SHIPWEECKED ON YETOEUP 
95 
My skipper T. was a youngish man, and very 
fond of practical jokes (except when played upon 
himself). A number of dogs roamed about the 
village, ownerless and otherwise. One old Ainu 
lady had half a dozen or more, and nothing pleased 
our skipper more than to entice some of these up 
to our quarters, and then, harnessing two together 
with straw rope, tie old tin cans to their tails, and 
send them careering through the village, yelling and 
howling and raising a terrible racket. All the 
other dogs would join in ; the old lady would run out 
of her house when she heard the rumpus, and release 
the dogs from their encumbrances, slanging the 
skipper in a high-pitched voice. 
The Governor had a couple of good-sized pigs, 
and on one occasion T. put two of these dogs into 
the pig-pen. They began to worry the pigs, and 
bit one so severely that it had to be killed to save 
its life, as the Irishman said. The Governor sent 
down to us, and, explaining that some of the village 
dogs had got into his pig-pen and bitten one pig so 
badly that he wanted someone to kill and dress it, 
asked if either our cook or steward understood any¬ 
thing about butchering. At the same time he sent 
a man out with a rifle, with orders to shoot all the 
ownerless dogs, and a number were killed. Fortu¬ 
nately he knew nothing of T. being the cause of the 
mischief. Our darkey steward killed and dressed 
the pig, and our reward was a fine leg of pork. 
Various other foolish antics were indulged in by 
T. He caught a tartar at last in the form of one 
of the Governor’s servants, an Ainu nurse-girl who 
looked after the Governor’s children. T. was con¬ 
stantly teasing and playing practical jokes on this 
