THE TRUTHFUL PILOT.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 652, 25 July 1876, Page 2

THE TRUTHFUL PILOT.

Tn« passenger., wlio wm going; down fk« tig Trver for bbc first time in bit Irfe^ secured permission to olinrb up beside tb» pilot, a g'ira old graybaak, Who never tail a lie in hi* Ufa. _ Many alligators in the raver- en jhired ■the str»nger. Not so many now since tlhey got to shoot in' them fur their hides saA tallow, was the reply. Uied to bo lot i, A! I dont want to tell about "em, stranger, replied the pilot, sighing .heaviily. Why* ""Cause you'd think I was a-lying to you, Mid that* something I nerer do. I k.u cheat at keerdt, drink whiskey, or cbaur poor terticker, but I cannot tell a lie. T iere used to be let* of them? inquire! the passenger. I'm 'mojfc afraid to tell you, muter., but I hare counted 'Ursn hundred to th« mile from 7ickiburit dear down to Orleans. Tuat wu years ago, afore a shot was fired vi '•m. And IVe counted 3 440 of them on one Kand bank, continued the pilot, it looks big to tell { but a Government surveyor was aboard, and checked 'em off as I «all«d out. I havent the least doubt of it, replied the passengers, as he heaved a deep sigh. I'm glad o' that stranger. Some fellers would tkink I wm a liar when I am foiling the solemn truth. This used to be ft paradise for alligators, aud they were so thick that the wheels of the steamer killed an average of forty to the mile. In that so ? True as Gospel, mister, I used almoit to ftel sorry for the poor brutes, cmse they'd cry out c'en 'most like a human bn*g. We killed lo's of 'em, as I said, and we hurt a pile more. I sailed with on* captain who allus oarried a thousand bottles of intment to throw orer to the wouuded ones. He did ! As sure as you live, he did. I don't 'speet as Til erer see such another kind and Christian man. And the alligators got to know the Nanoy Jane, and to know Captuin Tom, and they'd swim out and rub their tails agin the baat and parr like cats and look up and try to smile. They would ? Solemn truth, stranger. And once when we grounded on a bar, with an opposition boat right behind, the alligators gathered round, got under her stern, and lumped her orer the bar by a grand gush. It looks like a big lie, but I never told a He yet, and I never shalL I wouldn't lie for all the money you could pat aboard this boat.

There was * •ninful p»u*e, and »ttcr a Twbil* 1 tli(> pn^y infci.uiel : Our i -jinr* n out once, and a crowd «of al'igitor* took old of a'towhne and hanloi a* for j'-five miles up the stream It? Vi-kthurjj. And w h'-n the «ew^ q t <*ovm the nr t that Ciipt>tiii Tom «i< He id. eve j a'li gaf >r lUiih d his Mt o\r widh mud as a 'budge of m »>n nnii •, and I )ts of 'em puifd air y mill (I ■ d Tho p*ve njer 1 ft. th« pilot house with the remark bh t h* di<l it. doubt the *tittemeit, artl thn old tn in gate the wlii'el > turn and replied - Timr's one thin? I won't do fc love nor nioiter, md thi's mmke a liir of myi<e'f. I vii brung up by a goi.l mot'ier, and I'm coing bo stick to tbe truth if this boat never makes a cent.