The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1908-12-03
He Got Even.

moon made all nearly as light as day.
II seen more light one night" said
one with rings In his cars
"Ob, come Philosopher Jack. Is this
a starter for one o. your spooky
yarnsr
There's some as knows so much,"
the philosopher retorted contemptuops-
ly, "as y can't tell 'em nothin'.
What's this yere earth a-hangin' to7
Can v tell me thatT'
There was a silence, denoting that
the question was above the audience.
Philosopher Jack continued:
'I'll spin y a yarn as is n yarn. an
II " can explain 1t when git through
I'll turn y over my grog an dun for
the rest o. the cruise. Y don't know
what the earth's hangIn' on to. an y
don't know what becomes of us when
We go aloft'
THE cap'n o. the Clara Keep was
the worst tyrant that ever walked n
quarter deck. We was in Berlng sea
for seals an not gettin' any. This
made the cap'n wc'se'n ever. He did
nothin' but cuss us from sunup Till
he was on deck. There was one o.
the men, Tom Blake the capn seemed
70 hate wo'se'n the rest O. us. lean.
corpse-like lookin' feiler with great
big eyes that stared like the blnkers
O a dead. man. We couldn't make out
whether the cap'n hated Tom worse
or was afraid O. him wo'se Leasta-
ways, Tom would look at the cap'n
out o. them great eyes O. hlsn. an the
cap'n would git into a passion with
him at oncet But | always noticed
that he trembled In his rage
"one day the capn ordered Tom
TO go aloft. The mercury stood 20
degrees below zero, the ship was
a-rolIln', and the spray was maxim
ice high upon the ratlines, cyen on to
the spars.
I'm so cold said Tom. that
couldn't git up there. an II ! did /
couldn't hold on
"'You git un there yelled the cap'n,
seizln' belayln' pin. or I'll brain "!
Tom went on to the ratlines. an
when he got little ways up he
looked down at the cap'n. an he said,
says he:
"T'm goin' 70 my doom. but tell
y, Cap'n Tomkins some day I'll git
even with y'r
HE climbed on up the ratlincs an
crawled out on to the yard. where the
cap'n had ordered him. A big wave
struck us. there was q cloud O. icy
spray, an when It cleared Tom was
nowkeres
Il couldn't make out whether the
cap'n was satisfied at glttin' rid o.
Tom Blake or whether be felt In the
dumps about It. Leastaways he didn't
cuss us so much after that an was
kind O. cringin'-like
After spendin' good while in
Bering sea we passed through the
straits. One night we was beatin'
northward into the Arctic ocean. Our
latitude was som'eres about 81 degrees
north. longitude 1T0 west. midway be
tween Point Hope and Cape Serdze.
Well. that's the night | was referrin'
10 a spell ago. l never seen such nm
aurora In my life before. 1t was
a-fashIn' an fiickerin' an a-fiutterin
sometimes like million o. little white
fiags or straight seerchIIghts shoohn'
up to the sky. The cap'n was on deck,
an II seemed to kind 'terrify him
You see. although It was so light. we
couldn'k make out nothln
81 believe the DEVILS tryln to
wreck u.s. be said, an. coming down
off the poop deck. he went forard an
stood Oh the bowsprit SOS he could see
better.
There seemed TO be a white cloud
ahead. Leastaways It looked like a
cloud. but with the Aurora dancin'
about II wasn't always there. The
capn stared at II. tryin to make It
out. stood down on the focastle
lookin too. First thing either OF US
kno~'ed we heard Il grind. the bowspriI
snapped. an a lot o. ice fell on the
deck. One chunk that must a weigh
ed a ton struck the cap'n an knocked
him overheard.
We didn't all of US hear It. Bill
O'Brien said he did. but Pete Gallo.
way. who was standln' near as any OF
US. says be didn't"
"'What. the ice comm aboard"
A1- NNNs nNs OHl AhN misty iDNk'
in mass It was an Iceberg we struck
l heard as plain as ! ever heard any
thing the voice o. Tom Blake sayiD'
softlike:
Tim here. Cap'n Tomkins'
The speaker paused Not word
was spoken by his listeners for some
moments. awed as they were by the
story. when Philosopher Jack con
tinued:
1T wouldn't make any difference "a
me II was the only one as heard IT,
but some o. the watch dii besides me
thort o. that poor feiler slippin' into
the ley sea, an somehow | knowed he'd
got even
I'VE expected to hgd a hole in ouI
bottom. but we didn't The bowsprii
was the only thing damaged We
turned about, passed back through the
straits aud continued on home. Now
you fellers as knows everything. how
v goin TO explain what I've been tell
in' ~ Dye think there's reward an
Duneshmenf In the other world with