"JACKSON."

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 409, 10 March 1904, Page 6

"JACKSON."

a Swa Dog, BY W. tfLAlk RUSSELL. I OMMA «Te it to the dog, who drank it to "the hist drain. . and on my saying' 'Poor Jackson,' pitting him again, he howled aa" before, as though there was something is the name to break his heart. You may hekrs softie dogs howl •he did when S* street organ begins. I left him to rummage for victuals, and in a locker found some cold salt beef and • tin of white biscuit. Oh this I called my mates, and they all came in and we iejitac -The dog had got again on the dfadt raw's breast, aid wouldn't stir though I threw him a piece of biscuit and then a bit of meat. The water had strengthened Kin* and he was shifting •bout as though uneasy in his mind, occasionally uttering a low growl and |f eing us steadfly. • 'Likely as not we may hare to stay ■tfe,'sayaaman named William, 'and Jr£* f that : ' there poor xhap'U hare to *eome out of it.' . ' "Better tarn to,' exclaimed another; ."it's-bad'enough to be east away after .4tih«e pattern. I'm for fresh air, shipwreck or no shipwreck.* "Bnt mitoir approaching the body; fbedog saarled and showed his teeth, j and cut such capers on the corpse'! •test that we all thought he was goal'

mad, and stood looking at him. At last Eaays: 'Poor Jackson! Come along, old fackson! Poor old Jackson!' patting say leg, on which he drew up tome, and 'whilst I patted him and called him Jackson, he meanwhile licking my ■hoes or looking up at me with his jjcngmront as. if his heart Wits ready to burst, the others sneaked- the body off "1 thought to'see'Jackson-bolt out ol the cabin when he found the body gone. Instead of which, after looking around, he uttered a long howl, then came to my feet again and- ate -the biscuit and piece of meat out of -my band. "Wo were nearly a week aboard that vessel before we were taken off. Luck* tly, there was plenty to eat and drink in her, opt" she was draining in water and needed constantrpumping, arid we feared ft.r our lives should heavy weather set in. That model you see there at the foot of the obelisk-is a true-copy of Iter. I believe she had been struck by lu*!jta~hig. One' of I us,- a man named r.-.rrt.»n;;. said that he guessed by the look of the corpses that they had been smote blind and ha* died of their blindness. Hot a derelict is nearly always a mystery wben there's nobody left alive to tell the story. As much a mystery was it, too, why. that there dog should have answered to the name of Jackson. Maybe his master was so called Be tills, as it will, you had only to call him Jackson-' to- bring, him to your feet and convert fc*im into the lovingest beast that ever wagged a taiL ••During the week -we? were aboard the wreck, that do,<r never lost sight of me. He followed at my heels like my owe shadow, lay down with me* watched me as if he was human with a powerful intelligence working out imas*n t*ms in him. He-was tfci& first to f!.*'.»t tte? ship "that took us off. I was ly in?? asleep on the cuddy deck, and he •woke me by licking my face. I was w-xed to be disturbed, and told him to jHt away, and turned Ovcrfor another nap. On tins he licks my face again Biid liarkcd '• -!Ha>t that dawgf says William, and be sit.« up to chuck a boot at the poor beast. " -Hold your hand,* says L «Now, Jackson. what is it?* says I. "lie barked again and walked to the deckhouse door, looking behind him, and on my following the first thing I saw was a large brig within half a mile of us. "WeU, to cut this, we were taken off, ami I took good care to carry Jackson along with me, for by this time the love U-tween us was something beautiful. Throughout the passage home he i»y hi the clews of my hammock at night, ami by day followed me about the deck; and laugh as you may, sir, I tell you I've seen tears of joy gush into Iris red eyes when I've allowed him to

jump upon my knees and lie there and rick my hand The master of the brig wanted to buy him from me. but I said no, not for ten times his weight in gold Til pawn the shirt off my back to repay you for your kindness, sir.' says I, 'but Jackson and me are friends that must not part if we can help it.* -However, I couldn't take him to sea with me every voyage, and when I Rot home I gave him to my bister to take charge oL I went chiefly on coasting trips, and was absent for short spells only, ami, lodging as I did with my sister when I was ashore, never did mortal nun from the most loving of wives •f mothers, from the most affectionate of fathers or brothers, receive such a welcome home as I did from Jackson. Bit joy was almost terrify lug. ft cn.mc toUris, thfct when the neighbors tirard

I was to return they'd assemble In a body in the door to witness Jackson's delight. You, would hare thought he'd spring through ■ the very roof, When his demonstrations' were over, he'd sit and grunt, with his eyes fixed upon me as though he were talking. He was the 1 only dog I seemed.to know his bark didn't convey all that was in his mind. I 'can. assure you it used to affect me to see hun to give expression to his thoughts by uttering sounds and maneuvering with his .'ear** I believe tna!t a dead sailor's ' soul 'had passed into 1 ' thit there dog. "Bat but Idtf< then* Never did the like of so much intelligence: walk' on fbur legsafore. - •" '•Theso cainen'tiißsi when t shipped as second ■ mate and carpenter afooard a . coalman' bound to a French port. This gave me a chance to carry Jackson alongwith me, the skipper hot objecting.: ' I had-hbw had the dog alkmt three and a 1 half years-perhaps four. He wis still an active, beautiful dog with a lovely brown cost of hair, fine as silk, and' eyes as expressive as a pretty girl's. It came on to blow after we had leiftfporfr a few hours, and the weather turned thick as mud in a wine glass. We got; the vessel' under easy sail; the wind was: alittle abaft the beam, and we were it reckbnlhg on forty; fathoms of water under our -keel; when! shortly after six bells ol the first watch! • the vessel took the ground off .the Nor-1 folk coast; the'masts went over the sideand she wasi wrecked in a breath,* beat-! ing hmd the seas bursting over: her. • "Taef»warfbit of * fleckTitmse a'ft, j and most of the men took shelter in it.: I was making my way to I to johrthem when' the deck*'blew-hip; amidships, and to save myself from beingwashed overboard, I crawled into; the little caboose, and when I was; there,: feeling . horribly, lonesome, I ' thought''' of -Jackson, arid putting ihyl headout'thre/ogh'ifcedoor t ' whistledi on the little silver wnrst*B I * used'to; carry expressly to call hint' with.! Whether he was aft with the men and 1 they let him outj suspecting, by his i capers on hearing my, whistle that'he i was going mad, whether ,he had .been j sheltering' himself 'waiting for me to j call him, I never could tell. ' The hull I laywitirVstrorife 1&, : a^:the , ai*wis J WsMds'Kps | the hoU was yawning^-yet five minutes i after I had sounded that whistle I j heard a scratching at .the gaily door, j and on sliding, it a bit open in bounded, Jackson. "■'■-'! "Hehad scarcely entered when a lump of green sea struck the caboose. What followed is like recollecting the waking op out of a swoon. I remember finding myself in the water arid of scraping at. something withJ my finger ends. It was the top of the 'Caboose, as-you see it there;but I didn't :know- what it was till the day broke. In groping I put my i arm through a hole and held by it. Just then I heard a yelp close beside me... I put my other'arm into the smother where' something showed' black and caught hold of the dog—for, tho-dog it was—and hoisted him on io my back with his fore-paws on my. shoulders. Tfie" water was horribly brbkeri.ahd the tumbling of Che caboose roof sickening; yet I held on with'my arm through the chimney hole' and the' dog' clung to! my shoulders, encouraging me as it ! we're by sometimes licking my ; face; and

whenever a bigger sea than .usual ran at us, the poor beast would > bark as though he thought to frighten it away from hurting me. "We floated away from the broken tumble of the shoal into a run of the sea that was something regular, but the water was constantly washing Over us. I cannot 1 express, what comfort I found in having that poor • beast onrmy shoulders close to me> barking, and then giving a little growl as though to hearten me, and then licking my face. At last he fell silent. The gray of the dawn was stealing-into the sky. I said: 'Jackson, how is it with you, poor beast!' He didn't answer. I spoke again, and finding him still silent, 1 pulled him down and found he was dead I was too weak, too near my own death, to cry; yet I felt to be weeping in my heart when 1 pulled him down and saw that he was dead My exhaustion was too great to suffer me to hold him long, and I had to let him go. His body floated off, and I lost skyht of It "Shortly after sunrise a- smack hove into view. The mate of her, seeing a black object, put a glass to his eye and instantly spied me waving my arm, whereupon he headed for me, launched a boat and took me aboard I was the only man saved; the vessel had gone to pieces in the darkness and drowned all the others. Thai's the little- yarn, sir," exclaimed Bob Ridley, knocking the ashes out of his pipe and rising. "Poor old Jackson!" and with a deep sigh and an air of abstraction, he led the way out of his summer arbor x _