The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-02-12

than on the strange and UNLIKELY looH

than on the strange and unlikely looks
of his new models.
And so in the long summer evenings
pondered and labored, the rest of us
smoked our cigarillos, drank palm
wine, spun yarns of mermaidens and
sea monsters and giants such as Ma
gellan found by the icy southern ocean.
And sometimes we sang the old sea
songs of England, and sometimes again
new songs of Spanish torture, Of blood
and of revenge, songs which the old
man made for us and which he delight
ed to teach us to sing. Cruel, devilish
songs they were, and the old mans
weird laughter ran through the chorus
like demons accompaniment, but to |
some of us their very horror was their
charm.
But when the labor of collecting the
planks and timbers was nearly over by
our captains orders we others began
building toy ship of our own, design
ing her upon what we considered the
fastest and handiest lines, making her
in fact model from which, as we be-
lieved, the larger vessel for which we
had collected our material could best
be built Put upon our mettle by
challenge to pit our brains against the
captains, we spared no pains to per-
feet. the details of our little craft. and
so from boltsprit to mizzen, from the
poop lanterns to the heavy round tops,
from forecastle to aftercastle, she was
as pretty plaything as the heart of
sailor could desire. And that when put
to the trial she would prove fastest in
sailing, quickest in getting about and
handiest to fight her builders had not
doubt.
1t was declared holiday when the
two little vessels were placed in COM
petition on the ruff1ed waters of the
harbor, and after slowing the Span
iards away snugly in their Jail Except
some half a score who were dispatched
on pig hunt and afterward We're the
cause of no little uneasness to uS) all
hands assembled to see the trial.
Two courses were to be sailed-one
dead run before the wind, the other a
trial of speed close hauled-for, as Will
lie Trehalion justly put it, "a haystack
can drift, but it takes a tidy ship to
run to windward in anything like
weather"
Alec captained his own bark and l
ours, and when each navigator had
trimmed sails the two vessels were
| headed, with the wind straight Off
shore, toward the other side of the
| harbor.
AS regards looks, our bark unques-
tionably made the drawer show. Her
square stern lowered out of the wa
ter like the gable of some quaint old
house, and her frowning ports COM
manded the sea all around. Her
courses, topsails, spritsail and mizzen
bellied out in graceful curves, and her
bluff, sturdy bow rode over the wave
lets like some FESTIVE charger and
churned them into foam beneath her
keel Proud would the pygmy captain
have been who could have stood Oh
that lofty poop and looked down al
the pygmy crew in the waist below
as they passed in and out of the doors
of their house in the forecastle. She
was a pretty craft and one that made
a mariners heart burn within him In
joyful anticipation of her certain vic
tory.
Alec's vessel caused no such thrill
: She was low in the water had no cas-
tie forward, had not even RAISED
poop and possessed but one deck ant
that flush through all its length. He
bows We're sharp and much cut away
which augured i'll for her safety in ;
, heavy sea Though truth to tell sh,
seemed to ride over the ell high wave
Of the harbor as dry as our own YES
seD. and her stern was pared down t.
, nothing where the rudder meets TIL
, water. A strange sight truly.
| But it was her rig which excited on
l greatest wonder. Her two pole mast
| had no round tops and but little o
] shrouds or stays. Moreover. they cal
9 ried nothing but fore and aft canvas
= oblong sails hoisted between gaff an
4 boom inboard and triangular sails o
the boltsprit. She had only four sail
/ in all, and so strangely We're they GU
d that there was no sign of bag in thel
v except when she was running free
n and in a word they set as fiat a
: boards.
O Yet in spite of all our vessel did nc
J. show the other craft her heels, b,
f. seemed rather to be straining ever
splinter to keep her place.
n The two went ashore within thre
70 seconds of one another, and the me
b who were waiting their arrival toe
them up and hailed that Captain II
lands boat was first
IA All, WE'LL we'd see what she could {
a on a wind. Not much there, some of ,
10 fancied.
= Once more sail was trimmed, and tt
=, little craft were set to claw off des
70 lee shore, with what was to them
is heavy beam sea running. 1t was
"A task in which many we'll found sh
of great tonnage had utterly failed, I
, p thousands of rock gashed corpses CT
Il. witness, and we, for our part, were u
10 willing to try it. Alec, however, 50
NJ his vessel could thrash through, and
= fr>,, 1,o,, 100