Saved! Saved!! Saved!!!

Lake County Press, Issue 907, 19 April 1900, Page 2

Saved! Saved!! Saved!!!

“ Whew !" said Tiill Sikes. as ho drew up a chair and a sigh of relief. " I niver fell so bloomin’ thankful in me bloomin’ na lurnl." “ What about, mo pippin ?” quoth the Artful Dodger. <• why, T cracked a c iV ut Villatown, an’ didn’t do the job so clean’s T might a done, an’ then T hoars as ’ow the old geezer what lives there swears she'll move ’raven an’ earth to find out who done it. She’s ninety year old, an’ ’arf-blind, an’ ’arf-deaf, an’ ’arf-dead : but blowed if I ain’t bin all ov a shake for fear as how she'd capture me !”

“ And what,” growled Dawkins, “ what the Charlie Dickens yer got to be thankful for ? Mightn’t you git bowled out yit. stupid ?” “ Ne-yev-er, me beauty !” was William’s jubilant reply. " The old gal’s gev up 'untin' me on her own 'ook. hlngaged a detective I” —“ Moonshine,”

Sailors' Tricfcs to Get Liqnor. Captain Sir Alfred Jephsoa, R.J*., in the " Navy and Army Illustrated,' tells some Interesting stories of the tricks to which /nen-of-war's men resort to obtain drink. The cocoanuts filled with rum, he says, is an old story, so is the canvas bag poked down the scupper—Where the waste liquor from the grog tub is poured away—and afterwards hauled up toy a bit of string previously attached to it. On one occasion a midshipman received orders on a Saturday night to take the launch ashore for a load of fresh water on Monday. The boat was cleared out and well scrubbed. On landing, they had to take a canvas hose wiito a large mouth to It from the launch to a spring which trickled from some rocks well above the boat. The mouth was triced up—the water finding its way through the hose into the boat in bulk. There were only tthree men—the coxswain, one man to keep dead leaves, &c„ from falling Into the b°*« on and one man to hold the hose irx the boat. Yet one of the two men\ who never left the boat was unmislakjb'.; the worse for liquor when the launch was towed alongside the ship. The midshipman was duly questioned, and his leave was duly stopped. Never could he find out how that man got drunk until he was told long after. Knowing on Saturday that they were going watering the following Monday, one bluejacket went ashore and bought some liquor tied up In pig's intestines, and hid it near the spring. The man who was told off to look after the hose ashore, being duly informed, signalled bo his shipmate in Che boat, and then popped one of the long Intestines into the mouth of the hose. The rush of water carried fhe liquor sa/fely through the hose, and the sailor in the boat grasped It aa. It emerged, and stowed It inside his serge jumper, of course having an occasional pull at it When the middy was not looking. I remember the case of a ship's corporal (that is one of the ship's police), who had a ibrother, a barber in London, who paid him a visit. Tne barber was so fascinated with life afloat that he sold off his business, passed the necessary examination, and became a ship's corporal himself. During the fitting out <j£ a ship there was a good deal of drunkenness, and It was difficult to find out how spirits were smuggled on board. But the newly-made corporal noticed that there was an unusual consumption of butter in the ship. The bumboatwoman sold more butter than anything else. Moreover, all the butter was prettily made up 1n pyramidal shape of a pat-.ern not generally seen. His suspicions being aroused, one fine day the corporal jumped into the bumboat, poked his pencil into one of the butter shapes, and then pressing his hands on either side, up sprang an artesian well of gir from the butter. This desire to obtain spirits naturally resulted in the old days in a good deal of flogging, and sometimes ended in a tragedy. I remember a Christmas at Bermuda, when the ship was lying in the basin, we missed one of our weak characters for two days, and it was suggested to me that as he had last been seen with others buying spirits, which he said he meant to get on board by hook or by crook, he might have come to harm.

Supposing that he meant to try and swim off from the shore, and make for either the cable, so as to come up to it, or the paddle-wheel, I sent for the diver and, pointing to a particular spot, I made him go down. In a few minutes he was up again, and after we had taken off his diving helmet he said, "He is there, sir, where you pointed, lying on his back." We soon got his body up, and then found that he had thrust a couple of bottles in the waistband of his trousers, one on each side. In attempting to swim off to the ship he had overestimated his powers, and sank alongside. If he called out, no one heard him, as his shipmates were keeping Christmas on the lower deck, and so a young life was lost through this curse.