Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-05-13

W ulhkS Lii ulaStek VI LILLE eEo pnlp
I want you to understand that there
amt a-goin' to be no interference with
justice. II necessary I'll hang eight
more men, And he turned his eye on
US as If he was a-measurin' how much
OF the ships rope would be required
for the Job.
"'There amt no SIGH intention, cap'n.
There's a valid eason why Mr.. With
ers' hangin' tomorrer II be contrary
wise to good law"
"'Wot Is itT' he yelled. He was a
gittin' mad fast.
".Mr. Withers has been sentenced
by the court to hang at noon on Fri
day, the Both of June. There won't be
no SIGH day fer us. This ere ship left
Wellington a year ago and has been
a-sailin' and a-sailin'. till we've gone
clean round the globe. You're naviga-
tor enough to know, cap'n, that we've
lost one day In our reckonin'. Tonight
Wen cross the international date line
and jump a day in our record. 1t
won't be Friday, June 80, but Satur-
day, July l.
BOSS, you'd oughter seen the way
he looked at me when l said that. 1t
seemed as II the idee struck him hard.
"1This is Thursday he said, amt
it?
".Aye, ave. sir!
"If we don't reach the date line
afore tomorrow noon it'll be Friday.
and the hangin' will be legal
"tAye. aye, sir! But II 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
1.-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
".You go+ the sun today. didn't you.
Mr.. GreevisT
"'Aye. aye, sirr
"'How far do you reckon we are
from the one hundred and eightieth
meridian?'
Bout ninety miles, sir
'"Then the cap'n put his eye round
the horizon agin. l knowed we'll
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.
"TWell. my man. he said, kind Of
chucklin',' I reckon Mr.. Withers II
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 al ! could see.
and l didn't see no hope. l went be-
low and put my arms round Mr..
Withers, who was a-sittin' pale and
thoughtful-like, and tried to tell him
about it all, but my speakin' tube was
clogged, so / couldn't say nothin', and
one of my mates had to tell him. He
thanked me and asked how the wind
was a-holdtn'. ! says it was a-dyin'
down. The color went out of his face.
and he said solemn-like, Then there's
no putin of my sailin' day for the
big ocean,
1T rubs my shirt sleeve agin my eye
and goes up on deck to look for wind.
Do you know, boss. the sails was
a-fappin'. J turned my ayes skyward.
feelin' as If there wasn't no hope no.
where, and seer that the thin thick
ness wot / told you about was a-thick-
enin' some more. Besides. there was
a few bits os clouds wot looked higher
n the misty bank behind, with dark
centers anG ragged edges. | turned
about to the quarterback and seen the
cap'n was a-lookin' at 'em 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.
carter awhile the cap'n, SEEM 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. 1t
wasn't none of them white squalls wot
blows over In a hurry, but a roarin'
wind, backed by a big bank of clouds.
1.-THE Polly Milford went over on her
beam ends, but the flynn jib had been
left, and that studded her, and after
rockin' to pert. then to starboard, then
to stern, she slid down from the crest
Of a 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 1t to keep a-blowin'. But as night
wore on we found the ship was a-leak-
it.; then she listed, and-well, it begun
to look as II one man ID better hang
than a hull crew go to the bottom. |
amt a-goin' to tell you bout that
black night. them roarin' waves, that
howlin' wind.
"All to orct the flynn jib busted into
ribbons. The cap'n lost bis head and
was a-givin' orders so wild that no