Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-01-04
He Got Even.

4 WAAA
one with rings in his ears.
"oh, come. Philosopher Jack. II thi
starter for one o. your spook,
yarnsT
There's some az knows so much,
the philosopher retoFted contemptuous
". "as " can't tell 'em nothIn'
What's this we're earth a-hangin' to
Can y tell me thatf
There was silence, denoting tina
the question was above the audience
Philosopher Jack continued:
I'll spin y yarn as IL a yarn, an
II y can explain It when | git through
I'll turn y over my grog an dun fol
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 wal
the worst tyrant that ever walked q
| quarter deck. We was in Boring 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 dnrin' the night. too, when
be was on deck. There was one o
the men, Tom Blake, the cap'n seemed
to bate wo'se'n the rest O. US. a lean,
corpse-llke lockln' Teller with great
big eyes that stared like the bIInkers
o dead man. We couldn't make out
whether the capn hated Tom wo'se
or was afraid o. him wo'se. Leasta.
ways, Tom would look at the cam
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.
"one day the cap'n ordered Tom
to go aloft. The mercury stood 90
degrees below zero, the ship was
a-rollin', and the spray was maxim
leo high upon the ratlines, even on to
the spars.
Tim 10 cold said Tom, that |
couldn't Git up there. an If did ]
couldn't hold on
You Sit up there yelled the cap'n.
seizin' a beIayln' pin. 'or I'll brain y'P
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 gOln' to my doom. but ! tell
v. Cap'n Tomkins. some day I'll git
oven with y'r
lie climbed on up the ratlines an
eTawled out on to the yard, wk--e the
cap'n had ordered him. A big wave
struck Us. there was a cloud o. icy
spray, an when II cleared Tom was
nowheres.
Il couldn't make out whether the
cap'n was satisfied ct glttln' rid O.
Tom Blake or whether be felt in the
dumps about Il Leasta ways he didn't
euss as 30 much after that an was
kind o. cringln.llke.
After spendin' a good while I'm
Boring 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 10 west, midway be.
tween Point Hope and Cape serdze.
Wen, that's the night | was referriu'
TO spell ago, never seen such an
aurora In my life before II was
a-nashln' an a-1ickerin' an a-dutterin.
sometimes like a million o. little white
nags or straight searchllghts shootln'
IN to the sky, The cap'n was on deck.
an II seemed to kind 'terrify him.
Xou see, although II was 80 light. we
couldn't make out nothln'.
- believe the devirs tryin' to
wreck us.' he said, an. coming down
on the poop deck. he went for'ard an
stood on the bowsprlt SOS be could see
betten
There seemed to be a white cloud
ahead, leastaways Il looked like
cloud, but with the Aurora dancin'
about Il wasn't always there. The
eap'n stared at II, tryln' to make Il
out. stood down on the fo'castIe
Iookin' too. First thing either OF US
Lnowed We heard grind. the bovsprlt
snapped, an lot o. Ice fell on the
ieck. One chunk that must "a weigh.
"a ton struck the cap'n an knocked
1im overheard.
I'VE didn't all OF us hear lt Bn
fRrien said he did. but Pete Gallo
way. who was standln' near as any of
n, says be didn't"
What. the ice comm aboardY
The Ice. no. Out o. the misty look.
a mass Il was an iceberg we struck.
heard as plain as I ever heard any.
hing the voice o Tom Blake saytn'
oftiike:
"T'm here. Cap'n Tomklna'"
The speaker paused. Not q word
gaa spoken by his listeners for some
aomenta awed a. they were By the
tory. when Philosopher Jack con.
lnuad:
IL wouldn't make any difference 10
10 n was the only one as heard Il.
at some O the watch did besides me
thoEt o that poor Teller sllppln' into
- Icy sea. an somehow knowed he'd
% even.
we expected 70 ind a hole IN our
ottom, but We dldn't TIE bawsprlt
ne the only thing damaspd we
irnea about, passed back through the
rats aud continued on home Now
% fellers Is knows everything. how
goin' to explain what i've been tell.
- anHA - a Z