Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-04-18

Si some queer halluc. c.natioD such AZ
an old man sometimes labors under.
But his story was straightforward. and
l have no doubt Of its perfect truth.
| This Il his yarn:
When ] was in the East In usa trade.
L was supercargo as well as captain.
My sailors used to say was a marti-
net. and likely ! was: but. although n
strict discipi.nar'an. treated my crew
well. and many of them had made sev-
eral voyage, With me. The ship had
command of at this particular time
was my only love. never cared much
Tor women. IL had been splicpd to a
nacg ~ doli. should Ice deal today
dOuA,.vSs.
we sailed out Of this port on the
Hallow;c cu cur fine morning. bound for
f"na.'E aEt rlnvr oriental ports. Ali
/ hut tNn OF tae crew were COOL Amer
lean semen. the exceptions being Pie
tro and DemetriO. two natives OF the
Levant whom | had been forced TO
ship much a--ainSt my will To till the
place of two old and trusty hands who
failed to turn Up when the crew an
swered the roH call. they had cashed
their ADVANCE notes and had been de-
! path 81 virtue and rectitudp by the
superior attractions OF grog and tobac-
CO. the rocks on which poor sailors
split
Here. rcupey. ill our glasses and
hrin~ .s >~-ic IF those Burma che
root. iD;c: jr' ted the captain. Those
cE'iooiS were precious. never could
find out where lay oil friend got them.
We lighted up. ana the old sailor con-
t'nucd:
bCSc two Levanters were not pre-
posses, sang specimens OF humanity.
You know the brced-snaky vcYmin
that are neither useful nor ornamental
abCard a Yankee snip. They had been
shipwrCckcd on Minots ledge. and
good S.maritans had entertained them
Hospitality. AMI the good New England
diet of pork and beans had filed out
their Sta!-o .-uitcd da-o sides until
they were fGt and sleek as November
porlors. kept my eye on the pair.
but could find no reason for serious
complaint against them. They behav-
ed pretty wei until we reached the
line. when TWO young men from Ros-
ton. named Sears and CrOwninshield.
whom was training To be sea captains
when their tim" should come. COM
planned that the two Levantcrs had
robbed them OF several shirts which
they had washed and hung zip 10 dry.
Nov. | wouldn't tolerate theft
aboard my ship made the dagoes
bring their sea dunnage on deck. and
| overhauled 1t. There. sure enough.
were the shirts. The Levanters swore
that the boy had given them the shirts.
This was a lie. OF course. so had the
thieves seized UP. and the bo's'n gave
them deviliSh good lambaSting with
length OF ratline stuff until they
howled for mercy.
"But bless YOU. you can't stop a
dago from playing his low tricks, and
before we were out OF the southeast
trades Sears and CrowninShicld came
TO me with another complaint against
them. y couple Of fine flying fish had
come aboard one night and were pounc-
ed upon hy the foreigners. Instead OF
asking the cook 10 fry them for break
fast they tackled them on wooden pan
els. smcared them with a mixture Of
oil and tar and sold them to my young
sea captains (who had more dollars
tOnianSl for 81 each.
"Of course the fish. instead of being
proof against the tropical sun. soon be-
came offensive. and the boys. who had
been doluded with the idea that they
had acquired valuable curiOs. came TO
me crying for Justice ! forced the
swindlers to refund the money and
strung them up again. You know what
a thief is thought Of aboard ship He
might just us we'll be in the northeast
corner of hell. with a hurricane blow
ing from the southwest. He gets seven
bells knocked out of him. and serves
aim r!Shl!
Nothing happened in particular un-
Ill We got well south In the track of
the westerly gales. | was anxious to
make n fast passage. as the Alert, a
famous Boston clipper. was racing
against mo. For that reason the Hal
lOWeen was driven as hard as she
could stand. \ heavy westerly gale
struck the ship. and my policy was to
make the most Of ii. Accordingly we
reduced her To close reefcd main top
sail. whole foresail and fore topmast
staysail and let her scud. My ship
steered like boat. and ! was per-
fcctly easy about her.
"Of course if the Halloween hadn't
been an exceptionally easy steerer l
would have hove to until the gale abat-
cd. hut the wind was TOO precious to
lose. She didn't yaw much. and two
helmSmen had little difficulty in keep
Ing her tolCrably straight on her course.
The greater the press OF canvas the
better she steered. Ii never occurred
10 me that there was n possibility OF
her broaching to or being brought by
the lee. In that event dlsmasting
would have been inevitable and
laundering possible in the mountainous
sea then running.
1t was higher than / eyer before
had seen in all my long experience. To
iapdlubber perhaps the scene would
have been appalling. The spray from
the broken crests whirled along by the
force of the tempest drenched the ship
from stern TO stem. II was almost i'm
possible TO face the furious wind In
spite OF the fact that the ship was run
ming dead before II and going good
A