The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-03-03
CHAPTER VIII.
How Tom Was Tattooed.

Ny companion was a short and thick
set sailor, about forty years of age,
and whose figure was suggestive of
great muscular strength; his hair was
cut short, but his whiskers were of
the most voluminous description, as he
was anxious to conceal as much as
possible Of the strange circles. stripes,
and grotesque designs with which his
sun-burned face was covered, and
which, by their form and blackness,
impaired a hideous aspect Of features
that otherwise were rather good look
ing and pleasing.
He was an intelligent man and we'll
read, for the humble class to which he
belonged.
aye, Master Rodney" said he, on
perceiving that l was still surveying
him with something of wonder land
his face was a point on which he was
particularly sensitive); you see what
a precious figure-head these 'tarnal
niggers on the coast of Africa made
for me-"
How did this happen, Tom?" said I,
filling his drinking horn.
about twenty years ago, Master
Rodney, I belonged to the Arrow, a
smart Liverpool bark of two hundred
and twenty ton register. l made
many voyages in her to South Ameri-
ca, but at last, as bad luck, or ny des-
tiny las men say in the play would
have it, she was chartered for the west
coas of Africa, to trade with the ma
tfune h,,k r~f L. h1anlx aoAkIz -
cry vas never our line of business.
W sailed from the Mersey in June,
and early in August found ourselves at
the mouth Of the Congo river, after a
prosperous voyage; but On the night
we made the land, a heavy gale came
on, and 1t veered round all the points
of the compass in an hour. The sea
and the sky was as black as they could
be, and everything else was black too,
except the breakers on abe shore to
leeward, and heaven knows they were
white enough-too white and too neal
to be pleasant.
"Our skipper handled the Arrow
well, and she obeyed every touch o.
the helm as a horse might do its
bride; she was sharply built, but
heavily spared, and no other square
rugged craft upon the sea could beat
her on a wind.
Il think | see her yet, Master Rod,
ney, for she was the first vessel
shipped on board of, and hang me 1
l didn't love her as If she had beer
my old mothers house, near Deptforc
docks.
"Her hull was long and low, ant
sat like a swan in the water, only tina
she was not white, like a swan, bu
as black as paint. could make her
Aloft, the masts tapered away lik'
fishing-rods, crossed by the squar
yards, while stays, shrouds, halyard
and hamper were always taut, as /
!, made of cast-iron; but for all this, sh
failed to weather that gale off tn
Congo river. She missed stays an,
got sternway, so you see. sir, 1t wa
, soon all over with her after that"
Howl do not understand"
: Don't you know what sternway is
What do they teach folks ashore? Sh
| was taken aback in the hurricane-th
most dangerous thing that can happe
to any vessel-a sudden shift of win
threw her on her ~broadside in tn
, trough of the sea, and with her dec
| toward the storm, so her matches wer
o o beaten in-all the sooner tina
she was driven on a coral reef nea
, the Sharks Nose. where the sea wa
8 like a sheet of foam around her.
r sFive poor fellows were washe