A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A QUEER RACE. 13 had arrived in the Mersey, and to remind me of my prom- ise, This was quite a work of supererogation on his part. I was not likely to forget either his services or my prom- ise. and | renewed my offer of a handsome reward; but he would accept nothing more valuable than a pound of cavendish tobacco and a box of Havana cigars. Shortly afterward I saw Captain Peyton and asked him, as a favor to me, to grant Bolsover’s request if he possi- bly could, , “ Well,” he said, smiling, ‘‘?’ll do my best. Crazy Tom is a thorough seaman; and, yes—l dare say I can.” “Crazy Tom!” [ exclaimed, in surprise. ‘* Why crazy? T never met a saner man in my life.” “Oh, he is sane enough except on one point, and what is more, he’s honest. A good many folks call him ‘ Hon- est ‘Tom.’ It was only on my ship they called him crazy. I expect that iswhyhe left me; and he maybe thinks that if | make him boatswain he will escape being chaffed.” ‘But why on earth did your people call the poor fellow crazy, and what did they chaff him about?” ‘Well, he has a fad; tells a yarn about a lost galleon, with a lot of treasure on board, and not only swears it is true, but believes the galleon is still afloat, and that one day or another he’ll find her.” ‘¢And why shouldn’t she be still afloat?” ‘‘ Well, seeing that, from his account, it’s more than a century since she disappeared, it is not very likely, £ think! The idea is perfectly ridiculous and absurd—erazy, in fact,” said Captain Peyton. who was a bluff, matter-of- fact north-countryman. ‘* But all this is second-hand, ‘om never spoke to me about it in his life, and he has been so unmercifully chaffed that I fancy he does not like to speak about it. I daresay, though, he would tell you the yarn if you have any curiosity on the subject.” ‘* Well, I rather think I should like to hear the story of the lost galleon; for, if not true, it is pretty sure to be interesting, and that’s the main point in a suory, after all. Se non e vero, e ben trovato, you know.” However, I did not hear Tom’s yarn just then, nor until several things had happened which I little expected. Captain Peyton got fresh sailing orders sooner than he anticipated, and made Bolsover happy by engaging him (€(0) mm (@. IOOKS. Go