The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-03-11

was lying at Honolulu l one day went
ashore for a long ramble out of sight
and hearing of the numerous questiona-
bic amusements OF the town, and late in
the afternoon found myself several miles
to the southwark of It, Emerging from
the tangled pathway through which I
had been struggling with the luxuriant
scenery struck the sand of a lovely
little blight that commanded an unlnter-
rupted view to seward. Less than a
mile out reef of black rocks occa-
sionalIy barred their ugly fangs for a
brief space amidst the sleek waters, until
the sleepily advancing swell, finding its
progress thus hindered, rose high over
their grim SUBMITS in a league-long
fleece of dazzling foam, whose spray gilt
tered like Jewels In the diagonal rays Of
the declining sun.
Upon a little knoll left by the receding
tide sat a man staring stolidly out to
sea. AZ I drew near, my approach MAX
ing no noise upon the yielding sand, /
saw that he was white. BY his riga
shirt and trousers, big grass hat and
bare feet-I took him for a bsach-comb-
er. These characters are not often de-
sirable cOmpanions-human weeds cast
ashore in such places, and getting pre-
carious living in dark and devious ways
without work. But I felt inclined for
company and a rest after my long tramp,
so I made for him direct. He raised his
head al my nearing him, showed a griz-
Eled beard framing q weatherbeaten
face as Of a man some sixty years old.
There was a peculiar boiled look about
his face, too, as If he had once been
drowned, by no means pleasant to see.
He gave me Good EVENING" cheerful
ly enough as I sat down beside him and
offered my plug of tobacco. Cutting
himself a liberal quid, he returned it
with the query. "B long ter wun er the
Epouters, I persoom." YES" l replied;
'boat-header in the Cachalot." "Ah,"
he replied instantly. but yew're no
Yank, meow, air ye?" mo; I'm Cock
ney-little as you may think that likely"
said !: but it's fact" Wall, l dun
no." he drawled I've a-met Cockneys
good S I want ter know; n why not?''
The conversation then drifted desultori-
ly from topic to topic in an aimless, time
killing fashion, till al last, feeling better
acquainted, l yentured to ask him what
had given him that glazy, soaked appear
ance, so strange and ghastly to soc.
Look a-heah, young feller," said he.
abruptly. "heOuw old We reckon 1 must
be?" Without the slightest hesitation I
replied, Sixty or Whereabouts" He gave
a quiet chuckle, and then said slowly,
wall, I doan' blame We, nutber; n as
to feelin'-waH sumtimes I feels IL Ia
ben a Twin right on frum the beginnin
ov things My age, which g about the
one solid tact l kin freeze onter now
days, is thutty-twO. Yew won't b'ileve
It, Of course; but thet's nothin' ter wha.
ye will hear, eff yew wait awhile.
What I'm goin' ter tell ye happened
femme. see-wall, l doan no-mebbe two
mebbe four er five year sence. VIVA
mate OF a pearlin' schooner b'longin' ter
6evuka, lynn daouwn to Rotumah. Ware
we'd ben workin the reef wuz m,ddlln
deep-deep 'nuf ter make eour b'ys fall
on deck when they come up with a load.
n lie there like dead uns fer bout ten
minnits befo they KID move ag'in. 'Twuz
slaughterln' divin'; but the shell WIZ
thick, n no mistake; N eour ole m4n wuz
a hustler-s'long he got shell he didn't
vally few dern Kanakers peggin' eout
II.
sharks, n ef 'twan't tibet tn b'ys wuz
more skeered Of old Hardhead than they
wuz of anythin else I doan reckon we
Bh'd a-got any more stuff tibet trip t all.
But z he warn't the kind er blossom
10 play any games on, they KEEP at it,
n we 'uz film up fast. The land wuz
bout ten miles off, n they wuz bout
hfty. er mebbe sixty fathom water
btween the reef we wuz fshin on N
Inf oil {yhf
bells in the afternoon I w q standin' by
the galley door watchin' a Kanaker
Crawlin inboard very slow, bein' most
done up. Five er six ov 'em w hangin'
roun' bout ter start below agen, m tn
ole man w a-blarsfemin' gashly at EN-
for bein' so slow. Right in the middle ov
his sermont I seed i'm go green in the
face n make a step back from the rail,
with both hans belt up in front ov i'm 5
If he uz skeered most ter de'th M he
wuz, too. There cum Hckin' inboard after
him long gray slitherin' thing like a
snake 18th no head, but lot Nv saucers
stuck onto 1t bottom up. N befo' I'd
time ter move, bein' most sort er par
allied, several more ov the dern things
w a-sneakin' around all over the deck.
The fust one got the skipper good N
tight 18th a round turn above his arms,
n l saw him a-slldin' away. The
schooner wuz a-rollin' s If in @ big swell
(which Their warn't a sign Of 3 1 cd
see But them snaky gray things went
quicker n thinkin' all over her, N be-
10 yew cd say Knife every galoot, in
cludin' me, wuz a-goin' long with EN-
back to where they'd come from.
Say, d'yeW ever wake up all alive,
'cep' yew couldn' move ner speak, only
know ali wuz goin' on. n do the pow fest
thinkin' bout things yew ever did in yer
life? Yes n that's haoW Wuz then
When tibet cold gristly sarpent cum cud-
dim roun me n the saucers got on to me
g If they'd suck out me very bowls, I'd
0-gPn Mount Morgan ter died; but !
couldn't ev'n go mad. I saw the head
Ov the Thing them arms b'longed ter N
'twuz wuss n the horrors, cause I WIZ
sane m cool n collected. The eyes wuz
black n foot or more across. m when
! looked into EN- 1 see meself a-com-
In"
He was silent for minute, but shaking
as If with palsy. laid my hand on his
arm, not knowing what to say, and he
looked up wistfully, saying: Thanks,
Bhipmate; thet's good" Then he went
on agaInI
1.-THE whole Thing went back ards, TAX
in US alongi N 1 remember thinkin' ez
we went Of the other Kanakers below
that hedn't come back. herd the bub-
bles IS each OF us left the sunshine, but
never O. cry, never another SCUM. The
las thing remember seem Dove me
Wu2 tn eend of the schooner's main
boom, which wuz guyed out to larberd
some, n looked like a big arm struck
stiff an helpless, though wishful to save.
Down I went, that clingin' snaky coil
round me tighter N my skin. But wut
wuz strangest ter me wuz the fact that
not only didn't drown, but felt no sort