The Master of the Boadicea.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 12 August 1905, Page 10

The Master of the Boadicea.

Justice to the large field of close competitors was the only consideration that could have withheld from "Red-Eye" Heustis the name of being the worst allround "bad man" in Texas, using the term in the amplitude of its Western significance. His escapes from lynching were numerous and romantic He had missed legal execution chiefly because no sheriff had survived the preliminary operation of placing him under anest. He was a cowboy when a ranchman could he found foolhardy enough to engage him, but his real woik, his serious business in life, was gambling. Sometimes. Providence protected the settlement and "Red-Eye" lost; more often he won, and when he did he entered on a campaign of riot and devastation. He didn't, as a rule, yearn for the culture and civilisation of large towns at these times; he found a wide opportunity to let himself out in tha unconventional atmosphere of the more remote communities. Nevertheless, the greatest celebration he ever had, and the most momentous in its consequences, occurred in Galveston. Toward the latter part of the Saturnalia, when he had satisfied all his instincts for lawless activity, and was drinking anything, everytfiing, hour after hour, till. he should reach a state of general collapse as a grand finale, te wandered down to a dive in a sailortown, hardly a block from the wharves ; a cowboy among the scum of the waterfront, incongruous scene f or> his last stand ! » The grog was, if possible, worse than what flowed among his own kind, and as evening drew on, "Red-Eye," seated by a greasy table in the<rear of the room, mellowed to the pathetic, confidential melancholia which, in some cases, characterises the last stages of an unduly protracted gpree. Flinging Mmself back into an attitude of bitter abandon, lie observ- | ed audibly that he was "nothin" but a low-down, dirty, drunken bull-punoher ;" after an interval of sleepy muttering he burst forth with the additional information that he was "no good," and just as a thick-set hard-faced young fellow, fairly dressed and very, sober, dropped into the opposite chair the inebriate was dilating on the impossibility of getting back on "the Ring-bar K. ranch!" "Down in yer luck>" queried the newcomer. " 'Taint the word, stranger," responded the cowboy. "Want to go to sea?" "Sea? Go t' shee?" ruminated the bad man. "D'go to li 'f they'd lemma sit 'n th' shade till I sobered off." "You come along with me ; I'll fix you up all right," said tha younger man; "where's your outfit?" "Red Eye" named a resort not a. great way uptown, and muttering, stumbling, stupidly drunk, the worst man in Texas want forth convoyed by the most notorious "crimp" on the Gulf coast. They got back to the waterfront in time, burdened with an old valise and a> roll of blankets, and, tossing these into the bow of a little "dingy," the shipping agent managed to land "Red-Eye" in the stern, -and taking the oars himself put out into the darkened harbour. The cowboy slumbered where he lay, neither knowing nor caring whither he went, nor why. There was no sound but the measured "creak-clock, creak-clock" of the rowlocks and the lapping of the water overside till they ran under the.- great, black, overhanging stern of an anchored ship, and the rower gave ? hall. Tho cry aroused "Red-Eye" momentarily, and in his leering, upturned gaze at the mass overhead he noticed the gilded name "Boadicea," surrounded by scrollwork not improved by age. Had the Texan been a sailor, that one , glance would have entirely frustrated the design of his companion for any seafaring man would have known that to the ends of the earth the name Boadicea stood for all that was cruel, miserable, murderous, aboard ship. The Boadicea was celebrated in all the ports of the world for having the most brutal officers and the most famine-stricken galley under the red ensign. But the bad man was ignorant of this. "That you, Mr. Hanaford?" called the crimp to a figure overhead. "I've gob the man you want." "Any good?" came the laconic reply. "Sure! He's an old hand; knows all about rppes." "Send him aboard." A Jacob's ladder swished downwaid through the night air, its end dangling in the waist of the dingy. With labour and patience "Red Eye ' was eventually landed on deck, tho crimp followed with his valise, took his blood-mortey, and with a suggestion that the new recruit might be sent below with- ■ out delay in view of his inebriation, put off from tho shdp with no undue tarrying. How the cowboy got below is a mystery, bub he did ; fell into the forecastle, fell into an empty bunk, and with his dunnage for a pillow, sprawled there unconscious, unheeding, incapable of motion or thought, dead drunk, till the sun and the bosun rose. The cold dawn was announced with a roar down the companionway : "Como I on, now, you useless curs; turn out before you're kicked out; and do something for your grub." They did turn out, sleepily, reluctantly, a sorry looking band/ and one took compassion on' "Red Lye," shaking him and whispering, "Come on, mate, wake up. The bosun will murder you if he comes down and finds* you asleep." But; nothing could rouse him. The bosun's simple attentions in the way of • kick 3, profanity, and buckets of water caused only a transient flutter of consciousness, and that worthy finally left him to "sleep it off," the mute suggesting that he wasn't worth the trouble, of waking. In fact, the vessel had been three days afc sea before "Red Eye" was in a condition to come on deck. When he did appear, he got a royal welcome. Clumsy and ignorant of sailor work as he was, in addition to being a "Yankee," the cockney bosun gave him special attention, and within five minutes an "officer and a gentleman" came forward from tho quarter-deck expressly to knock him down and then kick him on to his feet again, and the Texan was still too weak and bewildered in his new surroundings to resist. Brutal as it was, "Red Eye's" treatment was not much worse than what fell to the lot of his companions. The Boadicea was no "happy ship." "Red Eye" came on duty in the morning, but with no breakfast, he had no dinner because the mate "hazed" him through the day to even up for his previous idleness, and it was well along in the dog watch before he got below to what was left from the crew's shipper. After the bracing aea' air, tho warm food, poor as it was, revived him wonderfully. They had not troubled to search his effects, and it was a different man from the stupefied, pnsaivo object of tho earlier hours who went over to his bunk, took out a brace of guns and a •wellfllled cartridge belt, and started for the deck, seeking "tha derned coyote with th' brass buttons," otherwiso Mr. Hunaford, tho chief officer. When "Red Eye"_came into view, the gentleman hi question was loaning against a davit in the waist of the shdp. ."What are you up here for!" "Trouble," answered the Texan, and there was the ring of deep sincerity in his tone. It ia the rule at * sea, a principle

that may account for the surprising success of more than one mutiny, that the very type of officers who garnish thenorders with the greatest profusion of piofane and insulting personalities, and who cultivate "bucko" tactics of discipline as a mannerism, are. the sort most quickly cowed by a turn of the tables. In the present instance there was less of a riot than one might have been led to anticipate from a knowledge of Mr. Hanafovd's reputation 'as a general terror. He roared an oath and a command to go below at "Red Eye" and then threw up his hands, squirming and screaming with fright as that party relieved him of his armament. The second mate, roused by Mr. Hanaford's excited requests to be spared for his aged mother's sake, rushed up the companionway brandishing a revolver, and the shot that welcomed him as he struck the quarter-deck took the feeling out of his wrist for an hour, and the mechanism out of his weapon for good. By the time the bosun was engaged in religious exercises in a remote corner oi the most obscure hiding place he could find under the gallant forecastle, and, running over the second mate for any additional arms he might be carrying, "R«d Eye" went down to interview the captain. He met that worthy hastening on deck to interview him, relieved ham of a shotgun and two navy revolvers, and marched him back into the cabin. The table showed preparations for a late breakfast, and the mutineer ordered the steward to bring it on forthwith, at the same time pressing tjie skipper to join him. Noticing the skipper's evident reluctance, lie urged la? 1 *°i * cc * no "^barrassment, as ve > 'Red Eye," was a rough and ready fellow and not above associating with anyone, however humble his station and be his breeding never so neglected. Such tact, backed up by an artfully careless display of artillery, was not lost upon the captain,- he took a seat, and held his peace at an imminent risk vof ano-P-exy. While the meal proceeded, work on deck had been abandoned, and the in-evitable-sea lawyer had convinced the crew that whatever came their lot could be no worse than before, and that they could plead before tho Admiralty Court that they had been coerced as much as the officers, and could not have assisted them without imperilling their lives. The appeals of the two matea consequently fell upon deaf ears. These gentlemen came aft and obtained permission from "Red Eye" to come to the table just about the time the skipper had recovered tho gift of coherent speech. "Now, my man,", said he, impressively, "do you realise that this is mutiny?" "What's mutiny?" asked "Red # Eye." _ Here was a poser. Doubtless' tradition and the force of habit have much to do with preserving discipline aboard ship. The seaman has been taught by word and by symbols that his officers are his betters he thoroughly, though sometimes reluctantly, believes it; resistance to them seldom occurs to him as a feasible idea. But when you find a man who never heard of the Board of Trade, who haa always associated brass buttons with messenger boys and car porters, and who has been reared in the most democratic corner, of a country where "all men are free and equal," you meet a new problem calling for executive talent in no ordinary degree. The captain of the Boadicea, who, to do him justice, was less of a fool than one might infer from the reputation of his shipj realised this fact more or less distinctly, and changed his tack accordingly. Tha subect of mutiny was dropped. "Well, now, Mr. — ah — Air. " "Heustis," put in "Red Eye." "Well, now, Mr. Heustis, I have been considering. It appears to me that you are not the ordinary forecastle type, not at all, and now, I ddu't know, you see, a-l^m, you see we have no third mate this trip. What do you say, eh?" "I want to rise right up in meetin'," said the ungrateful Mr. Heustis, "and observe that I don't calculate to be no third mate. I want you to .understand that from this on I'm boss of the whole derned show." Tie skipper and his subordinate terrorswere pained and surprised by such levity to themselves and their calling. They had vested rights, but "Red Eye" had the weapons, and, preposterous as. it undoubtedly was, the revolution was consummated. From that hour, contrary to all the law and the prophets, the barque Boadicea, London, 1800 tona register, was commanded de facto by a party whose acquaintance with marina life was limited to a trip, some years previous, from Galveston to New Orleans, on a side-wheel packet. As things adjusted themselves to the new order the Texan, came to realise his ignorance of the details of seamanship and kindred matters, and assumed a position analagous to that of a secretary of the navy, exercising a wide genoral command, and leaving minor technical points to subordinates especially trainee! along those lines. The "skipper novor fully rallied from the initial shock to his dignity, but, with a little persuasion from time to time in the shape of a Colt 44 trained on sundry important parts of his anatomy, Mr. Hnnaiord was encouraged to continue _ under the new regime some of his functions as executive officer. At first )>he powers that had been were not without hope, but the new commander ran across the medicine chest' accidentally, and, to guard against any criminal carelessness in tho galley, dumped the contents overboard en masse j HWkwiso thoso who ventured near hia room at unseasonable hours discovered that he slumbered lightly. The great question was where should tho vessel go? By owners' orders she was homeward bound for London, but "Red Eye," who hnd no appreciation of foreign travel, showed that fine independence which distinguishes great naval commanders and bade - Mr. Hanaford mako for Toxas. Tho vessel was now south-west of Cuba. Failing to subdue the mutineer, his victims had decided to mako, by strategy, for the nearest English port, Kingston, and lot the shore authorities show him such attention as liis deeds merited. It would havo boon- quicker to go into New Orleans, but they wero not sure that American law provided penalties adequato to tho occasion. Thero was one difficulty, however, in the way of enrrying out this programme It appearod from artful conversation that Mr. Houstis had discovered the location of the ship, as a corollary, thcrofore, ho knew what course should bo steered to bring them back to Galveston. Now from their then point of view thero was a difference of some sixteen points between the bearings of Toxas and Jamaica, and it was tempting Providence to expect a man of "Red Eye's" brilliancy to overlook, for the best part of a week, a matter involving half the compass. It was in this quandary that Mr. Hanaford illustratod tho wisdom of reading Board of Trado pamphlets, a practice not wholly recognised as helpful beyond question. In tho quiet of tho "11 to 4" watch ho collected somo bits of iron, a wrench, and other simple tools, and, gotting the ship's binnacle apart more or less, began to misapply certain facts and principles bearing on the phenomena of deviation and local attraction. When his labours wero dono tho chief obstacle in making Jamaica was overcome; tho needle turned easily and gracefully duo south when it should havo been north, pointod north when it should havo been south, and followed this inversion all

around the circle, whatever way the ship swung, so that as the mate, in a. scienr tist's enthusiasm expressed it, they were prepared "to start in tho middle aijd go both ways at once." They did. During the succeeding "days "Red Eye's" fancy took him nearer and [ nearer home and friends, while in reality ha was steadily approaching the power of the British Admiralty. This season did not pass uneventfully, nor yofc in a> manner which would lead the sljipper and. his minions to cherish it in after years as a pleasant memory. For old acquaintance sake "Red Eye" saw to it that tho bosun performed a variety of stunts not mentioned in the articles under which he shipped. As payment for his usage of the Texan during theearlier part of the voyage the chief officer took his meals in the forecastle, and, at such times as his services were not required in navigating the ship, he holystoned without interruption. Weather permitting, the crow assembled on the fore-castle-head every dog watch, while the captain, at "Red Eye's" suggestion, mounted the capstan and entertained ; them with songs and recitations ; as an oncore he danced "hornpipes" on tho main hatch. ' * On the morning of the fourth day after the coup d'etat, land was visible on the port bow, very visible as "Red Eyo" came on deck, and the town on the shore, while attractive and prettily situated, was not Galveston, neither were the surrounding hills any part of Texas. The flags that flew from various buildings along the waterfront were red and un-American, and one just like them was going to the peak of the Boadicea upside down, when all tho bright visions of a cutter full of men-o'-war's men faded from Mr. Hanaford's mind. Off to starboard lie. beheld a ship of their rival- company, not only a ship, but, as he looked more intently, the ship, which carried their especial personal and professional London enemies. Would ho and his captain, even at every appeal of-justice and outraged dignity, put this Texas pirate 'in the hands of authority and proclaim to the world at large, and to the officers and crew of the Lord Dovon in particular, that they — they, the terrible Boadicea — had been overpowered and held in terror of their lives by one man; a landsman at that, and a Yankee? Mr. Hanaford and his captain thought not. A few hours later the little West Indian town was enlivened by the presence of a stranger, an American by his accent, lie was dressed quietly, but with taste, in a blue suit of evident quality, but a close observer might notice something about it suggestive of second-hand;' on each sleeve, a little above the cuff, wore' three rows of stitching, whero some former decoration had been ripped off. When questioned, ho replied, for he was a^man of his word, that he had come as a passenger for health and recreation on the barque that touched in there that morning. Ho was still spending money with a liberal hand, when, some days later, he took a cabin passage on the American packet, and Kingston knew him no more. — E. H. Gosse, in the New York Evening Post.