The Press., 1910-08-24

ltY
 "'Aye, aye, siry
 "Tf we don't reach the date line afore tomorrow noon it'll be Friday, and the hahgin' will be legals
 "'Aye. aye, sir! But if we do reach the date line afore tomorrow at noon it'll be Saturday accordin' to the new recKonin', and Mr. Withers can't be swung accordin' to the sentence of the court
 ",The cap'n looks up at the sky and skins his eye along the horizon. Then he turns to the fust officer, who was standin' by
 "sYou got the sun today. didn't you, Mir. GreevisT
 "tAye. aye. sirg
 "'How far do you reckon we are from the one hundred and eightieth meridianT
 Bout ninety miles, sir
 '"Then the cap'n put his eye round the horizon ag'in. knowed well enough what he was a-thinkin' about With the wind we was a-gittin' we couldn't make the date line afore the time set for the hangin'. Worse'n that, the wind was a-dyin' out.
 "'Well, my man. he said, kind of chucklin',' I reckon Mir. Withers I'll hang. and hang legally
 Boss, as we men walked forward, do you know, every mothers son of us had his eye on the sky a-tryin' to see some sign of wind. But there wasn't no sign nowhere. A thin thickness stood on the horizon, but that didn't mean nothin', so far as I could see, and I didn't see no hope. went be- low and put my arms round Mir. Withers, who was a-sittin' pale and thoughtful-like. and tried to tell him about 1t all, but my speakin' tube was clogged, so I couldn't say nothin', and one of my mates had to tell him. He thanked me and asked how the wind was a-holdin'. says it was a-dyin' down. The color went out of his face, and he said solemn-like, Then there's no putin off my sailin' day for the big ocean,
 "I rubs my shirt sleeve agin my eye and goes up on deck to look for wind. Do you know, boss, the sails was a-flappin'. I turned my eyes skyward, feelin' as if there wasn't no hope mo- where, and seen that the thin thick ness wot I told you about was a-thick- enin' some more. Besides, there was a few bits of clouds wot looked higher n the misty bank behind, with dark centers and ragged edges. I turned about to the quarterback and seen the cap'n was a-lOokin' at lem too. Then some of the other men on deck begun to watch em. and pretty soon up comes all the off watches, every man a-lookin' out at them ragged clouds.
 "Arter awhile the cap'n, seein' it wouldn't do to put off preparations any longer, called all hands to shorten sail and git the ship ready for a gale. Well, 1t struck us bout eight bells. It wasn't none of them white squalls wot blows over in a hurry, but a roarin' wind, backed by big bank of clouds.
 ''The Polly Milford went over on her beam ends, but the f1yin' jib had been left, and that stiddied her, and after rockin' to port, then to starboard, then to stern, she slid down from the crest of high wave and was buried in a sea of buttermilk.
 "At any other time, boss, we'd ruther not seen that wind. Now we prayed for it to keep a-blowin'. But as night wore on we found the ship was a-leak- 1t; then she listed, and-well, it begun to look as if one man d better hang than a hull crew go to the bottom. l ain't a-goin' to tell you bout that black night, them roafin' waves, that howlin' wind.
 "All to onct the f1yin' jib busted into ribbons. The cap'n lost his head and was a-givin' orders so wild that no one would obey lem; the fust officer was a-shakin' with fear, and it begun to look like we'd got to git some un to command or founder.
 "There was a rush for the forward gangway. Down went half a dozen of us, and up we brings Mir. Withers and puts him in command. The cap'n didn't make no protest. He was too skeered to think of anything except drownin' Mr. Withers tux the helm hisself, sent me below with a gang to work the pumps, managed to git up another jib and saved the ship.
 'The next mornin' the wind dropped to ten knot breeze, and there on the horizon was land. We knowed we'd crossed the date line. and Mr. Withers was saved. Afore noon we rounded to in the harbor at Wellington.
 "Of course there wasn't no more tryin' anybody. The cap'n had been tried afore jury of wind and waves convicted. MT. Withers got the vessel on the next voyage, and that's the end of this 'erc yarn."