. ., i,,V .t!:':.;.3tn.
VOL. XIV.
IsTEW BLOOMFIELD, 1JA., TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1880.
KU 33.
I I It W 1 I' .T.-1
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eatlon.
A SAILOR'S YARN.
ryHE Valeria was lying la the bay
X at St. Michael's, one of the dullest
holes we ever put into in all my experi
ence. Harry Martin was first lieutenant
and I was second. Crtpps was our cap
tain a good old sort enough, only he
bothered . us rather with reading out
sermons on a Sunday, for he was a rigid
Presbyterian, and was forever inveigh
ing against the errors of Borne. Bather
a queer line for a thorough-going sailor
to take up, wasn't it ?
" Of course I could get frequent leave
when I wanted a run on shore, but I
lidn't much care about taking it, for
really there was nothing earthly to do
in the place. I had a bad leg at the
time,-1 remember, the remains of a
frightful hack at foot-ball,when we play
. ed the Excellent and beat them into fits,
in this very place, the autumn before ;
so I wasn't up to much walking, and
couldn't visit the places beyond the
town which Martin was always talking
about and sketching.
"By and by I began to notice that
though he spoke of the general beauties
of the island scenery he appeared by his
sketch book to haunt one spot almost
exclusively the Convent of Santa
Agata, on the top of a hill just behind
the town. There were pictures of Santa
Agata from all points of the compass.
It was only to me as an old chum, that
he showed those pictures ; and it wasn't
long before I got out of him, by dint of
a little chaff and a little judicious sym
pathy, that he was madly in love or
fancied he was, which is just as bad,
every bit, while It lasts with one of the
sisters at Santa Agata. Why, you might
just as well have been in love with the
moon, for all the response you could get
to your finest feelings, If you centered
them on a Spanish nun. And so I told
Martin, for I had been through the very
identical case myself at Vera Cruz,
aboard the Bapid.
"But, Jim,' said Martin, quietly,
looking quite shy and red in the face,
for he was an awfully modest man and
not half as well seasoned in these mat
ters as I am ; ' suppose there has been
some response?' v
" 'You don't mean to say you've spok
en or corresponded with her ?'
For answer Martin pulled a little
packet of letters out of the breast pocket
of bis jacket, tied with a piece of brand
new blue ribbon which the old duffer
must have bought for the purpose. -
By degrees the whole story was told.
He had seen Dona Dolores for the first
time three weeks before, when he had
strolled into the convent at the visiting
hour to buy some of the nuns' famous
lace for his people at home. That was
how the acquaintance began by looks
of admiration on the one side apparent
appreciation of them on the other.
After this Martin confessed be was al
ways buying lace every visiting day,
until the old gorgoness who assisted at
the lace selling began to grow suspicious
and changed her companion for another
sister more of her own calibre than
pretty little Dolores. With the latter,
however, our precious first lieutenant
was by this time on, pretty intimate
speaking terms, and by means of a mar
ket woman or a mule girl or some such
emissary, managed to carry on a cor
respondence of frequent notes.,
"I stared In astonishment when be
told me all this, but really, there are no
lengths that a thy man won't go to
when once he'a roused. " Of all lovers,
I've heard a girl say,-, there's ' nothing
to come up to a shy man when he'a vpi
earnest. i
" Well, so far the affair bad gone and
there It had stuck, for who could say
what would be the end of such a hope
less attachment f Hopeless, In so far
that there was no chance of the girl
ever being released from the convent,
which, she now intimated to Harry
Martin, she cordially hated. She was
an orphan and had a lot of money, and
though she bad not taken the vow as a
professed sister, you might just as soon
expect a shark to leave hold of yonr leg
when he had once grabbed it as the
priests and sisters of Santa Agata to let
poor Miss Dolore out of their clutches.
There was nothing to advise Martin to
do but to cut the whole affair ; not to
see the girl again, but just keep close by
the Bhip until we got our sailing orders,
which most of us were hoping for every
day. It's a thing sailors have to do, all
the world over, for one can't marry
everybody, and it's astonishing to find
how in a short time you don't want to.
" But you should have seen the fury
Martin got into when I suggested this
every-day course to him. He talked
about honor and Christian feeling ex
actly as if I hadn't got either one or the
other. Upon my word if he hadn't
been my senior officer and Buch an old
chum, and such a big fellow, too, I
should have knocked htm down for
what he said. At the same time I was
sorry for him, for by this time I saw he
was in earnest in the affair, so when he
had quieted down a bit I said to him,
' What do you say to a rescue ?'
" He jumped as if he'd been shot, and
seized me by the hand. ' Do you really
mean it, Jim V Will you lend a hand
to help her out?'
" 'Are you going to marry her!" I
asked severely ; 'for it's all very good
fun rescuing the young lady, only good
ness knows what we're to do with her
afterwards. You may be sure St.
Michael's will be rather too hot to hold
her or us if our share in the matter gets
wind. You won't be able to marry
nearer than Lisbon, and I don't exactly
know how you're to get her there,
either, unless the boss gives ber pas
sage, which perhaps is a little too much
to expect. It might interfere with the
efficiency of his first officer.
"Poor Martin stood speechless, for
though he had jumped at my suggestion
and evidently had considered the possi
bility of rescuing Dolores from her
prison, his plans had here evidently
stopped short. He had not reflected
that the English Consul would never
marry them in the teeth of the Spanish
authorities, who would probably tear us
to pieces for meddling with one of their
ewe-lambs.
' Well, Martin may be a very smart
officer Indeed, there is no doubt about
that and he may have been a redhot
lover, but he certainly was not much of
a strategist. ' So while I was maturing
the plan, in which I was now almost as
much interested as he, I set him to
write to the lady and formally offer her
marriage, to be arranged for and carried
out as soon as ever she could be convey
ed safely to Lisbon ; always provided
that she herself could elude the vigilance
of the sisters and join her lover outside
the convent walls on an appointed even
ing. Back came her answer through
the medium of the old Carmen of the
market, a friendly old hag who carried
vegetables up to the convent every day.
The escape would be difficult but not
impossible. Carmen was to leave cer
tain doors and windows of the back
premises unlocked, and Dolores was to
slip out at the time appointed. But,
Oh I were the English eenors certain
that she would not be caught Afterward,
for she knew that if she were the penalty
would be death or next door to it. '
" Meanwhile I bad been laying out
the whole plot, and very prettily I had
dovetailed one thing in with another.
There was an old Irish woman married
to a Portuguese Jew fruit merchant who
lived in the Jews' portion of the town.
I bad heard her tongue going one day
like a mill clapper, aa I passed by, and
there wag no mistaking her accent. I
often used to stop and have a chat with
her about the beauties of Queenstown,
which she upheld against all : comers.
What ber religion was I , never discov
ered, for she held the priests In as great
detestation as Captain Crlppi himself;
while she spoke with : high " disdain of
her Jew husband and his religious exer
cises, though she allowed he had more
religion than a 'Protestant' But she
was a good old creature In the main, and
her house, though rather an unsavory
retreat, was the only safe asylum I
could think of where Dolores might be
concealed until the Lisbon steamer
could carry her off from St. Michael's.
"Once safe in Lisbon the girl could be
placed with the friends of Martin's (we
had been hanging off and on thereabouts
for six months or so, and knew all the
English residents In the Portuguese
capltol) until the marriage could take
place and Mrs. Martin be sent home to
England. We did not anticipate any
further trouble would be taken about
her if she once got clear of St. Michael's,
and Martin, unlike some other poor
fellows that I could mention, could
afford to marry whom he pleased.
" Every thing was well in train. The
night arrived and Miss Dolores was
appointed to make her exit from the
convent at half-past eight precisely.
Martin and I were to be in hiding out
side with mules to carry us down the
hill by a circuitous route to the Jews'
quarter, a deserted part of the town,
where Mother Zachary and her fruit
merchant lived.
" But at the last moment came a terri
ble hitch I When Martin and I applied
for leave on shore for the evening, old
Cripps told us that he Intended dining
and sleeping on shore himself, at the
Consul's, and he could not give leave to
both his senior officers to absent them
selves the same evening. We could de
cide between ourselves which was to
remain, but one must certainly do so.
" We dared not show the Captain how
dreadfully we took his sentence to heart,
but withdrew with our usual bows, look
ing unutterable things at each other.
" You must go,' whispered Martin ;
' I'm no good at all ; I should lose my
head and spoil it all. You must go,
Jim, old fellow, if you're still game for
it, though goodness knows how I shall
get through the time till I know you
are safe I '
" There was nothing for it but for me
to go as Martin said, for he was so excit
ed he would have ' boshed' the whole
thing. So, by and by, having given the
Captain, in his full dress togs, the pre
cedence by about half an hour, I was
rowed ashore just about sunset, and told
my men to be ready to take me off again
to the Valeria at ten that evening. I
went round to the plaza and hired a
mule, avowedly for a ride into the coun
try ; and a miserable brute I got, for all
the animals were out except this one, at
the consular dinner party. I dawdled
about the town for a while, then, after
theAngeluB had finished siugingandthe
dusk began to creep down, I turned my
beast's head up a narrow side street,
which led to the very wall of Santa
Agata.
" There was scarcely any one about,
for the natives have an idea that the
hour after sunset is unwholesome in the
outer air ; so I made my way up the
street unnoticed by any one, except that
at a turn of the road I saw ., the sharp
eyes of Carmen, the market woman,
glancing at me, first suspiciously, then
knowingly, as she descended the hill
with her empty baskets piled cn her
back. Very Boon I was safely landed at
the appointed spot, a thick clump of
coarse elder bushes which grew close
under a small stone window belonging
to some outer buildings of the convent
kitchen department. The window was
a good bit above my head, and so deeply
imbedded in thickness of the wall that
it was only by standing well out from
the building that I could see into the
aperture, which was secured on the
inside by a screen of wire trellis work
such as Is often used over larder win
dows. .
" This was the opening which Carmen
was to have loosened, and sure enough,
after a short spell of waiting I could
plainly hear a rustling and rummaging
inside. Then a hand pulled back the
screen and a minute after something
soft and black, of no particular outline
whatever, filled up the window frame
and came creeping outward toward - the
edge of the walL 'Are you ready I"
asked a soft voice, almost before I could
reply something jumped bang into my
outstretched arms. , I declare to you she
was not much bigger than a good sized
kitten. Such a little bit of a thing as.
Mai tin's Dolores I never saw , in my
life. For my part I like them tall, and
broad too," observed the Lieutenant in
the confidential rather than the narra
tive strain ; "but this Dolores was a
wonderful beauty, though there was so
little of her.
" She was a bit frightened and shy at
first, especially when she discovered,. by
catching hold of my whiskers, that I
was not Martin, who shaved clean in
those days. But very soon I had got
her on the mule and explained- matters
in my best Spanish, and we were creep
ing stealthily down the hill the best of
friends, and Dolores, who was not more
than seventeen, apparently in childish
high spirits at the success of our enter,
prise.
"But though she had done her part
so easily I didn't feel at all sure that the
adventure was ended. There were lights
moving to and fro at the upper windows
of the convent, and at any moment her
presence might be missed, while the
open window, with Its stools and boxes
on the inside, would declare which road
Bhe had taken.
" Just at this juncture the confounded
mule, that up to this had behaved him
self pretty decently, began to tack about
in a manner simply fiendish. He was
all over the road at once, and you never
knew whether his bead or his heels
would be uppermost. I suppose it was
the girl's clothes that excited him,
unless the beast was In league with the
priests, and was doing his best to stop
the affair those Spanish mules are art
ful enough for anything. Added to this,
Miss Delores was frightened, and I could
hardly keep her from screaming out;;
and my leg, which had not done so
much work for a long while, began to
ache and throb bo that I could scarcely
keep up with the mule's vagaries.
" In vain I dug my dirk Into the
hind-quatters of the mule; we could not
keep the pace, and soon cries and noise
behind us in the darkness told us that
our pursuers were-close upon us. At
the top of the steep vineyard path I
seized the end of the nun's black cloak
and wrapping it round her head to
prevent her cries being heard for she
was by this time quite beside herself
with fear I jumped off the mule and
dashed with her into the vineyard
which edged the road on either side with
stumpy thick bushes.
"The mule, released from restraint
and maddened by a last prod from my
dirk, galloped with astonishing clatter
down the narrow road, followed almost
Instantly by a shouting mob of people,
all in pursuit of what they believed to
be the heretic and his captive. I could
not help chuckling as they tore by, the
old jackass leading the way at a speed
to which I had been vainly urging him
all the evening. .
" But there was no time to be lost, for
the road which the pursuers had taken
was the one that led straight to the
Jews' quarter, and it was clearly impos
sible to try and make that port. I had
not a moment to reflect, or probably I
should not have dared to do what I did.
Balsing and disentangling Dolores from
her heavy cloak . I half dragged, half
carried her across the vineyards down to
the seaboard, and thence, by the quickest
and quietest road, to the steps where I
had told the men to meet me with the
boat. It was lying in waiting, for the
big clock of the cathedral had Just struck
ten, and without ceremony I tumbled
my living bundle into it, and, jumping
in after her, gave the word to be off.
" Not a minute too soon, for the quay
was all at once alight and alive with
people and lanterns. The news of the
escaped nun had just reached the town,
and I saw my old enemy, the mule,
being dragged into the Plaza and sur
rounded by a crowd of gaping Spaniards
who seemed to expect he would open his
mouth and tell them what had become
of the runaway. Our boat did not
escape. notice, for some one ran along
the quay with a lantern and cast a long
bright flash across our course ; but we
had pulled through it before any one
could have recognized that the dark
mass in the stern of the boat .was the
lost lady,
". My men pulled on in steady, stony
British silence, just as if their officers
were in the habit of making a dash for .
it every two or three evenings a week,
with some young lady or other. ,But I
was beginning to feel horribly uncom-i
fortable as to the reception , Captain
Cripps would give me and our fair visit
or, and I reccollected with relief, that
for this night at all events, he wasBafely
disposed ot I thought it best to give
the men my version of the story so,
before we reached the Valeria, I told
them, in the most businesslike manner
possible, that the young lady was de
tained against her will in a convent, and
had appealed for protection tthe British
man-o'.war. ' Where she'll ftud it, lads,
of course 1' I ended, with a confidence
which I'm bound to say I was very far
from feeling.
"Wasn't I glad just to. find myself
safe aboard the Valeria again, handing
over Dolores, who by this time was
quite frightened and cowed into silence,,
to my superior officer, as iu duty bound,
and retiring a bit aft until their
first greetings should be over. Then I
came forward and explained briefly how .
it was that the plan of boarding Mother
Zachary in the Jews' quarter had fallen
through, and exonerated myself for tak
ing the dangerous step of bringing the
girl to the Valeria, which would in all
probability be searohed the first thing
next morning by the local officials with
a warrant from the British consul.
" Naturally the presence of the lady
could not be concealed from, the other
officers and the ship's company, of
whom were already agog to know who
was this mysterious female, who had
suddenly appeared on the quarter deck.
Martin called the men together, gave
them much such an explanation of the
affair as I had made in the boat, keeping
his own and my special part cleverly
out of eight, and leaving each of bis
auditors with a pleasing Impression that
it was in consequence of his own re
markable honor and gallantry that the
poor, distressed Spanish girl had flown
for protection to the men of the Valeria.
" Martin then conducted Dona Do
lores to his own cabin, where she was
entreated to make herself , as much at
home as possible, for though an un
toward accident had marred the comple
tion of our plans for her safety, there
was not a man on board the ship that
night who would not prevent her return
to the convent If necessary with his life.
Martin was to turn in along with me,
but though I was almost dead beat, it
was along time before he would let me
get to sleep for discussing a hundred
different ways of concealing the young
lady during the search which we knew
was inevitable next day, and for appeas
ing the wrath of the captain, a rigid
disciplinarian and martinet, which was
only one degree less terrible. I fell
asleep in the middle of the discussion,
and Martin, I believe, went up on deck
to star gaze, or else stationed himself on
guard outside his own cabin door, within
which he had cautioned the girl to re
main until something was decided for
her safety.
" I was roused out of what seemed
only like half an hour's sleep by the
knock and entrance of Mat, oue of the
mesB waiters a clever, handy chap,
whom i had several times thought of
taking into our confidence when our
rescue scheme was at first undeveloped.
Having coughed and hemmed once or
twice, and fidgetted about with my
things, which lay in a heap on the floor,
as I had kicked them off at night, Mat
looked at me very knowingly and said,
pulling his forelock :
" ' If you please, sir, don't you nor the
first officer be in any taking about the
young lady. With your permission me
and some of the other chaps have a plan
whlchU beat the Paplshes hollow. Just
you give us leave, sir, and the things's
done, and the young lady as safe as a
bird, sir.' ,
" ' But what's your plan ?' said I, for
I was beginning to feel I'd done enough
in the concern, and would willingly
shove off the rest of , the responsibility
upon Martin or Mat or any one who
liked to take it.
." ' Music, sir,' said Mat, coming confi
dently nearer, and chuckling bo that I
could hardly make out what he aaid.
' We'll receive the gentlemen or deputa
tion or what not with all the ropea
manned and the colors flying, and the
band playing on deck just as if it was
the Admiral or the Dook himself .
.'t'Well, and what then?' I asked
rather crossly , for I couldn't quite tee
the point of .his wonderful, reception,
nor how. It, was to release us , of anxiety
on the score of Dolores' and our own
Bafety.
" .' Why, the big drum, sir 1' said Mat,