The sun., 1903-10-18

Of the drowned mate-Trig Olafsen. The
appartion leaped clear Of coal pile and
landed at the foot of the gangway. The
cabin boy, cleaning the gangway brass
looked up. gave a frightened scream and
bolted down into the cabin.
Only one man above there had never
seen the mates big figure, and he was
the dock watchman. As he did not SEQ
anything particularly ghostly in it this
first time. and besides. had a pretty clear
conscience. he took no part in the panic
that followed. He is the only one capable
OF giving concise. impartial account
OF what happencd-the rest shiver yet
when they think OF it.
have heard the watchman tell the story
several times, and he always tells it in
humorous vein. To him it was extremely
funny. You see, he did not know the
mate should have been dead ten days.
Irig Olafsen came up the gangway
his head thrown up like that Of a lion
smelling fresh meat. Tie plank quvered
beneath his ponderous tread.
His huge mus,Gche trailed back over his
set jaws, his hair brstled and his big, hairy
arms were swollen and bare to the elbows
for he had thrown otf his hat and coat on
the dock He rcrse,i at TIE top for just
one moment, then, wit q rear like breakers
on reef. he bounded to the deck.
The watchnan says he never saw such q
wild SCRAMBLED couldn't lie compared
to the panic at Weikiki. w;icn the tiger cot
loose in the circus merla erie. Not only
the ship, but the whole island was much
tor e. ~ ~ a.,
The gEost seized a copstan bar from
the rack az l.c break Of the poop and
charged inids'lips Five Of tie men leaped
overheard and swan frantcally across
the harbor TO the mail dock. Two fled up
the rigging and the res, sprang to the dock,
drop of nearly ten feet.
Up the track they pelted, Trig Olafsen
after them, huring the capstan bar ahead
OF him. picking 1t up again when he got to
it. and roaring out blood c,irdling oat!s in
Morse and English all the while.
Here the watchman became hysterical
and saw no more until Olafsen reappcared
on the deserted deck. roaring and fuming
among the empty coal buckets and using
most unghostly language.
Then the skipper came up from below
and staggered against the skylight, white
as a water soaked corpse.
What in de name of de Flying Dutch
mans fgurehead ye starin' at me like dat
for" roarel Trig Olafsen.
He really didn't swear by the Flying
Dutchman's fgurehead it was something
decidedly more expressive than that.
The captain recovered--no drowned man
could swear like that no living man could
swear like that but Trig Olafsen, in flesh
and blood.
The skipper and the mate approached
each other, but what they said the watch
man could not hear. Finally both went
below into the cabin
None Of the mates watch came aboard
came struggling aboard toward dusk.
They had no guilty consciences to keep
them away.
The others made for the hills up by the
Pail and were captured by the police next
day and brought aboard in irons. The
mate himself conducted the hunt, but
lodged no complaint against them: he
only wanted them with him on the passa &c
to Frisco.
OF course, he left Honolulu on the Aloha
as mate The record of that passage is
lost to authentic history, but occasionally
YOU meet a sailor who will tell you that there
really is hell, because he has been there.
The port watch OF tho Aloha reached
Frisco alive that passage, but they were
carried ashore on stretchers aboard the
marine hospital launch, Nor was Trig
Olafsen ever heard to complain Of having
He ool1 trt hat
passage with a big complacent smile that
sends his two lip whiskers up like bull
horns.
Now to his story. He only tells it when
, he is drunk. He wceps and laughs by turns,
but you do neither you listen, spellbound.
And after he has finished you know why the
Vikings of old ruled the sea.
He begins by swearing at the spanker
sheet block. Never trust a spnnker sheet
block when it jams. You can't depend
on it; it's treacherous, he says.
1t usually takes five beers to bring him
through treatise on its proper manage
ment About then he will plunge into his
story, as be plunged into the tropical sea
that la morning,
When he rose he saw the Aloha's stern
fading into the darkness.
Haul In on your fore braces" he roared
expecting to hear the shouts Of the watch
and the rattle of blocks and cordage. But
he heard only the tapping Of the still seeth-
ing wake about him. and then suddenly
he realized the truth. The stern light
! dwindled and at last danced far of, mere
speck.
I can see him yet az he described that
moment The dark pupils of his eyes
spread, and those big mustaches stood
straight out as though he held a stick be-
tween his clenched teeth.
DE hounds" he grinds, -dey will leave