The Bow Anchor.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 5 September 1890, Page 3

The Bow Anchor.

• Captain John Dulliver, who sailed a whaling vessel for a great ninny geaions, accumu ated a fund of experiences which stood him in g;--od use for anecdotes through all the years after his retirement ; bit perhaps the best of Captain Dulliver's gtories the one of which the recital always caused the most amusemei t, was one relating to an ineiden 1 that happened after he left off whaling. The captain helped him- elf pretty liberally from a plate of cheese. " There, there " eaid Mrs Dulliver •'you're goiu 1 an' tatin' a lot more o' th.it cheese ! You'd belter stop ivght where you be.' "Oh, wal, Mnria," said the captain uiih a grin, " I guess it'll be all right this time.' 1 " Wai, eat it, Julin, eat it ! It's me that has to suffer, anyway." " How is that, Mrs Dulliver ?" her hostess asked. "Whereupon the captain, being the story te ler of the family, took up the uarative of his wife.' "Ye see," said he, still grinning, " my wife, she's afraid I'll throw out the bow anchor agin. It want more'n a month or six weeks ago that we were down to 'Lizy Jane's visitiu', an' the) had jist about the tame kind o' cheese on the tab c 'at you're got here. I eat a litt'e on't. 01), you usedn't look, Maria! Maybe I eat a good deal on't. Wai, that night, after we had gone to bed, I dreamed I was to sea in the brig Priscilla, same's I used to be. Seem's if I was comiu' up past Hatteras. Twas my watch, an' a ! l to once there came on one o' the wust squalls I evt r g;iw in them parts. The wind blew like the nation, an' the vessel was nigh on her beam cuds. There want but one thing to do Seem's if the mate was the only man within reach, an' I sings out to him, 'Mr Coffin,' says I, ' heave, that bow anchor overboard !' So the mate he ketches hold o' the anchor, an' he pulls, an 1 tuj-s an he can't start it. And al the time the storm grows. • Mister Coffin', says I, gefctin' desperate, ' over with that anchor now an 1 mighty quick !' But he can't budge *er The wind howls an' the ship oare'iis. Then I goes fo 'ard, save I, ' Stan' aside, yer lubber, an' let me heave that bow anchor over myself, or we'l go to the bottom!' An 1 with that I put both arms 'round the big anchor, an' 1 gavo it a terrible tug au' lift, an' over the ship's side she went. An' as I'm a livin' Ui»n, if thet bow anchor didn" set up a scream that riz over the whole roar o' the tempest, an' it ye led—' John Dulliver, John Dulliver, oh !' what be you a-doin' ! An' I woke up, an' if there want Maria on the floor, screamin' an' takin' on. I'd took her for the anchor, mi' heaved her overboard, sure enough. " Mrs Dulliver's was the only face in the room that remained without a smile throughout this recital. •' Yes," said she, •' you throwed me out on the floor as if I want no more'n so much old juuk. An' there you jro. eatin' that cheese as if nothin' hadn't happened !"