bit, we locked
i'm up in the store-room, and went
n deck to see that we were not robbed
coal by those rascally Turks.
The usual bust and excitement
ere at their heighg when the stew
I'd ran up to me and said he had been
ito the engine-room, and that strage
ian was walking round examining
Could Him" have got out, I won |
cred, Grossly; 'what fool he must
9 thus to expose himself to danger.
'astily 1 told the Chief the news,
ld ran down to the engine-room to
Ipostulate with "Him." You may 4
Idge of my amazement on seeing '
lite another individual calmly walk f
g the staring platform" as though !
the manner born. At first l b
fought he was thief, but
3 politely informed me that t
} had booked a passage to Antwerp l
this very boat, and he went on to t
,ologize for going into the engine b
'om without leave. 1 might, he s
i'd. be quite sure that he was doing o
,thIng wrong. The fellow evidently
iderstood modern machinery, for he p
lmly asked me where the evaporatcT Y
ills had got to-. l was so thunder Il
ruck that 1 couldn't reply for the "