Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-08

| day, the goth OF June. There won't be
! no/sich 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 if the idee struck him hard.
This is Thursday he said, amt
itp
"'Aye, aye. sir
"Tf we don't reach the date line
afore tomorrow noon it'll be Friday.
and the hangln' will be legal
AYE. aye, sir But If we do reach
/ the date line afore tomorrow at noon
/ it'll be Saturday accordin' to the new
! reckonln'. 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
"'You got the sun today, didn't you,
Mr. GreevisT
"'Aye, aye, sir"
"'How far do you reckon we are
from the one hundred and eightleth
meridianT
| Bout ninety miles, sir
Then the cap'n put his eye round
l., 81 ~
| 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 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 1 could see,
/ and | didn't see no hope. / 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 speallin' tube was
| cloGged, so I couldn't say nOthin', and
| one of my mates had to tell him. He
1 thanked ne and asked how the wind
| was a-holdin' 1 says it was a-dyin'
I down The color went out Of his face,
/ and he said solemn-lke. Then there's
| no putin off my sailin' day for the
| big ocean
~T,s y,A IL Cy-a
and goes up on deck to look for wind
Do you know, boss. the sails was
a-fappin'. | turned my eyes skyward,
feelin' rs If there wasn't no hope no
where, and seen that the thin thick
ness wot told you about was a-thicE
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. ! 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
70 watch 'em, and pretty soon up
comes all the off watches. every man
s-lookin' out at them ragged clouds.
"Arter awhile the cap'n. seem it
wouldn't Go to put off preparations
any longer, called all hands to shorten
sail and sit the ship ready for q gale.
Well, II 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 a big bank Of clouds.
The Polly Milford went over on her
beam ends. but the fyin' jib had been
left, and that Studded her, and after
rockin' TO port. then TO starboard, then
to stern, she slid down from the crest
Of a high wave and was buried in 4
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
it: then she listed, and-weu. it begun
to look as If one man d better hang
than n hull crew 90 10 the bottom. !
| amt a-Coin' 70 tell you bout that
| black night, them roarin' waves, that
howlin' wind.
"All to onct the flynn jib busted into
ribbons. The cap'n lost his head and
was a-civin orders so Wild that 10
one would obey EN-; the fust officer
was a-shakin' with fear. and IT begun
to look like we'd got to git some Tn
! to command or founder.
There was rush Tor the FORWARD
Gangway. Down went half a dozen
of US, and up we brings Mr.. Withers
and puts him in command. The cap'n
didn't make no protest. He was toe
| skeered to think of anything except
| drownin' MI 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 a jury of wind and waves
for fitness to command and had been
popvfctnd Mr. Witla-S cot +hn vassnl