The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-09-04

1t was my first design to have gone
as master of her myself, and my lady
would fHin have had it So but after
lrehectiOn | decided it We're better TO
have much older man than J. to com
mand so long as she went as a pas
senger and so | engaged a worthy
seaman, one Samuel Matthews, old
enough to be my father, with whom |
had often sailed; in fact, the man
under whom | made my first cruise.
did engage myself as mate, however,
land l even tried in vain t. induce
Master t'icklin and his sister to go
with us.
| 1t seemed proper in venturing among
islands filled according to common re
port with savage peoples to provide
for fighting. Therefore. after consulting
with Captain Matthews, whom | fully
acquainted with the entire project III
all its Details | shipped a crew Of
thirty men and provided in the equip
ment plenty Of muskets, pistols and
cutasSes. with the necessary powder
and ball, and in addition small brass
cannon which l mounted on the fore
castle. Nor did our cargo lack means
for friendly trading and barter should
such be found practica BILE
Naturally the unusualness of these
preparations attracted attention, and
Captain Matthews and l We're over
whclmed with applications from adj
venturous men who desired to make
the voyage, surmising that it was after
treasure Of some sort.
/ left the work Of engaging the crew
to Captain Matthews. He had as boat.
swain seaman named Pimball, in
whom he placed great confidence. He
was vilainous looking man with a
white scar running from his left eye
across his cheek, caused by cut he
had received in some fight, and the
line of white showing against the
brOnzed, weather beaten cheek he
sported did not improve his appear
ance. But that he was prime sea-
man was evident. Captain Matthews
seemed to have great confidence in him.
TO anticipate, when we boarded the
than the boatsWain. l will say this for
them, however. that a smarter, quicker
set Of seamen never hauled on brace or
laid on yardarm. 1t was not their
skill or strength or courage that l did
not like, but they We're not the kind Of
men I would have sought for ship of
my own, and the presence Of my lady
and her maid, a worthy woman, a long
time servant at the castle, who had
elected TO follow her fortunes, made
me timid. Yet l was not unusually ap-
prehenSive. had sublime conf
dence in my own ability to deal with
any man or any group Of men.
| did not stint the Quitting of the
ship. and when finished having left
nothing out that either my own or
Captain Matthews experience or i'm
aginatiOn would suggest. there was
left of our joint funds enough to pay
the wages Of the officers and of the
men out and back and no more-that
is, allowing Il year for the round voy-
age. The lines uf the Rose Of Devon
were unusually good. She had a repu-
tation for being q speedy boat. and
that was more time than enough. 1t
was my purpose to 60 around the
world with her rather than retrace our
course about Cape Horn after we
reached the island if we evar reached
It. SO we staked everything We had ON
the future. If my lady had had the
least knowledge of the value of ships
she would have seen how little way
her $4,000 had gone but she was as
guileless IL, any other woman Oh that
subject. and Master E'ick.in was not
much better. l lied to them both with
a good grace and with an easy con-
science. 1t was for her sake.