The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-03-26
oman 5 Game
- RIA .l M
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright. 1916. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

When Captain Jabez Bebee Of Mar
blehead launched his new brig he
named her the Jane Bebee after his
wife, who had sailed with him for
many a voyage and was almost as good
q sailor as he was. The first voyage
of the new brig was to a certain South
American country, ruled by a dictator,
who carried things with a high hand
for five or six years and got away with
a lump of money just in time to avoid
the revolution that his corrupt prac-
tees had evoked. The craft arrived
after a fine run and was waiting to
haul into the wharf when an Official
came aboard and demanded a bonus Of
$1,000 for permission to land the cargo.
This was in addition to customs dues
and port charges and was directly from
Don Castro. It was blackmail pure
and simple, and Aunt Jane. as the cap
tain's wife was generally called, said
to her husband:
"Jabez Bebee, we won't pay it, and
you tell him 90 straight from the
shoulder. No, not a blessed penny"
The captain braced up and became
defiant, and Don Castro's messenger
was sent away with a flea in his ear.
It was the general opinion that the die
tator would wilt. But the brig was
held In the harbor for forty-eight
hours on one pretense or another and
forbidden to haul into the wharf
set sail for another port. Then
Jabez Bebee went ashore prepared to
assert and maintain that the govern
ment represented by the eagle would
stand no trifing with n of its rep
from Marblehead and in
Of a new brig which had
of seven knots an hour with
her yards checked in. He had his
thunder duly prepared and his light
ming handy by, but he struck a snag
at once. Don Castro was a man
who would not stop to bluff the com
bined powers of the world If there had
been $500 in sight for him. The willy
old rascal also thoroughly understood
and the number of years
that would slip by while the offended
government was making an official in
into n of his acts. official
or private.
PAY me a thousand dollars and you
can land your cargo" vas his answer
to Captain Bebee.
Captain Bebee came aboard with a
long face. and in reply to his wife's
query he explained what had taken
place ashore. The matter was talked
over for an hour. and it was finally
decided that the captain should go
ashore again and try to buy Don Cas-
tro off for a smaller sum. II he plead
ed poverty and INDUCED in no further
bluffs it was hoped that the d%ictator's
heart might be softened into accepting
about 5000. 1t was about 4 o'clock
when he was pulled ashore again, and
hours later word was sent US BY
Don Castro that Captain Bebee was in
jail on the very serious charge Of try
ing to bribe the very highest officials
Of the country. When Aunt Jane had
got the situation straight in her mind
she promenaded up and down with her
lips puckered up. At the end Of about
ten minutes she walked up to the mate
with her face as hard as stone and
Look here, Samuel Davis Smithers.
are you q man or a scarecrow?
"1ll stand by you in any plan you've
replied the mate.
"And how about the rest of 'em?"
They'll follow me to a man."
The crew was called aft, and Aunt
Jane detailed her plan. As a result
they lifted anchor and sailed out of
the harbor about an hour before sun.
The brig ran down. the coast
fourteen miles and came to anchor in
a bay resorted to by the dye craft, and
all that night every man Of the crew
was kept hard at work. While the
carpenter cut gun ports in the bull
warks for four guns on a side men
went ashore and brought OF eight logs
to represent. cannons. These were
stripped Of their bark, painted black
and rudely mounted, and, though the
sailors were bunglers at the business,
they gave the Jane Bebee a. man-of-
look to make you thrill. Viewed
from a distance Of half a mile the
Quaker guns looked ready to spout
flame and smoke and round shot as
big as beer kegs, and Aunt Jane rub
bed her hands and smiled and said.
NOW for the rest of it."
One Of the crew had a drum and an
other a fife and a third a %concertina.
and they were tolled of as the band.
From the slop chest and fo'castle they
got enough garments to rig up a dozen
dummies and make them fast to the
here and there, and they set
sail on their return to the port.
Straight up the harbor sailed the Jane
Bebee an hour after sunrise. but she
barely broadside to the town and
her anchor down before a boat pulled
OF from the mob with q nag Of truce
In that boat sat Captain Bebss,
who had been set at liberty with many
apologies.
Jane" said Captain Bebee ~ the
brig cleared the harbor and the wood.