Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-29
| A Little
| Black Bird

| oI the Fourth Engi-
OlaSh Dlrd neer had gone on
a shooting trip
and killed several huge pelicans. He
skinned these and gave me one OF
the skins. Bill and worked a
scheme. That morning little black
bird fell on the deck, and picked
1T up and took it to my glory hole.
IL was in dying condition. l told
Blll That that night, about ten
O'Clock, | would go aft on the poop
deck with the pelican's skin down
my back, and, with my face smeared
with black, would do a mystic dance
lie was to take Monday and hide be-
hlnd the ventilator, and while l was
doing my war dance, he would eX-
plain to Monday shat l was in com
munication with my father, the
great American Medicine Man. He
dld this and it made quite hit. The
heNt a. OInlng MOnu.y came 10 me
and, bowling low, requested a token
as ne called it; message from my
rather. l promised to give him one,
Dut we were sure up against it,
Then l thought of the little black
bird in my glory hole, and the solu-
tlon was at hand. ! very solemnly
informed Monday that at eight
O'Clock that night my father would
send q message to me in the form
OF little land bird. All day Mon
day Kept away from me, alteration
and awe in his eyes. Bill and l i'm
mediately repaired to the glory hole,
and certainly took tender care OF
that bird, praying that it would live
until eight o'clock. About ten min
utes to eight. I put on my feathers
ana sneaked aft with the little bird,
placed 1T on the steerage gear, and
commenced my~~mystic dance. |
chanted a little song: "Oh, Father,
greatest of Medicine Men, a token is
desired for the esteemed friend of
your son. Oh, Father, send me this
token" Then, with a few mystic
grunts, l beseeched Bill and Monday
10 come and receive the token. Mon
day came trembling aft and l point
ed to the little black bird which was
weakly gaspfng its last, but it saved
the day for us. How we honored
and respected that little bunch of
black feathers. Curious to see what
Monday would do, we left him. He
sat by the bird for over an hour,
chanting in that weird, sing-song
patois- of the British West Indies.
From that time on Monday was our
slave.
Two days before reaching st.
Lucia, the Captain sent for us, and
said that he knew Bill and | had
couple of fish, fell for this and ad-
mitted it, whereupon the Captain
cooly informed US that we had for
feited all pay and allowance due us
Tor the entire voyage. The joke of
1t was that, under the Board of
Trade Laws, the "Cushko" had to go
two hundred miles out of her way
to get to st. Lucia and put Monday
ashore.
We dressed him in a long pair of
white pants; the carpenter gave him
q red vest; Bill placed a derby hat
on his head and he went ashore in
a small boat. When the boat re-
turned we lifted anchor, and as st.
Lucia again faded into the distance
we could see a solitary little figure
on the dock waving his white pants
around his head. He had removed
them upon reaching port. We felt
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
Liberty rush of independence and
patriotism surged through me. and
sat down on the hatchway and abso-
lutely refused to work. The Captain
threatened to put me in double irons,
told him to go to hell, and do it;
that l was a free American in a free
American port, and l claimed the
protection of the Stars and Stripes,
and in accordance with my rights as
sailor, / demanded the ConsuFs
flag to be hoisted at the foremast.
The Captain gave me hard look
but Milted.
The next afternoon at eight bells
landed in New York, free again. /
was~dressed in a pair of blue over
alls, barefooted, a Panama hat on
my head, black as a negro from sun
burn, red handkerchief around my