The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1918-02-25

sUuSl0SS0e s hyAAlsc - ~ sAsASN
believe I thought Nolan vas q .sprt Of;
lay chaplain chaplain With blue.
coat. never asked about him. Ev-
erythinS In the ship was strange To-
me. knew 1t was green to ask quss.s
lions, and suppose I thought Tiers
was ! "Plain-B Buttons. on every ship.
We had him to dine a our mess once:
1 week, and the caution was given that
on that day nothing was to ~ said
about home. But if they had told ~
not to say anything about the planet
Mars or the book Of Deuteronomy, i
should not have asked why there were
q great many things which seemed to.
me to have 40 little reason. ] Arst
came to understand anything about
..the man without . country, ono day
when we overhauled q dirty little
schooner which had slaves % board.
An of1cer was sent to take charge 81
her, and after few minutes no sent
back his boat to ark that someone
might be sent him who could speak
Portuguese. We were Ill looking over
the rail when the message came, and
we ell wished we could interpret, whom
the captain asked who spoke Por-i
tusuese. But none Of the omcers did !;
ana Just as the captain was sending
forward to ask IL any Of the psopls
could, Nolan stepped ont and said hs
should be glad to interpret, f the cap.
tain wished. % he understood the In,
guage. The captain thanked him, az.
ted out another boat with him. and In
this boat It was my luck to 60.
When we got there, It was such .
scene as you seldom sss. and never
want to. Nastiness beyond account,
and chaos run loose Ii the midst Of the
nastiness. There were not great
many Of the negroes; but ~ way
Of making what there were nderstand
that they were free, Vaughan had had
their handouts and anklecuffs Knocked,
of, and, for convenience sake, was
putting them upon the rascalS OF the
5scEooners crew. The negroes were.
most Of them, out Of the hold, and
swarming all round the dirty deck,
with central throng surrounding
Vaughan and addressing him ~ every
dialect and patois Of I dialect, from
the Zulu click up to the Partisan 81
.Beled eljereed.
AS we canse Oh deck, Vaughan
looked down from q hogshead. on
which he had mounted In desperation,
and said: A; "a.
For Gods love, is there anybody
who can make these wretches under
stand something? The men gave them,
rum, and that did not quiet them. !
knocked that big fellow down twice.
and that did not soothe him. Aid then
I talked Choctaw to all Of them to-
gether; and III be hanged Il they un-.
derstood that as we'll as they under
stood the English"
Nolan said he could speak Por..
tuguese, and one or two incl boxing
Kroomen were dragged out, who, as It
had been found already, had worked
for the Portuguese on the coast at
Fernando Pc. i5 !s.3 23ss
''Tell them they are free" said
Vaughan and tell them that these
rascals are to be hanged as soon as
we can get rope enough" .5f sss
Nolan explained 1t IN such Portu-
guese as the Kroomen could under
stand, and they in turn to such Of the
negroes as could understand them.
Then there was such yell Of delight.
clinching Of fists, leaping and dancing,
kissing Of Nolan's feet, and general
rush made to the hogshead by way OF.
spontaneous worship Of Vaughan as
the deus ex machina Of the occasion.
"Tell Them said Vaughan, well
pleased, 'that will take them all to
Cape Palmas." 5.3
This did not answer SO well. Cape
Palmas was practically as far from
the homes Of most Of them as New Or
leans or Rio Janeiro was; that is, they
would be eternally separated from
home there. And their interpreters, as
We could understand, instantly said,
"Ah, non Palmas," and began to pro-
pose infinite other expedients In most
voluble language. Vaughan was rath.
I er disappointed at this result OF his
liberality, and asked Nolan eagerly
what they said. The drops stood on
poor Nolan's white forehead as he
hushed the men down, and said:
I .'He says, Not Palmas.' He says,
take us home, take US to our coun.
try. take us to our own house. take
us to our own pickaninnies and our
own women He says he has an old
father and mother, who will die, It
they do not see him. And this one
says he left his people all sick, and
padded down to come and help them,
and that these devils caught him In