Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-08-01
ASailor Yam
By F. A. mitchell

Well, mebby dey is. but ghost ships
amt"
They were at the Sailors Snug Har-
Dor, sitting on benches in the sun.
Some of the younger ~ones-young fell
lows of s~eventy-had imbibed modern
notions concerning apparitions. The
man who demurred, Bob Barclay, an
old tub some eighty-six years old,
was not minded to have the traditions
Of a lifetime thus demolished.
what de y know about ghost
| ships?' asked one Of the sunshine
bathers.
What do 1 know about ghost ships?
| Well, hist. mates. and I'll spin y a yarn
about one. and when l get through /
don't want none O y to say 'twan't no
SIGH thing. I'm goin' to tell y what l
seen with my own two eyes,"
The old fellow was shrunken like a
bladder with the wind gone out of it,
| and his voice was husky as a cracked
bell. But he believed the yarn he told,
as any one could see by the earnestness
with which he told it.
at was this way, mates: I'd left the
sea and had gone to live with my
| darter in a seaport town on the south
Atlantic coast. The apple O. my eye
was my grandfather, Molly Sewell,
as pretty a little craft as ye eve see.
| Most young uns hain't got no use for
| old buffers, but Molly had a lot O. use
| for me, and there was nothin' she
| wouldn't do for me. The only thing l
| could do for her was to make fancy
baskets for her, as I'd learned to do
aboard ship, and spin yarns for her
| about the sea. She'd inherited a love
| for a sailors life from me and a lot
O. other granddads before me-we was
all sailors and she couldn't get
enough yarns about sea life out O. me
to satisfy her.
zone day I see her walkin' with a
young sailor, Jack Barston, OF the
beach, and when she come in I said,
| Molly. air We goin' to sail in that
ship?'
"'Nhat ship, grandpa she asked,
| colorin'. She knew well enough what
I meant.
"'The ship 1 saw skuddin' before the
wind on the beach this afternoon
"She jist dropped her hand down on
my shoulder. put her arms around me
and didn't say nothin'.
"It didn't make no difference to me
her havin' a sweetheart. She was jist
as lovin' to me as before. Barston
vas as fine a young mar as ever pull
ed a rope, and none Of us had any OBJ
lection to him. But he had to save
some money to put a gal he'd marry
into a cot. and that would take him
some time. He made several voyages
after he got engaged to Molly, and
every time he come back he'd doubled
his pile. At last he said he'd make
one more voyage and when he come
back from that he'd get married and
stay ashore. He'd have enough to
build his cot and buy him a good boat
for odd jobs by which he could make
a Twin.
carter he'd sailed away on this last
cruise on the President Adams Molly
came to me for comfort. She allus
relied on me for that when her boy
went away, because I'd let her talk
about him and nothin' else. And she
says to 'grandp',' says she. Somehow
l got an idee that Jack amt never
comm back from this voyage I jist
TUX her in my arms and tried to smoth-
er it out of her. but I couldn't. But,
grandp',' she went on. he promised
me that if he lost his life by bein'
wrecked or dyin' of fever or anything
like that he'd send me some token to
let me know that he died thinking of
me-.
II disremember what year it was
that Jack was due. but it was in the
spring. Molly got a letter from him
from Singapore figurin' out the date of
the ships reachin' the home port with.
in a week. At the beginnin' O. that
week Molly was very narvous. She
never acted before about Jacks com.
in home as she did this time. She KEEP
sayin': 'Grandp'. he won't come. l know
he won't come The first day Of the
week Jack allowed the ship would
lcdSu lOIl pdSSeu. anu lllC SGCUllu dllU
so on to the sixth. and no ship Adams
ION the morning of the seventh and
last day a thick fog was rollin' il
from the ocean. Molly and l sat quiet
ly on a dune. l holdin' her hand te
keep up her courage. waitin' for the
fog to lift and hopin' the Adams would
be in the ofing. AFTER awhile there
was a break in the mist, and then
with all her sails filled, came a shiI
I knew to onct was the Adams. Blu
a chill run owe me. for I knowed there
wasn't any wind.
MOLLY looked and clutched her hos
ON with her hands.
'"Then the fog slowly closed in OF
the ship, and we couldn't see no NOR
Of her. We waited. and l knowed i
she was a real ship is soon as the TO:
cleared away we'd see her ridin' a
anchor in the harbor. But when i
cleared up she wasn't there.
"Molly and l went home. both know
in she hadn't been there. Jack Bars
ton had sent his ghost to tell Moll,
4laA H. Aal -a..l Ill ii Z