The St. Mary banner., 1901-11-09
THE MADMAN.
By K. l..

kH3Hee1H!UsSsSsss
A good ship" was the Atlanta in the
!. full sense of the phrase. She was well
oficered and manned, and the treatment,
discipline and morale Of the whole ships
company were such as to make the voy-
age 4 pleasant one. .s.-
Ijoined her at Coquimbo, on the coast
of Chill, shipping simply for the run.
AT Tongoy, where she received her. first
Iin5AhAerts Of cargo, a man was shipped
s1hy signed his name Edward Barry.
But Jack never goes as far the ships
articles to seek a name for a new ship
mate. From hislgrave, serious expres-
sion of face and certain little peculiari-
ties of manner, Barry received the title
of "the Parson;" and as "Parson' was
he known and addressed thenceforth.
] Parson was tall. muscular fellow and
a good seaman. But he was moody and
reserved, acting very strangely at times,
80. that the boys stood in fear of him and
the men. shook their heads sagely. de-
claring that Parsons ballast wasn't
properly slowed and that there was
something cranky about him.
He would 90 aside from his watch
mates and walk the deck by himself for
hours together, sometimes Tapping his
arms about and gesticulating furiously,
and again folding his hands behind his
back and marching with his face upturn-
ed to the sky.
He was also. given to sort of walk
InR somnambulism during his watches
below, and was likely to be found in the
most unlikely and out-of-the-way places
when called at eight bells. Thus. it was
mo! uncommon thing to find that he had
while on several occasions he had been
discovered astride the flying jibboom
end. and once on the lee fore-yard arm.
But while acting under any direct or.
der, he was intelligent and willing, and
always respectful to his officer.
slept under his bunk, instead OF in 1t;
I'VE had quick passage round the
! Horn and had run down into the low
latitude on the Atlantic side, when one
night it was Parsons turnout wheel in
the middle watch, and he was not to be
found where every wefl-conducted sea-
man Is supposed to be at such times
snoring Justify in his bunk. Search was
made for him at first without success.
until the boy Tonawanda $50 called
from the name of Philadelphia ship in
which he had sailed), looking over the
bows, discovered him riding the chain
bobstays, with his back against the surve
of the ships head and his long legs
dangling almost in the water.
"Halloo, ParsonT l hailed, looking
over the head-sail.
"Halloo back againi Is the watch
calledr he inquired, In an absent way,
as if just waking.
., "Yes. It's your turnout wheel, you
know"
"Ay, ay; so It's" said he. "Ah
right"
And climbing in between the knight
heads, he went striding aft with his head
~ thrown back and the point Of his nose
|. erect in air, answering not word to
the questions and remarks OF his ship
mates. But we had all become accus-
toned to see his eccentricities and had
, nearly ceased to regard them with fear
or anxiety. They furnished rather
source of amusement to an r. @
= = Loco" said little Chifeno, Augustin'
Touching his own forehead with q CONT
cal leer.
GAY you may we'll say it." said old
Bolt. the man-o' wars man. Hes the
gioco1est chap that ever l was shipmate
with. That is to say. he shifts his BAL
last the oftenest; but he always rights
again" 3E -re
g Presently the ship came flying up m
I to the wind. with head-sails Stating.
- All back, forwardr' sang out Bolt
@"Parsoh's star-gazing," he added. in a
lower tone .e
"Mind your helm there, Parson What
arg you : doing!" shouted the mate; :;
Hard up, quick, or you'll have her
The sentence was cut short by the
.sound Of heavy fall, and the next mo-
. ment the Parson, hatless, with his long
hair flying in the breeze, dashed among
use with 4 cleaning shcath-knife eiusen-
ed In his hand. sgtf
: We needed to ask no questions :.
A single look was sufficient; we all
felt that We were in the presence OF q
madm8n.
We Involuntary shr.nk back to give
him room. as he rushed through the
group. Old Bolt received back.hanaed
cut In the face from the sheatn -knani