The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-12-10
He Got Even.

one with rings in his ears.
"Oh. come. Philosopher Jack. Is this
a starter for one O. your spooky
yarns7'
There's some as knows so much"
the philosopher retorted contcmptuous-
ly. "as y can't tell 'em nothin'.
What's this yere earth a-hangin' 10?
Can y tell me that7'
There was a silence, denoting that
the question was above the audience.
Philosopher Jack continued:
"Pll spin y a yarn as is yarn. an
II y 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 hangln' 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
quarter deck. We was In Bering sen
for seals an not gettin' any. This
made the cap'n wo'se'n ever. He did
nothln' but cuss us from sunup till
sunset an durln the night. too, when
he was on deck There was one o.
the men, Tom Blake, the cap'n seemed
to hate wo'se'n the rest o. us, n lean.
corpselike lookin' feller with great
big eyes that stared like the blinkers
o. n dead man. We couldn't make out
whether the capn hated Tom wose
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.
zone day the cap'n ordered Tom
to go aloft. The mercury stood 20
degrees below zero. the ship was
a-rollin', and the spray was maxim
ice high upon the ratllnus. even on to
the spars.
"T'm so cold said Tom, that
couldn't git mp there. an II | did /
couldn't hold on
You git up there yelled the cap'n,
selzln' a belayin pin. or I'll brain y'r
Tom went on to the rntlincs, an
when he got n little ways up he
looked down at the cap'n. an he said,
says he;
sim goin' to my doom. but tell
y, Cap'n Tomkins. some day I'll git
even with y'r
lie climbed on up the ratlnes an
crawled out on to the yard, where the
cap'n had ordered him. big wave
struck us, there was n cloud o. icy
spray, an when 1t cleared Tom was
nowheres.
II couldn't make out whether the
cap'n was satisfied at glttin' rid o.
Tom Blake or whether he felt in the
dumps about II. Leasta ways he dldni
cuss us so much after that an WI
kind o cringin'-like.
"After spendln' a good while IN
Bering sea we passed through the
straits. One night we was beatn
northward into the Arctic ocean. Our
latitude was som'eres about Ga degrees
north, longitude 10 west. midway bp
tween Point Hope and Cape Serdze
Well, that's the night was referrn'
TO spell ago. | never seen such an
aurora In my life before. II was
a-dashin' an a-flickerin' an a-hutterin
sometimes like million o. little white
flags or straight searchllghts shootin'
up TO the sky. The cap'n was on deck.
an 1t seemed to kind 'terrify him
You see. although It was so light. we
couldn't make out nothin'.
"T believe the DEVILS irwin "a
wreck u.s. he said. an coming down
of the poop deck. he went forard an
stood on the bowsprit SOS he could sec
better.
"There seemed to be a white cloud
ahead. Leasta ways II looked like n
cloud. but with the Aurora dancin
about 1t wasn't always there. The
cap'n stared at II. tryin' to make II
OUT. ! stood down on the fo'castlc
lookin' too. First thing either of us
knowed we heard a grind. the bowspril
deck. One chunk that must "a weigh.
ed ton struck the cap'n an knocked
him overheard.
1--WE didn't all Of us hear It. BIZ
O'Brien said he did. but Pete Gallo
way. who wns standin' near as any OF
us. says he didn't"
"'What, the ice comm nbonrdT
"The Ice. no! Out o. the misty look,
in' mass 1t was an iceberg we struck
heard AS plain ms | ever heard any
thing the voice o. Tom Blake sayin'
softlike;
"I'm 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:
at wouldn't make any difference to
me II was the only one as heard It.
but some o. the watch did besides me
thort O. that poor feller slppln' into
the icy sea. an somehowI i knowed he'd
got even.
I'VE expected to find hole In our
bottom, but we didn't The bowspril
was the only thing damaged We
turned about, passed back through the
straits and continued on home. Now
you fellers rs knows everything. how
" goin' TO explain what I've been tell.
In " Dye think there's reward an
punishment in the other world with
out a poor devil bein' able to git a lit
tie revenge here? Not much"
Whether or no there was anything