Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-24

war dance he would explain to Mon
day that / was In communication with
my father. the great American medi-
cine man. He did this and 1t made
quite n hit. The next morning Mon
day came to mo. and, bowling low,
requested token, as he called It: q
message from my father. I promised
to give him one. but we were sure up
against it. Then ! thought of the
little black bird in my glory hole. and
the Solution'was at hand. / very SOL
cmnly Informed Monday that at 8
send message to me In the form OF a
little land bird. All day Monday kept
! away from me. alteration and awe in
his eyes. Bill and 1 Immediately re-
paired to the glory hole. and certainly
took tender care OF that bird. praying
| that 1t would live until 8 o'clock. About
1850 1 put on my feathers and sneaked
aft with the little bird. placed it on
the steering gear, and commenced my
mystic dance. ! chantcd IA little song:
on. father. greatest of medicine men,
token is desired for the esteemed
friend of your son. oh. Father. send
me this token" Then. with few
mystic grunts. 1 besecched Bill and
Monday to come and receive the token.
Monday came trembling aft and I
pointed TO tho little black bird which
was weakly gaspinE its last, but It
saved the day for us. How we honored
and respected that little bunch of black
feathers. Curious to see what Moneay
would do. we left him. He sat by the
bird for over an hour. chanting In that
weird. sing-sonE patols OF the British
West Indies. From that time on Mon
day was our slave.
Forfeit All Pay.
Two days before reaching st. Lucia.
the captain sent for us. and said that
he knew that Bill and 1 had slowed
away Monday. We. like couple OF
FISH. fell for this and admitted It,
whereupon the captain coolly inform
cd US that we had forfeited all pay
and allowances due us for the entire
voyage. The joke OF 1T was. that
under the Board Of Trade laws, the
Cushko had to go 200 miles cut Of
her way to get to st. Lucia and put
Monday ashore.
We dressed him In n long pair Of
white pants: the carpenter gave him a
red vest; Bill placed derby hat on
his head and he went ashore in a small
boat. When the boat returned we lift
ed anchor, and as st. Lucia again faded
into the distance we could see a soli-
tary little figure on the dock waving
his white pants around his head. He
had removed them upon reaching port
We felt n pang Of regret as he faded
out OF sight.
After an uneventful trip we went
into quarantine in New York harbor
At the first sight of the Statue OF Lib.
erty a rush of independence and pa
triotism surgcd through me. and I sat
down on the hatchway and absolutely
refused to work. The captain threat
ened to put me in double irons. told
him to go to hell, and do It; that
was n free American in a free Ameri-
can port, and claimed the protection
Of the Stars and Stripes. and in ac-
cordance with my rights as sailor,
l demanded the consuls flag to be
holsted at the foremost. The captain
gave me n hard look, but wllted.
Tho next afternoon at eight bells
landed in New York, free again. ]
was dressed in a pair of blue overalls.
barefooted, n Panama hat on my head
black AZ negro from sunburn. red
handkerchief around my neck, and
wearing q white negligee shirt. On
my left shoulder I had n small mon
key. and In my right hand wooden
cage with a parrot in 1t. In my peck :
was $40 in silver, but I did not care
I WAS again on terra firma with tho
Stars and Stripes floating above me.
/ received n wonderful welcome at
home, and was OF the opinion that tho