Show = I DOUBTING THOMAS I = The Way a Western Mall Sat Down on ft u I Whaling Captain I Wo hurl been in New Bedford ten or twelve days and nod selected our particular sea captain i cap-tain and listened to half a Jozen of his yarns I without betraying the slightest evidence of I doubt of any statement when a stranger from the far west arrived and rather forced j his presence upon our coterie We were on the back veranda of the hotel five or six of us and the old whaler and the latter had Just started in on a story when the westerner came out of the smoking room and drew up a chairNow Now go ahead captain ho brusquely observed as lighted a fresh cigar Well gents began the captain after an uneasy look around I was going to tell you about a whale as What species of whaler interrupted the stranger There ore several species you know and you had better designate A right whale sirt Oh Thats all right go ahead We were lying to and drifting while trying i try-ing out a fish captured the day befcre and thj v md vas from Was this out Lake Erie or the Atlantic ocean put in the stranger On the Atlantic of course Then I an with you I didnt know but you were whaling on the lakes Better locate the spot a little closer however It was off the coast of Brazil replied tho captain in flu indignant voice That will lo but it is a long coast Go ahead and never mind which way the wind blew Y blcwWe were drifting as I said1 r continued the captain as he swalloweJa > liitnp l in his throat l Flien the man cA the masthead called1 n calledExcuoe Excuse me captain interrupted the stranger but if all bands were trying out why did you have a lookout at tho masthead mast-head f f Let him go onr called two cr three voices Oh certainly but ho must bo sure of his facts Go on captain you had a man at the masthead where didnt belong at the time but perhaps you managed things that way He suddenly sighted a whale didnt hef The captain would have retired but we looked at him so appealingly that he decided to make one more effort Tho lookout hailed the deck aud said that a largo whale was bearing down on our starboard star-board broadside i he said after two or three swallows I at once leaped Say captain1 softly inquired the stranger stran-ger was the lookout a man of veracity Of course he was All right then hut I have known lookouts look-outs who would lie like a trotting horse about whales Go on You were going to say that you leaped overboard What happened tbenF1 thenrGentlemen Gentlemen I cant staud this protested the captain as he rose up Whats the matters asked the stranger You seem to doubt my word sir Lands alive but how did you get that idea On the contrary I have the most entire en-tire faith in what you say By the way captain in what year month and day of the week was this What was thouame of your ship Are any of the crew willing to go before be-fore a magistrate and make affidavit I should also like I But the captain had turned his back and Walked away and our pleasantold liar never returned to us He had been smothered by tho strau eland we had to hunt up and listen to the yarns of a mate who couldnt tell a yarn without his face giving him away every time ho pulled a leg of truth out of joint New York Sun |