The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-03-07
CHAPTER X.
THE VOYAGE,

IftL No1HIEA. .
All that night we We're in a great
hustle getting things slowed IN their
place, and boatfuls of the squire's
friends, Mr.. Blandly and the like, COM
ing off to wish him a good voyage and
a safe return. We never a O. night
at the Admiral Isenbow when | had
half the work; and / was dog-tired
when, o. little before dawn. the boat
swain sounded his pipe, and the crew
began to man the capstan bars. might
have been twice as weary, yet l would
not have left the deck; all was so new
and interesting to me-the brief COM
mands, the shrill notes of the whistle,
the men busting to their places in the
glimmer of the ships lanterns.
Nov, Barbecue, tip us a staVe,
cried II voice.
LAY. ay, Mates said Long John.
who was standing by, with his crutch
under his arm, and at once broke out
in the air and words l Knew SO well:
1.-THE old one cried another.
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest
And then the whole crew bore Choir
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle Of rum!
And at the third "ho!" drove the bars
before them with a will.
Even at that exciting momen it car
ried me back to the old Admiral Ben
bow in n second; and / seemed to hear
the voice of the captain piping in the
chorus. But soon the anchor was short
up; soon it was hanging dripping at
the bows: soon the sails began to draw,
and the land and shipping to fit by on
either side; and before 1 could lie down
to snatch an hour Of slumber the His
PAMELA" had begun her voyage to the
Isle Of Treasure.
/ am not going to relat the voy-
age in detail. 1t was fairly prosperous
The ship proved to be n good ship, the
crew were capable seamen and the
captain thoroughly understood his
business. But before we came the
length of Treasure Island, two or three
things had happened which require tc
be known.
Mr.. Arrow, first of all, turned Out
even worse thar the captain had feared
He had no command among the men
and people did what they pleased witt
him. But that was by no means the
worst of it: for after a day or two a
sea he began to appear on deck viii
hazy eye, red cheeks, suffering
tongue, and other marks Of drunken
ness. Time after time he was ordered
below in disgrace. Sometimes he fel
and cut himself; sometimes he lay al
day long in his little bunk at one sid
Of the companions; sometimes for a da.
: or two he would be almost sober ant
attend to his work at least passably
In the meantime, we could neve
make out where he got the drink. h
was the ships mystery. Watch him a
we pleased, we could do nothing to solv
[ it; and when we asked him to his face
{ he would only laugh, if he were drunk
| and If he were sober. deny solemn
thai he never tasted anything blu
:, water.
: He was not only useless as an officer
: and q bad influence amongst the mer
but 1t was plain that at this rate h
must soon Kill himself outright; S
: nobody was much surprised, nor yer
sorry when one dark night, with
head sea, he disappeared entirely an
, was seen no more.
"~Overboard!' said the captain. "Wel
gentlemen, that saves the trouble {
putting him in irons"
(. But there we were, without a mat
I and 1t was necessary, OF course, to &C
, vance one Of the men. The boatsWail
Job Anderson, was the likeliest ma
aboard, and. though he kept his OIL
title, he served in a way as mate. NJ
Trelawney had followed the sea, All
8 his knowledge made him very usefu
for he often took a watch himself
d easy weather. And the cockswain, Il
rael Hands, was a careful, willy. old, e.
o per1enced eama VINO could be truSte
d at a pinch with almost anything.
n He was a great confidant of Lor
e John Silver, and SO the mention Of h
Is name leads me to speak Of our ship
Le cook, Barbecue, as the men called hir
j. Aboard ship he carried his crutch |
a lanyard round his neck, to have DO
hands as free as possible. 1t was som
ID thing to see him wedge the foot OF Il
x crutch against a bulkhead, and, propp,
II against it, yielding to every moveme
lie OF TIE ship, get on with his cooking Iii
he some one safe axsNore. Still mo