The Argosy — page 134: what you’re looking at

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

326 THE ARGOSY. Although he was so green, he was sharper than a needle and usually turned their gibes and jokes back upon themselves. Collins wanted to know that evening, as we sat about the mess table and smoked, if he brought his horse hair lariat aboard to lasso a whale. ‘“No; I’m goin’ to lasso you fellows an’ drop yer overboard w’en yer get Zoo overbearin’,’’ growled Jim. I could see he was getting riled and I tried to draw the boys off; but they kept at it, Sam especially. Jim’s freckled face grew whiter and his black eyes glittered dangerously. Suddenly, just as Sam applied a particularly cutting epithet to him, Jim, who had sat doubled up like a jack knife on the edge of his berth through it all, made a leap across the forecastle and grasped Collins around the waist. He moved like a lightning flash, and although Sam was a big fellow, weighing upward of two hundred, he lifted him from the floor with apparently as little effort as he would a child. Sam, who was a good deal of a bully, swore and reached for his knife ; but Jim held him so he couldn’t do that and raised him fairly above his head, until the big fellow’s boots beat a tattoo on the deck of the forecastle. ‘‘T may be green,’’ remarked Jim steadily, ‘‘ but I don’t ’low no man to wipe his feet on me. Just say where you wanter fall, mister, fur [’m a-goin’ ter drop ye !’’ Sam only swore and struggled the more, and with an ease which plainly showed the enormous strength of the erstwhile cowboy, Ledward threw the sailor half across the forecastle. Sam landed like a ton of bricks against the bulkhead and dropped back to the floor with a shock which must have started the very teeth in his head. It looked as though there would be serious trouble in the forecastle for a few moments, but the cooler headed among us prevailed and further difficulty was averted. But Sam did not forgive his antagonist, despite the fact that he had brought his undoing upon himself. He couldn’t understand how that long legged, spindle shanked youngster (Jim wasn’t more than twenty three or four) could have so easily mastered him, and fairly ached to try issues with him: again. But Ledward was built of steel springs and had muscles like wire cables; he had lived the active life of a cowboy since his twelfth year and the hard work aboard the old Sollowell was play to him. We met a stiff gale just after getting out of the Galveston Roads, but our cowboy sailor didn’t turn a hair. And afterward, when I had occasion to ride a couple of hundred miles over a Texas plain, I knew why. A man who had ¢hat experience behind him would never be troubled by seasickness. Jim learned his ropes in short order, and after being prevailed upon to shift his boots and spurs for canvas slippers, went aloft like amonkey. Before we got out of the Gulf he would go anywhere aloft. One day the brig was rolling along before a pretty sharp breeze, the tops of the waves frequently dashing over the rails, for there was a heavy ground swellon. ‘I'he mate wanted to shake out another reef or two and sent the watch aloft. Jim was one of the first to the main yard, and as the old Sollowell listed to port he pitched headforemost down the slanting spar, whose extreme Eomicbooks (©)