The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-03-26
A TAR'S REVENGE.

"A IAN y III V Emu T..
A strange man was Tom Dalton, first
mate of the whaler ronbow-a strong man
among the strong ones. In person he was
six feet in height and well proportional,
and for muscular power he beat anything
I ever saw in my life. Yet somehow in
looking at his face one couldn't get over
the idea that he had suffered great sorrow
or had some wrong to avenge He seemed
to be always looking for some one, and we
never had new mate and he never met
stranger but he'd give one single, pene-
trating look and then drop his eyes, as if
it WASH IT the man he was looking for
I told him one day how he seemed to
affect me, and he gave me one of his
strange looks.
"Yes, Jack, my boy he said, "I'm
looking for man, and I'll find him yet,
please Godl You may be thankful for one
thing, my lad. .
"And what is thatP" said.
"That you are not the one I'm looking
for" he answered, with look / didn t
understand then, but learned the meaning
later. tSee here, Jack, must trust some
one or this thing will drive me mad
want to find man with the little finger
gone from the right hand-a sailorman,
with three stars in India ink in the palm
of his right hand and the letter G below
them. Find me that man and you'll dc
an old mate a kindness That's all i've
got to say.
was a carpenter on the Ironbow, and
we had a captain who was terror. Oh,
he was tough old salt, with face the
color of mahogany and a voice like the
roar of the wind in gale A stove boat
made him happy, if he only got the whale.
That's all he asked.
But we filled early in the season and
ran into port to get rid of our cargo, reft
a little and get some fresh provisions.
While we lay there a man came to the cap
tain and wanted to ship as harpooner. He
was fine, tall fellow, just the kind of a
man a skipper would banker after, and he
proved to the captains satisfaction that
he was good harpooner too.
He sailed under the name of Gus Will
liams and was every inch a sailor, with a
handsome face, black curling hair, and q
devil may care look in his eyes. Although
he was hail fellow we'll met with the crew,
Ididn't like the look of the man and made
up my mind that didn't want him for a
chum. If I'd known what he was it seems
to me now that I'd have dropped him over
the rail some dark night before we were
fairly out of port.
The captain shipped him when Tom
Dalton was away on another island look
ing after Kanaka or two that used to
sail with him, and so it happened that
they didn't meet until the night before we
sailed, and as he always did, Tom looked
at the new man hard for moment and
then turned away.
When the new man heard the name of
the mate, thought he gave little start
and turned a tride pale, though why he
did that didn't understand.
We were well out to sea and bowling
along before ten knot breeze when Tom
came to me as stood by the rail.
ssWhere does Gus Williams hail from,
Jack?" he asked
"Martha's Vineyard he says. won't
answer for it that he tells the truth, re
piled.
''Do you like him?'
'sNo. He's got the devil in him some
where and it's bound to come out. He's
as queer stick as ever / saw in my life
and 1 don't want to chum with him.
There was one thing about Gus that was
rather queer, and l asked him one day
why he wore the finger of an old glove on
his right hand He said he had got bad
Joint there, and he had to wear cover to
keep the salt water out.
I didn't mind that so much, but one
day was working on a boat and he was
helping me and holding the spike and
somehow l managed to hit him on the
finger covered by the glove and he didn t
even finch, and then was sure of one
thing, and that was that he had no finger
inside the glove.
didn't say anything, but somehow it
struck ME as queer that this man should
have a finger missing, and Tom had asked
me to look for such man.
l didn't think any more of it until one
night In the forecastle, when we were all
pretty full of grog, the young men got to
Dragging about themselves and the girls,
and Gus Williams looked up and laughed.
"You might brag if you had the luck
I've had" he said There's only one
thing on my conscience after all, and that S
about a pretty maid I made love to in
Nantucket years ago, and then left with
cut word. Poor little thing | wonder
what came to her?"
''Mayhe I can tell you, said quiet
voice, THAT is, if her name was Mary
Rake
We ALI looked m and saw that Ton
Dalton had come into the forecastie
s.Tbat's her name. y replied Gus. nod
ding his head with drunken gravity. while
ne raised his right hand to his mouth,
showing the palm plainly. There in plain
view were the three stars and the letter G.
81 reckon you've led wild life, Gus, !"
said the mate seating himself on locker.
"Seems to me l heard something of that
warn myself, Didn't you promise to marry
her and do your best to make her set her
heart on you, and then leave her letter
to say you were never coming back?'
"Why, yes. Perhaps 1 ought not to have
done it, but it was jolly fun to mako love
to her. Marry her? 1 wouldn't do that,
for had wife in Bedford. But didn It
tell her that-oh, no, nor
And then he broke into careless song,
such one as sailor loves, and the mate
got up and went out, with such look as
never saw on mans face before, and
never want to see again. He didn't say
anything to me, and l noticed he never
looked at Gus Williams again