Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-08-05
CHAPTER X.
In Which Hear the Tale Of the First
0ffieAr

futile required a while getting
started, pulling aside his dangling
coat-tails to sit down facing me, and
then twiddling his long fingers with
his gaze bent on the deck. l take it
that his intellectual operations were
naturally slow, although he was swift
enough in all matters appertaining to
seamanship. Anyhow, he sat there for
so long, his whole appearance so sleek
and oily, that lost all patience, shut
fling my feet on the decks The noise
served to arouse him.
1T commenced somethin' like over
Two years ago sir" he began, mouth
ing each word with care, "a little
earlier in the season than this is now.
was master of the whalin' bark
Betsy, sailin' from Province town,
an we were homeward bound after
about 1S months cruisin' in the South
Pacific, carryin' a fair cargo of oil an
whale trimmings. We were roundup
the Horn, being about 70 degrees west
and 56 degrees south when the real
trouble began. know that was rath-
er low latitude, but we had been
buck1n' against head winds an a high
sea for more'n week, an besides
were short-handed, five of the crew
tlavin' skipped out at Somers island.
where we put in after fresh water.
Anyway. it was about there that a
storm hit us from out the nor'east. I
guess 1t must have been one end of q
hurricane. never see nothin' fercer.
even In those seas. There was nothin'
to do but turn tail an scud, the ropes
and canvas being SO stiff with ice.
Wen, we battened down, an took
chances, but for a while thought
every wave was goin' to do for the or
hooker an send US all to Davy Jones.
l couldn't see five feet from the rail,
an had to keep diggin' ice out O.
my eyes to see at all. The wind had
the feel of solid wall, SIR"
futile was leaning forward now. his
elbows on the table. His lean, solemn
countenance had lost its listlessness.
and l also noticed the eager interest
imprinted on the faces OF his two COM
rades.
I'VE was jest roundin' the point. +"
ne went on as soon as he took a long
breath, the Betsy keelin' over SOS
her deck was half awash, an with no
more than maybe 100 yards o, clear
water to the good Back o. an uslv
lookin' headland the coast seemed to
fall away sudden into a sort O. cove.
which was piled high with great Ice
nummocks. behind which the ice wall
rose up sheer almost to the top O. the
rocks. There was sorter shelf along
the edge of it. an a-setttn' UP there in
full view was the damndest lookin
vessel ever saw in so years O. sea
FARM. So help me God, sir, saw
1t with my own eyes, as plain as I'm
lookin' at you! 1t was h'isted up all
| o. 20 feet above the lower ice-field, an
sort O. careened over where it was
| froze fast so as to show the decks
amidships clear to the inner rail. You
remember them ships what Columbus
sailed in? Well, this hooker was that
kind, only a blame sight bigger.
guessed her at $50 or 900 ton, but she
had the same sort o. build-a big high
stern, with an after-cabin clear acrost
| 1t, the waist sunk down in curve, an
the fo'castle raised up like house
with blunt bows, an a monster bow
spirit forkin' straight up into the air
The whole outfit was so cased with
Ice an glittered 80 in the sun that il
seemed like part O. the ice cliff
| which hod toni %hof n,,oar shane f,ovp
thawin' an freezin'. Damme II
didn't think it was somethin' like that
for minute-a blame freak o. nature
but when grabbed the glasses, an
got a good look through them, it was a
ship all right the kind you read
about, in the books what navigated
these waters hundred or more years
| ago. was still a-starin' at it with all
my eyes when we raised the stern
which stood h'isted up a bit higher
than the bow, an where the steady
dash Of the waves didn't break clean
over it, an the sun fell just right Sc
read the hooker's name. BY God,
did. sir! It was there plain as day:
Donna Isabel. Cadiz."
The change in the man speaking
held me breathless; his cant, his usu
ally oily method of utterance had
merged into an earnestness full Of
fascination.
well, that was about all, sir" his
voice sinking back into commonplace
"In two hours we were out o. sight
an feelin' our way through a blindin'
snow sQuall. But it was such rum
thing, discoverin' them islands out
there all uncharted. with that queer
ghost ship perchin' on 'em, that ]
wrote down the latitude an longitude
an the hooker's name in my log-book
We was about three weeks maxim the
West Falklands, where I shipped q
few more hands, an then bore away
north for home"
He drew plug Of tobacco srcm GU:
his coat-tail pocket, cut of what he
needed, and slowed It away in his
cheek. He ran his fingers through his
thin hair, and resumed:
About 1S months later I was back
with thu OF Betsy in the South Pa.
cific. One night, with the moon shin.
In. hardly a ripple anywhere, my
mate run her nose onto q rock, .
couple o. hundred miles south o. Eas-
ter island. an IN less than 20 minutes
the bark had gone down like stone.
We made Easter island in the boats
without much trouble. but It want 80
easy to get away. had six wseks Of
FIT before3I got chance. an then /
shipped afore the mast on sandal
wood xtradertslesNsva heresyeasmata.