Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-02-01
PART /.
THE OLD B~UCCANEER.
CHAPTER L.
THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE AID.
MIRAL BENBOW.

asked me to write down the Who'll,
particulars about Treasure Island, from
h beginning to the end, keeping moth
ing back but the bearings of the isl
and, and that only because there Il
still treasure not yet lifted, / take VI
my pen in the year of grace IL, anC
go back to the time when my fatheI
kept the Admiral Benbow inn, and thu
brown old eaman with the saber cut
first took up his lodgings under oul
roof.
l remember him as IL il were yester
day, as he came plodding to the I'M
door, his sea chest following behind
him in a and barrow; a tan, strong
heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pig
tail falling over the shoulders Of hi.
soiled blue coat; his hands ragged ant
Scared, with black, broken nails, and
the saber cut across cheek, a dirty
livid white. l remember him looking
round the o V and whistling to him.
self as he did so, and then breaking ou'
In that old sea song hat he sung Sc
often afterwards;
Fifteen. men on the dead mans chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
In the hight, old lettering voice that
seemed to have been tuned and broker
at the capstan bars Then he raped
on the door with a bit Of stick like o
handspike that he carried, ard wher
my father appeared called roughly foI
q glass of rum. This, when it was
brought to him. he drank slowly, like q
connOisseur, lingering on the taste
and still looking about him at the
cliffs and up at our s~ignboard.
This is n handy cove" says he, al
length; and a pleasant sittyated
grog-shop. Much company, mate?'
My father told him no., very little
COmnnnV tho mora NVoc tho nity
Well, then" said he, this is the
berth for me, Here you, matey," he
cried to the man who trundled the bar
row; bring up alongside and hep ur
my chest. I'll stay here a Bit" he con-
tinued. I'm n plain man; rum and
bacon and eggs is what L want, and
that head Up there for to watch ships
OFF. What you mought call me? You
mought call me captain. oh, / see
what you're at-there;" and he threw
down three or four gold pieces on the
threshold. You can tell me when I've
worked through that" says he, looking
as fierce as q commander.
And, indeed, bad as his clothes were,
and coarsely as he spoke, he had none
or the appearance of a man who sailed
before the mast; but seemed like n
mate or skipper, accustomed TO be
obeyed or to strike. The man who
came with the barrow told US the mail
had set him down the morning before
at the Royal George; hat he had In
CURED what inn there were along the
coast, and hearing ours well spoken Of,
l suppose, n described as lonely, had
chosen It from the others for his place
residence. And that was all we
learn Of our guest.
He was a very silent man by custom.
All day he hung around the cove, or
the cliffs. with q brass telescope:
all evening he sat in a corner of the
parlor next the fire, and drank rum
n water very strong. Mostly he
would not speak when spoken to; only
up suddenly and fierce, and blow
through his nose like q fog horn; and
we and the people who came about our
house soon learned to let him be.
day, when he came back from
his stroll, he would ask If any scafar-
men had gone along by the road?
first we thought it was the want Of
company of his kind that made him
ask this question; but at last we be-
TO see he vas DESTROYS to avoid
them. When a seaman put up at the
Benbow Gas now and then
did. making by the coast road
for BRISTOL, he would look at him
through the curtained door before he
entered the parlor; and he was always
sure to be as silent as q mouse when
any such was present. For me, at least,
there was no secret about The matter;
l was, in a way, a sharer of his
He had taken me aside one day, and
promised me a silver fourpenny on the
of every month If / would only
keep my "weather-eye open for a sea-
man with one Leg" and let him
knnuy fhA Y,,nrannt 10 De.--
enough, when the first of the month
round, and l applied to him for
wage, he would only blow through
his nose at me, and stare me down, but
the week was out he wa sure to
think better Of ii, bring me my four
penny piece, and repeat his orders to
Iook out for 1.-The ~seafaring man with
one leg"
How that parsonage haunted my
ireams. | need scarcely tell you. On
nights, when the wind shook
the -four n Of the house, and the
surf roared along the cove and up the
cliffs, / would see him in a thousand
forms, n with a thousand diabolical
expressions. Now the leg would be cut
at the knee, now at the hip: now he
vas a monstrouS kind of "a creature
n had had but the one leg.
md that In the middle of his body. To
zee him leap and run and pursue me
hedge and ditch, was the worst Of
Nightmares. And altogether l paid
pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny
piece in the shape Of these abominable
But though | was so terrified by the
dea of the ~seafaring mar with one leg.
was far less afraid Of the captain
himself than anybody else who knew
Nm. There were nights when he took
deal more rum and water thar his
a would carry; and then he would
sit n sing his wicked. old.
Wild sea songs, minding nobody: but
he would call for glasses
'ound, and force all the trembling com
to listen to his stories or bear q
'horus to his singing. Often l have
leard the house shaking with "Yo-ho-
and a bottle of rum, all the neigh
,ors joining in for lear life, with the
ear Of death upon them, and each.
louder than the other, to avoid
emark. For in these fits he was the
most overriding companion ever
,nown; he would slap his hand on the
able for silence all round; he would
~ up in n passion of anger at q aues-
or sometimes because nom was
tut and so he judged the company was
lot following his story. Nor would he
.ilOW any one 10 leaVe the Inn till he
lad drunk himself sleepy and reeled
IF to bed.
His stories were what frightened
worst of all. Dreadful stories
hey We're; about hanging, and walk
ng the plank, and storms at sea, and
Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and
laces on the Spanish main, BY his
wn account, he must have lived his
.fe among some of the w%ickedest men
Tod ever allowed upon the sea; and
he language in which he told these
tories s1sochsd our plain country peo-
lie almost as much as the crimes that
e described. My father was always
aging that the inn would be ruined.
or people would soon cease coming
here to be tyrannized over and put
own, and sent shivering to their beds:
ut l really believe his presence did us
God. People We're. frightened at the
me, but on looking back they rather
ked IT; 1t was a fine excitement in a
uiet country life; and there was even
party of the younger men who pre-
20 n1xatrA- Itx~