A SEA STORY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 498, 7 September 1912, Page 7

A SEA STORY.

fHE CAT, THE JOKER % AND THE

BUCKET OF WATER

A story is told of a brigautine which numbered several extremely superstitious men among her crew. One night whe,n there was no moon and a slight ground-swell was running, the watch, who happened to be the most superstitious of them all, heard, an unearthly wailing coming apparently from the very surface of the sea.

The mate and the helmsman also heard it, but the former lacked imagination, and although he was certainly interested, he nearly blew the watch's, head ofi when he ventured to suggest mermaids. The helmsman did not feel quite happy, but he had to stick to the wheel. The watch was pate; with terror, but he kept silence owing to the mate's complimentary references to his courage and abilities.

Slowly the sound began to move along the ship's side,' becoming more and more agonised as it approached. This annoyed the mate, and, going to the- side of the vessel, he waited till he had located the sound, and then emptied a bucket of water over the rail. There was a gasp, and then dead silence, and nothing more was heard that night. When the watch w;ent oS duty, he, 3f course, gave a detailed and lurid account of the incident to his shipmates, who listened, as he thought, in awed silence, and then called on one of the audience for his version of the matter.

This man, a Tyne-sider, who dearly loved a joke, and had no respect at all for hoary superstitions, had conspired with his fellows to play a trick on the watch.

Shortly after darkness had set in he had crept over the bows without a sound, carried with him the ship's cat, secured in a bag. Crouching under the stays, the joker let the cat's head out of the bag, which he tied round the animal's neck so that it could not escape. Ho then applied his teeth to the unfortunate animal's tail ! Everybody knows the fearsome sounds an angry cat is capable of producing, and those to which a cat whose tail is bitten gives vent ire among the most hair-raising. The sound was more or less regulated by sgusezing the luckless beast's body, The mate's bucket of water was <is unwelcome as unexpected, and caused the Tyne-sider to beat a hurried retreat.—"Globe," 1243.