The Washburn leader., 1916-07-28
A Sea Yarn
BY JOHN Y. LARNED


when one said to another:
"Bill, how did y git that scar on
yer forehead?'
II didn't suffer from the wound that
left that scar nothing like the man that
give it to me. Thars yarn about that
scar"
"Spin it."
"Whcn was young feller more'n
fifty year ago, shipped in brisan-
tine for China voyage. We had bad
luck for weather, the cap'n got sick,
and when we got to Hongkong he
died. The owners decided to sell the
ship and the crew was discharged, to
shift for themselves. 1t was starva-
tion for us or findin' some sort o. berth.
Me and Jim Hughes and Tom Hawkins
found berth with an American who
was maxim up crew for small
schooner rugged vessel to trade between
China and Japan, and signed one even
in in a sailors boardin' house without
even SEEM the ship or the rest o the
crew. 1 didn't want to sign them ar
ticles, but Tom said we couldn't help
ourselves. The cut O. the cap'n's jib
didn't suit me at all. There was some
thin wicked in his eye, and l was
afeared he'd be tyrannical.
"He TUX us aboard at night and put
us in our hunks, tellin' us to rest our
selves, for we wouldn't be needed till
mornin'. This looked mighty kind Of
him, but when mornin came we saw
what it meant. We'd sailed durin' the
night and was out O sight O land.
When we went ON deck there was the
worst cutthroat crew y ever see, made
up Of Malays, Cinnamon, Japs and ev-
cry other copper colored devil in that
hemisphere.
"The cap'n didn't make no bones
about it. He said the ship was pi.
rate, and what he wanted of us was
| first and second mate, SEEM there
! want no intelligence in the crew for
sich purpose. He give us our choice
| to take the places or walk the plank.
In course we took the places, for while
we was alive there was hope Of getttn'
away, and if we was dead that end
ed it.
"The cap'n told the crew that Tom
and I understood navigation and was
competent sailors. So he had the crew
back Of him. We lnowed that on the
fust sign o. mutiny we'd be cut down,
and we didn't show no sich sign. The
wust thing about it was that a white
man was in command Of yellow dev
lis and had forced two other white
men to be his officers,
"The fust ship we TUX l managed
to communicate with the captured crew
and led 'em down to where arms was
stored. Then we all turned on the
cutthroats that rushed after us and
a-fghtin' for every inch, slowly drove
'em back on deck, and by this time
they'd got so thinned and demoralized
that they begun to try to lower the
boats and git away. Some of 'em did
but the balance we either finished on
the deck or they went over the side tc
drown.
"Durin' the fight the cap'n made fol
me with cutlass and give me the
blow that left that scar. He was run
through the vitals by Tom Hawkins
| and lived about six hours. KNOWN
that he was goin' to die, a big change
/! came over him. He realized what he'd
been doin-;l white man runnin' a LOT
o. cutthroats. I've committed an un
pardonable sin,' he says, 'and I'm ago
in to suffer for it forever. You kin
pitch me into the brine, but won't rest
there. Oh. for grave on the coast
O. New England, where 1 was born
and was respected! 1t was desire to
| go back there rich that led me to hoist
| the skull and bones. My old mother
lives there now, and If she knowed
what I'd done
''His voice died out by this time, and
purity soon there was gurgle in his
throat, and he was dead. We chucked
him overheard, and that was the end
o. him for this world.
| "HowsOmever, l don't know whether
it was or whether it wasn't. What
do know is this: Five years after all
i this happened l was on a coaster and
l OuC cSVUlu was lOOhOuC "uuc IOuuOAu
Cape Cod. 1t was between daylight
and dark, and there was thin mist.
I'd been without much sleep for a
couple O. nights in bad weather and
was trife drowsy. nodded between
sleepin' and wakin', and on openin' my
blinkers there, down in the water of
the port bow, was boat with a lego
mutton sail and a man at the tiller.
There wasn't enough wind to stir the
mist, but the sail was full.
"But the man sailin' her. He looked
up at me, and If l hadn't been held by
canvas I'd fell down on to the deck.
He was the cap'n O. the pirate we'd
chucked overheard in the Indian ocean
five years before.
II never seen such awful sufferin' on
any face He didn't move his lips. He
jist kept them turrable eyes on me,
turnin' his head as we passed till he
disappeared in the mist astern.
"Then I remembered when he was
about to sail for the big ocean what he
said, You kin pitch me into the brine,
but won't rest there and what he
said about havin' been born and once
been respectable on the New England
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