Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-01-04

"Well, next day was fine, with just
bit of breeze as kept the larque
steady under all sail, and as we were
only making about four knots an hour,
I reckoned this was the time for the
final scene. So whistled to the gal
to get ready, and then ! got old
of all the buoys 1 could find
and pitched 'em astern when nobody
wasn't looking. Next l slipped off
my boots and dropped quietly over
the side.
when looked up seed the gal
a-looking as if she was a-wondering
'ow cold it was. And then all OF
sudden she give yell, and dived in
and come swimming toward me like
fish.
'Lor, the commotion there was on
board when they heard that yell!
First,.up come the skipper from below.
He looked astern and saw the girl in
the water. Off went is coat, and
splash e came after 'er. Then I seed
the cook rush out of the galley. e
took in the situation, and the next
moment e was taking header from
the stern. Two seaman as 'ad 'eard
the cry next tumbled over, and Isfore
'ad time to 'oller out and tell 'em it
was all right the other two seamen
and the boy was bobbing about in
the water.
by this time the gal 'ad got to me.
and we was each of us angling to
buoy. Away in the wake of the barque
w n hp1
about, and one by one they they came
up to lis and colared old of buoy,
to wait for what was going to 'appen
next. And all the time that blamed
barque was standing away under full
sail as if nothing 'ad 'appened.
Suddenly the skipper looked round
aEd said something as didn't seem to
just fit the occasion.
"'Who's left in charge of that bar
que?' he yelled.
Nobody answered, and then e
looked round agen and counted us all
as we was bobbing about together.
E counted us twice, and then he
swore agen.
"'How dare you leave the ship
without my orders?' he shouted.
Don't you see that there isn't a man
on the barque, and that we're left here
like flock of fools while she drifts
ON to the nearest lee shore?'
Somebody begun to giggle, and
the skipper swore as ed blow is
brains out if e found out who it was.
The gal said it was 'er, and sure
enough she was a-laughing away as if
it was the best fun in the world, while
there was the crew of the Liza Jane
a-bobbing about in the water, while
our ship was a-sailing steadily away
by 'erself, without and to guide
'er from the cruel rocks. 1t was an
awful moment for me, as 'ad bin
the unwilling cause of it all, and it
scanned as if the utter uselessness of
women was fact, after all.
''But there was the gal, still smil-
ing, and when tramp steamer picked
us up and carried us to Plymouth she
wanted the skipper to report lis to the
authorities as picnic party as 'ad
got out of our depth. But the old
man was wild with the loss of is ship,
and e couldn't do nothing but stamp
about aud threaten to kill us all.
"We did ear afterwards that the
Liza Jane 'ad stood out to sea and
went down in squall somewhere in
the region of the tropics. And that's
as likely as not, for we never set eyes
on er again.
"And when the skipper got over it
and come to look upon things in the
right spirit he sorter veered round to
the conclusion that comfortable 'ome
and good-looking wife wasn't such
a poor conclusion after all. No more
was the fifty pounds each OF us got for