OBEYING ORDERS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 91, 24 November 1911, Page 2

OBEYING ORDERS.

The captain of a tramp steamer,, when opportunity offered, and he could do bo without letting his owners know quite how much he got for it, was in the habit of picking up passengers for short runs between ports, and by this method had been able to make a little bit for himself, which was put by for a rainy day. On one of these occasions one of these passengers died, and, as he was a coloured man, the skipper was in a quandary as to how to dispose properly of the corpse. Calling the boatswain up on-- to the bridge, he gave the following orders : “Bo’sun, there’s a dead nigger in ■No. 22, and, as I don’t know anything about the nigger funeral service, you better go in as soon as it gets dark and roll him up in a bit of canvas, with one or two holystones, and quietly drop him over the side.” ~ ‘‘Aye, aye, sir.” The next morning the skipper went into No. 22 to see if his orders had been carried out, and to his astonishment there still lay the dead man. ‘‘Bo’sun, didn’t I tell you to drop that dead nigger overboard from No. 22 ? I find he is still there.” ‘‘Yessir, so I did, sir.” Then a look of dismay came over the 1 oatcw; in's face. "‘Twenty-two, sir ; I thought you said thirty-two, sir.”