Evening journal., 1909-01-21
He Got Even.


copyright, 1905, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
OF Rio de Janeiro a dozen OF more
sailors we're lolling on the forecastle.
1t was still, clear night, and the full
moon made all nearly as light as day.
Il seen more light one night" said
one with rings in bis ears.
ooh, come. Philosopher Jack. Is this
starter for one o. your spooky
yarnsT
There's some as knows so much" Z"
the philosopher retorted contemptuous-
". "as v can't tell 'em nothin'
What's this yere earth a-hangin' to?
Can y tell me thatT
There was a silence, denoting that
the question was above the audience.
Philosopher Jack continued:
"I'll spin y yarn as is a yarn, an
II " can explain it when I git through
I'll turn v over my grog an duff 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 a
quarter deck. We was in Bering sea
for seals an not gettin' any. This
made the cap'n wo'se'n ever. He did
nothin' but cuss us from sunup till
sunset an durin' the night. too, when
he was ON deck. There was one O.
the men, Tom Blake, the<capn seemed
to hate wo'se'n the rest O. us, a lean,
corpse-like lookin' feller with great
big eyes that stared like the blinkers
O. dead man. We coTdn't make out
whether the capn ha%d Tom wo'se
or was afraid O. him wo'se. Leasta-
ways, Tom would look at the cap'n
out O. them great eyes o hisn. an the
cap'n would git into passion with
him at oncet But ! always noticed
that he trembled in his rage.
zone day the cap'n ordered Tom
to so aloft. The mercury stood 20
degrees below zero, the ship was
a-rolln, and the spray was maxim
ice high upon the ratlines, even on to
the spars.
I'm so cold said Tom, that !
couldn't git up there, an if l did |
couldn't hold on
you git up there yelled the cap'n.
seizin a belayin pin. or I'll brain "
TON went on to the ratlines, an
when he got a little ways up be
looked down at the cap'n. an he said
says he:
"I'm goin' to my doom. but l tell
y, Cap'n Tomkins. some day I'll git
even with W
"He climbed on up the ratlines an
crawled out on to the yard, where the
cap'n had ordered him. A big wave
struck us. there was a cloud O. icy
spray, an when it cleared Tom wa.
nowheres.
Il couldn't make out whether the
cap'n was satisfied at gittin' rid o
Tom Blake or whether he felt in the
dumps about 1t. Leastaways he didn't
cuss us so much after that an wai
kind o cringin-like.
after spendin' a good while in
Bering sea we passed through the
straits. One night we was beatin
northward into the Arctic ocean. Oul
latitude was someres about 81 degrees
north. longitude 10 west: midway be
tween Point Hope and Cape Serdze
Well. that's the night / was referrin
TO a spell ago. never seen such al
aurora in my life before. ItSwai
a-hashin' an a-fiickerin' an a-futterin
sometimes like a million O. little Whit
Tags or straight searchllghts shootin
n TO the sky. The cap'n was on dech
n it seemed TO kind 'terrify hin
on see. although 1t was so light. VI
uldn't make out nothln'.
- believe the devils tryin' &
recls us. he said. an. coming dow
the poop deck. he went for'ard IA
ood on the bowsprlt SOS he could Sc
otter
There seemed to be 4 white clou'
lead Leastaways it looked like
oud, but with the Aurora dancir
)out it wasn't always there. Tn
pm stared at It. tryin' TO make
4. stood down on the fo'castl
akin too. First thing either OF Il
luwed we heard q grind the howspr
.apncd. an a lot O. Ice fell on th
Nk One chunk that must a weigh
n ton struck the cap'n an' knocke