The Lambertville record., 1910-03-09
WHOLE NO. 1910

NioC " SOtti law.
"'Wot is it?' he yelled. He was a.
gittIn' mad fast.
MFR. Withers has been sentenced
by the court to hang at noon on Fri
day, the 30th of June. There won't be
no sich day fer us. This ere ship left
Wellington year ago and has been
a-sailin' and a-sailln', 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
we'll cross the international date line
and jump 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 n. me when said that 1t
seemed as IL the idec struck him hard.
"'This is Thursday he said, 'ain't
| IT.?
| AYE, aye. sir!
"'If we don't reach the date line
afore tomorrow noon it'll be Friday
and the hangin' will be legal
AYE, aye, sir! But IL 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
"'rhe capa looks up at the sky and
skins his eye along the horizon. Then
he turns to the fust officer, who was
standin' by
"'You got the sun today, didn't you.
Mr.. Greevis?'
AYE, aye, sir!
"'How far do you reckon We are
from the one hundred and eightieth
meridlanT
"'Bout ninety miles, SIR
'rhen 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 tho hangln' Worse'n that,
the wind was a-dyin' out.
"Well, my man., he said, kind of
chucklin',' L 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 as l could see.
and didn't see no hope. l went be-
low aud put my arms round Mr..
Withers, w..,o was a-sittln' pale and
thoughtful-liae and tried to tell him
about 1t all, but my speakin' tube was
clogged, so ] couldn't say nothin', and
one Of my mates a..1 &C &C toll him ~"
thanked me and asked how the wind
was a-holdln'. I says 1t 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
81 rubs my shirt sleeve agln 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 IL there wasn't no hope no.
where. and seen that the thin thick
ness wot l told you about was a-thick-
enin' some more. Besides, there was
a few bits Of clouds wot looked higher
IN the misty bank behind, with dark
centers and ragged edges. | turned
about TO the quarterback and seen the
capn 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.
"Arter awhile the capn, seein' Il
wouldn't dc to put Off preparations
any longer, called all hands to shorten
sail and git the ship ready for gale.
Well. 1t struck us bout eight bells. 1t
wasn't none of them white squalls wot
blows over In a hurry, but roarin
wind, backed by big bank Of clouds
'Thc Polly Milford went over on her
beam ends, but the Ayin' jlb had been
left, and that stiddied her, and after
to stern, she slid down from the crest
OF a high wave and was buried in n
sea of buttermilS.
"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, 1t begun
to look as II one man d better hang
than a hull crew go to the bottom. |
ain't a-goin' to tell you bout that
black night. them roarln waves, that
howlin wind.
"Al to onct the flyin jib busted into
ribbons, The cap'n lost his head and
was a-givin' orders so wild that no
one would obey 'em; the fust officer
was a.shakil' with fear, and 1t begun
TO look Hike we'd got to git some un
to command o: founder.
"Therc was rush for the forward
sangway Down went half a dozen
of us, and up We brings Mr. Wlthers
and puts him in command. The cap'n
didn't make no protest. He was too
skeered TO think anything except
drownin'. Mr.. Withers TUX the helm
hlsself, sent me below with a gang
to work the pumps, managed to git
up another lib 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
;" in the hgrbor at wellington.
"Of course there wasn't no more
tryin' anybody. The cap'n had been
tried afore jury of wind and waves
FOR fitness TO command and had been
convicted. Mr. Wlthers got the vessel
on the next voyage. and that's the end
of this ERE yarn"