Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, October 22, 1921, Page 8

¥%, AA > 0 fy “A AS oN =< is 7 t VS 5) ASS ES uray sweet The yearning to com- mand «@ stenmboat gradually had dé veloped into an obsession. Result— the “fast and commodious S. S. Mag- sie" as the United States marshal had bad the audacity to advertise her. In the beginning, Captain Scraggs had planned to do bay and river tow- ing with the Meggie. Ala: The frst time the unfortunate Scraggs at- tempted to tow a heavily laden barge up river, a light fog bad come down, necessitating the frequent blowing of the whistle. Following the sixth long disst, Mr. McGuffey had whistled Seraggs on the engine-room howler: Swearing horribly, he had dernanded to be informed why in this and that the skipper didn't leave that dod-gast- ed whistle alone. It was using up his CHAPTER |. liverea, nevertheless, impersonally, He| *team faster than he could manufec- closed the pilot-house door furtously| ture it. Thereafter, Scraggs bad used behind him and started for the galley, | ® patent foghorn, id when the hon- “Some bright day I'm goin’ to git| St McGuffey hal once more succeed- tired o’ hearin’ you cuss my proxy.”| $1 1M conserving sufficient steam to Mr. Gibney bawied after him, “an'| crawl up river, the tle had turned when that fatal time arrives I'll seat-| *P¢ the Maggie could not buck the ter a can o' Kili-Flea over. you an’ ebb. McGuffey declared a few new stippin’ world’ll know you no more.” | tubes In the boiler would do the trick, “Oh, go to—glory, you pig-iron pol-| PUt om-the other hand, Mr. Gibney Isher,” Captain Scraggs tossed back | Pointed ont that the old craft was at him over his shoulder—and honor | Practically: punk aft and a sti tow was satisfied. In the lee of the pilot} WOUd Jerk the tall off the old girl, In house Captain Scraggs paysed, set his} “@*PAlr, therefore Captain Seraggs tnfamous old brown derby hat on the| had Soo weikinlgeiticen orem deck and leaped furiously upon ae zn 9 7 “with both feet. Six times he did this; | 874 end all, when an opportunity of then with a blow of his fist hol fered for the frelghting of garde: knocked the ruin back into a sem.-| ‘Teck and dairy produce from Half: stomach.” Dlance of its original shape and tm-{ 00m bay to San Francisco, “But Itell you she’s a tule fog, Gib. | mediately felt better. But now « diMeulty arose. The new She rises up ih the marshes of the “If I was you, skipper, I'd hold my | [U “as an “outside” one—salt water Sacramento and San Joaquin, drifts | temper until 1 got to port; then I'd | #!! the-wny. Under the ruling of the down to the bay and out the Golden i Inspectors, the Maggie would be run- gate and just naturally blocks the ning coastwise the instant she en- wheels of commerce while she lasts. gaged in the green-pea and string-bean Why, I've known the ferry boats be- trade, and Captain Scraggs' \lcense tween San, Francisco and Oakland to provided ‘for no such contingency, His get lost for hours on thelr twenty-min- ticket entitled him to act as master ute run—and all along of a blasted on the waters of San Francisco bay tule fog.” and the waters tributary thereto, “I don't doubt your word a mite, Scraggsy. I never did see a ferry-boat skipper that knew shucks aboct sallorizing,” the imperturbable Gibney responded. “Me, I'll smell my way home tn any tule fog." “Maybe you can sn’ maybe you can't, Gib, although far be {t from me to question your ability. I'll take It for granted. Nevertheless, TI ain't a-goin’ to run the risk o’ you havin’ catarrh o' the nose an’ confusin’ your smells tonight. You ain't got nothin‘ at stake but your job, whereas ff 1 lose the Maggie I lose my hull for- gotlate two coastwise voyages without tune, Bring her about, Gib, an’ let's Y " consulting them, Furthermore, they hustle back.” ANEW warned him that the next time he did *“Don't be an old woman,” Mr. Gib- It they would condemn the fast and ney pleaded. “Scraggs, you just ain't commodious. Magzte, : got enough works inside you to fill a In this extremity, Fate had sent to wrist watch.” Captain Seraggs a Jarge, imposing. “I ain't a-goln’ to poke around in capable, but socially indifferent per- the dark an’ a tule fog, feelin’ for son who responded to the name of the Golden gate,” Captain Scraggs Adelbert P. Gibney. “Mr. Gibney had shrilled peevishly, spent part of an adventurous life in, “H—I's bells an’ panther tracks! the United States navy, where he had I've got my old courses, an’ {f I foller | ,, applied himself and acquired a falr thatoree Goart help gettin’ home." 1 Certainly Do, Scraggsy, Old Pep-| smattering of navigation. Prior to en- Captain Scraggs laid his hand on perRot,” (He ‘Replied ‘Caimly. tering the navy he had been a fore- Mr. Gibney's great arm and tried to { git jingled an’ forgit my troubles in-| mast hand in clipper ships and had smile paternally. “Gib, my dear boy,” | expensively,” somebody advised him, | beld}a second mate's berth, Follow- he pleaded, “control yourself. Don't Scraggs turned. In a litte square | !2& his discharge from the navy he argue with me, Gib. I'm master here | hatch the head and. shoulders of Mr. | Dad sailed constwixe on steam schoon- an’ you're mate. Do I make myself] Bartholomew McGuffey; chief - en-| ¢™ and after attending a navigation clear?” gineer; first, second and third as-| School for two months, had cured “You do, Scraggsy. But {ft won't | sistant engineer, oller, wiper, water- | % license as chief mate of steam, any avail you nothin’. You're only master | tender, and coal-passer of the Maggte, | °C¢an and any tonnage. becuz of a gentleman's agreement be-} appeared. He was standing on the Unfortunately for Mr. Gibney, ‘he tween us two, an’ because I'm man } steel Indder that led up from his | had a falling. Most of us have. The enough to figgger there's certain rights | stuffy engine room and had evidently | Most genlal fellow In the world, he due you as owner o' the Maggie. But | come up, like a whale, for a breath of | ¥8s cursed with too much brains and don’t you forget that accordin’ to the | fresh alr. “The way you ruin them | imagination and a thirst which re records o the {nspector’s office, I'm | honnets o’ yourn sure ts a scandal, | auired quenching around pay day. master of the Maggie, an’ the way I| Mr. McGuffey concluded. “If I had a| Also, he had that beastly habit of figger \t, whenever there's any call to | temper as pasty as yourn I'd take | command which fs inseparable from # show a little real seamanship, that} soothi sirup or somethin’ for tt.” born leader;-when he held a first gentleman's agreement don't stand.” . e . e e * mate's berth, he was wont to try to “But this ain't one o' them times, “run the ship” and, on occasions. Gib” ladle out suggestions to his skipper. “You're whistlin’ tt 1s. If we run | curiosity dir halt lve Valiver: Thus, tn time, he acquired a reputa- from this here fog, It's skiffs to bat-| a period suffclent to present @ briet | 0h for being unreliable and a wind: tleships we don't get into San Fran-| history of the steamer Maggie and her | )®S--with the result that skippers cisco bay an’ discharged before six | peculiar crew. We will begin with thes "ere Chary of engaging him. Not to o'clock tomorrow night. By the time | sfaggie. e too prolix, at the tlme Captain we're taken on coal an’ water an’ Seraggs made the disheartening dis- what-all, it'll be elght or nine o'clock, covery that-he had to have a skipper with me an’ McGuffey entitled to e aa They had seen the fog rolling down the coast shortly after the Maggie had rounded Pilar Point at sunset and readed north. Captain Scraggs had been steamboating too many unprofit- able years on San Francisco bay, the Sutsun and San Pablo slougha and dogholes and the Sacramento river to be‘ decelved as to the character of that fog. and he remarked much to b ‘e'd better turn back moon bay and tle up at the he added. “Calamity howler!” retorted Mr. Gibney and gave the wheel a spoke or two. ‘Seraggsy, you're enough to sanke a renl sailor sick at the stituted waters “tribu- if he understood the English language, the inspectors were obdurate. What !f the distance was less ‘than twenty-five miles? they pointed out. The voyage was unde- niably coastwise and carried with It all the risk of wind and wave. And In order ta impress upon Captain Scraggs the weight of their authority, the Inspectors suspended for six months Captain Scraggs’ bay and iver license for having dared to ne- Before proceeding further with this narrative, due respect for the reader's She had been built on Puget sound back in the eighties, and was one hun- mebbe. three’ dollars overtime an'| (act, Wna,ul™ feet pibetigae ck Alc havin’ to argue an’ scrap with you to! nriven by a little steeple compound sit 1 —not to speak 0° havin’ to put to| engine, in the DMS her syouth, ahe fea the same night go's to be back in | Coma make ten knots: Howeves wens Halfmoon bay to toad bright an’ early | with old age and boilen scale, the best next mornin’. | Scragesy, T atn't. no] she could do now was six, and had cit ail mcg to dety me. cipy | Mt MeGuttey paid’ the slightest eed Captain Scraggs’ iMttle green eyes | Steam genes prea aera: steam he had no diMiculty “Inducing gleamed balefully. Mr. Gtbney looked | spector of bollers at ‘San Francisco, prides atest a ies Bias) a aoe down upon him with tolerance, ss | she would have been limited to five;} © acioye: -sachianabanloped cratt Great Dane gazes upon a fox terrier. | Fach annual inspection threatened to Pbipd mone ati tet elie ohtae certainly do, Scraggsy, old Pepper- | be her last, and Captain Scraggs, her | PUSS UP is ticket in a Pilot house Dot,” he replied calmly. “What're you | sole owner, lived fm perpetual fear secepnit detache Meade sole lighted: ble Jovian ot,” | that eventually the day mnst arrive | Det. under a gentleman's /agreement volte nas oral countenance. when, to save the Iives-of himself and | ft Scrases he was not to claim the “Nothin'—now. I'm helpless,” Cap- | his crew, he woul be forced to ship une sal) hears ar wes known’ to ain, Rerabes answered with deadiy.| a new boiler end. fenew the rotten | ‘¢ Sarid asthe Maggie's Arst mate. Sock got ee ee anute we hit the | timbers round bees@eagwaod, | Shedirecom tostm tend mate, qusrternaay dock you an’ me parts company.” had come inte Captain Scraggs' pos- | Ny," iiorsen g solntn Sone ene sc. Gontt Know whetheyawe will or | seasion-at public auction ‘conducted 1. ', Halvorsen, @ solemn Swede with not Seraggsy. I ain't heeled right | by the United Stutee marshal, ; ny DUseia's Deki Olsporiticn, comate | himself reduced to: the alternative of. longshore work or a fo'eastle berth tn a windjammer bound for blue water. With alacrity, therefore, Mr. Gib- ney kad accepted Scraggs’ offer of seventy-five dollars a month—“and found”-—to skipper the Maggie on her constwise run. As a first mate of Bnancially to hit the beach on such | ing her capture as she sneaked into | {ited the fo'eastie hands, Pigg 8) notice.” San Francisco one. dark night ¥ “TN get the police to remove you, | with a load of caeaes ‘and. optam | ‘ye BOE omerrartes. buco ppoar you Dilstered pirate,” Scraggs | from Ensenada. She had cdst him Dreme tn the engine ee screamed, noty quite beside himself. | fifteen hundred hard-earned “dollars. ar merce 7" ps tA —_ “4 “Yea? Well, the minute they let go| Scrasgs—Phinens oP. Seraggsyto| Uw sho ater te hen aaa inne oe o” me Tit come back to the S. 8. Mag- | employ his full name—was precisely | Ter tl” trongtved it weed ee sie and tear her apart just to sec | the kind of man one might expect to | Wig ve trenmured tt accor’ Sod teen what makes her go." He leaned out | own and operate ithe Maggle. “Rat-| idiot take coumteain ance the Mlot-house window and sniffed. | faced, snaggle-toothed and. furtive, | to Cantcin Serasce tent weGene “Tule fog, all right, Scraggs. Stil, | with a low cunning that sometimes | “0m Captain Scrages rebates thet ain't no reason why the ship's | passed for great tatelligence, Scraggs’| Steger in the world’ cen ptaddiir cosmpany should fast, te It? Quit bick- | character !s best described in a home. | Sumer in, the Norld, « 73 pets a erit! with me, little one, an‘ see if you | ly American word. He was “ornery.” | Seif, Told hare the co the Mkcatets can't wrastle up some ham an’ eggs. | A native of San Francisco, he had boilers, and, consequently, he had } want my eggs*sunny side up.” grown up around the docks and had | contain Scragga tnoretor less at his Sensing the futility of further argu- | developed from messboy on a river | CaPte Uiee smpastiod sie ceeocaen ment, Captain “Scraggs sought solace | steamer to master. af bay and river | 130)" Ginney, the latter decider thee in a stream of adjectival opprobrium, | steamboats, although it 1s not of rec- * as a « it would be a cold: day, indeed, when plainly meant for Mr, Gibney but de! ord that he ever commanded such a his ticket would not constitute a elub 3S qt <a 8s = TE TSS. PR wn = => Sey =e pr: POSS for the Maggie, Air. Gibney found |2 wherewith to make Scraggs, as Gib- ney expteased ft, ¢mind his P’s and Qe” Tt will be’ seen, therefore, that mu- tual necessity held this queerly as- sorted trio together, and, though they quarreled furiously, nevertheless, with the passnge of time their own weak- nesses and those of the Maggte had aroused Im each for the other a.curi- ous affection. While Captain Scraggs frequently “pulled” a monumental bluff and threatened to dismiss both Gibney and MeGuffey—and, in fact, cecastonally went go far as to order them off his ship, on their part Gib- ney and McGuffey were wont to work the some racket and resign. With the subsidence of their anger and the re- turn to reason, however, the trio had a habit of meeting accidentally In the Bowhead saloon, where, sooner or later, they wefe certain to bury their grudge in a foaniing beaker of steam beer, and returm joyfully to the Mag- gle. Of all the Mttle ship's company, Nels Halvorsen, colloquially destg- nated “The Squarehead,” wns the only individual who was, in truth and in fact, big own man. Neils was steady, industrious, faithful, capable, and reliable; any one of a hundred deckhand jobs were ever open to Neils, yet, for some reason best known to himself, he preferred to stick by the Maggte. Injhis dull way it ts probable that he was fascinated by the agile Intelligence of Mr. Gibney, the vitriolic tongue of Captain Scraggs, and the elephantine wit and grizzly bear courage of Mr. McGuffey. At any rate, he delighted tn hearing them snarl and wrangle. However, to return to the Magzie which we left entering the tule fog a.few miles north of Pilar point: CHAPTER 11. Captuin Scraggs and The Square- head partook first_of the ham and eggs, coffee and bread, which the skipper prepared. Scraggs then pre- pareda similar mea! for Mr, Gibney and AfeGuffey, set It,in the oven to keep warm, and descgnded to the en- gine room to reliéye McGuffey for din- ner. Neils at the same time took the course from Mr, Gibney and relieved the letter at the wheel. By this time, darkness had descended upon the world, and the Maggie had entered the frog; following her custom she pro- ceeded In absolute silence, although as a partic] offset to the extreme lability to collision witlr other coastwise craft, due to the non-whistling rule aboard the Maggie, Mr, Gibney had Iala a course half a mile Inside the usual steamer lanes, albeit due to his over- whelming desire for peace he had neglected to inform:his owner of this; the honest fellow, proceeded upon the hypothesis that what people do not know 1s not apt to trovble them, Captnin Scraggs read the-log and reported the mileage to: Mr. Gibney, who figured with the stub of a pencil on the pilot house wall, wagged his head, and appeared satisfied. “Better go ford,” he ordered, “an’' help The SqUiarehend on the lookout. At elght o'clock we ought to be right under. the lee o’ Point San Pedro; when I whistle we ought to catch the echo thrown back by the cliff. Wisten for it. Promptly at elght o'clock Mr. Mc- Guffey was horrified to see his steam gange drop half a pound as the Mag- gle’s siren sounded. Mr, Gibney stuck Nis Ingenlous head out of the pilot house and listened, but no answering. Zi Kit eee os ‘in, Instantly Glbuey signaled McGuffey for half speed ahead. “Breakers on the starboard bow,” yelled Captain Scraggs. “Port bow,” The Squarehead cor- “Qh, my great patience!” Mr. Gib- “They're on both bows we're headed straight for t) beach. Here's where we all go to the devil together,” and he yanked wildiy at the signal wire that led to the engine room, with the intention of giving McGuffey four bells—th2 signal the Maggie for full speed At the second Jerk the wire broke, but not dntil two bells had sounded In tle engine room—tiie signal for full speed nhend., The eMcient McGuffey promptly kicked her ‘wide open, and the Fates having dene so, Mr. McGuffey should forthwith ellmb the Inder and thrust his head out on deck for a breath of Instantly a chorus of ney groaned. decreed that, shrieks up on the fo'castle head at- tracted his attention to such a degree that he falled to hear the engine room howler as Mr, Gibney blew frantically Presently, out of the hubbub for- Mr, MeGuffey heard Captain Serages wail frantically: For the love of heaven, stop her!” stantly the engineer dropped back Into the engine room and<set the Maggie full speed astern; then he grasped the trowler and held it to his ear. “Stop her!" he heard Gibney shriek, “Why tn blazes don't you stop her?” “She's set astern, Gib. She'll ease up In a minute.” - “Yoo know iti" Gibney answered The Maggle climbed lnzlly to the crest of a long oly roller, slid reck- lessly down the other side, and took following sea over her taffrail. She still had some head on, but very little—not quite sufficient to give her decent steerage way, as Mr, Gibney discovered when, having at length com- muniented hts desires to MeGnffey, he spun the wheel frantically tn a he- lated effort to swing the Maggie's dirty nose out to sen. “Nothing doin’,” he snarled. haye to come to’a complete stop before she begins to walk barkward and get steerage way on again, as sure as death an’ taxes,” She. did—with a crack that shook the rigging and caused buckshots In a pan. such a cry, Indeed, os might burst from the lips of a mother seeing her only child run down by the Limite¢— burst from poor Captain Serages. “My ship!) My ship!" he howled, darling Uttle Maggie! you, they've klled you! to rattle Uke A Yerrible ery— They've killed The succeeding wave lifted the Maz: gle of tha beach, carried her In some fifty feet further, and deposited her gently on the sand. to port a little and rested there as if she was very, very weary, nor could all the threshing of her screw In re. verse hau) her off again. The surf. dashing In under her fantall, had more power than MecGouffey’s engines, and. foot by foot, the Maggle proceeded to Mr, Gibney lstened for five minutes to the uproar that rose from the bowels of the little steamer before he whistled up Mr She heeled over dig herself in. “Your wheel will bite Into the sane first thing you know, and tear th stern off her. You're shakin’ the old girl to pleces.” § McGoffey killed Ms engine, banked his fires, and came up on deck, wiping his anxious face with a fearfully filth: At the same time Scrarg> and Neils Halvorsen came crawtin; aft over the deckload avd when they reached the clear space around the pilot house, Captain Scraggs threw his brown derby on the deck and leaped But No Answering Echo Reached His Ears. ~ echo reached his ears. “Hear any- ching?" he bawled. ~~ “Heard the Maggie's siren,” Captain Scraggs retorted yenomously, Z Mr. Gibney leaped gut on’ deck, se- ected a small head of cabbage from a vroken crate and hurled it forward. Then he sprang back into the pilot house end stralghtened the Maggle on ‘er course again, He leaned over the Dinnacle, with the cuff of his watch- coat wiping away the molsture on the | zlass, and studied: the instrument care- fully. “I don't trust the danged thing,” he muttered. “Guess I'l] haul her off a coupler points an’ try the whistle again.” F iC Bie . He did, Still no echo, He was in- clined to believe that Captain Sernggs had not read the taffrall log correctly, and when at eight-thirty he tried the vhistle again he was still without re- sults In the way of an echo from the ‘UM, albeit the engine room howler upon it until, his rage abating ult! mately, no power on earth, tn the air. or under the sea, could possibly have rehabilitated it and rendered it fit for further wear, even by Captain Scraggs This petulant practice of Jumping on his hat was a habit with Scragg: whenever anything annoyed him par- ticularly and was always infallible evi dence that a simple declarative sen- tence had stuck {n his throat. old whirling dervish,” Gibney demonded calmly when Scraggs paused for lack of breath to continue bis dance, “what about ft? We're up Salt Creek without a paddle; the devil to pay and no pitch hot.” “McGuffey’s fired!" Captain Scraggs “Come, come, Scraggey, old tarpot,” _Mr. Gibney soothed. ‘time for fightin’. .Thinkin’ an’ actin’ ‘As oll that saves the Muggie now.” | But Captain Scraggs was beyond “MeGuffey’s fired! fey’s fred” he reiterated. “The dirty rotten wharf rat! engineer?” he continued witheringly. “As an engineer you're a howling suc- cess at shoemakin’, you slob. I'll fix your clock for you, my, hearty. have your ticket todk away from you, Chinaman’s dream, “This ain't no Call yourself an "It's all my fault runnin’ by dead the honest Gibney pro- tested. “Mac ain't to ina ee ine ropm ylegraph busted an’ be got the wrong signal.” “It's bis business to sce fo it that he’s gaf #n engine room tetegraph that Won't bust—" “You dog!” McGuffey roared and @prang at tthe skipper, who leaped olmbily up the little Indder to the top of the pilot house and stood prepared to kick Mr. McGuffey in the face should’ that worthy venture up after him. “I can't persuade you to git me nothin’ that I ought to have. I'm tired Workin’ with junk en’ scraps an’ cop- per Wire and pieces o' string. I'm through!” R “You're right—you're through, be- cause you're fred!” Scraggs shrieked in Insane rage. “Get off my ship, you maritime impostor, or I'll take a pisto’ to you. Overboard with you, you greasy, nddlepated bounder! You're fotten, understand? Rotten! Rotten! Rotten !* “You. owe me eight doUars an’ six bits, Scraggs,” Mr. McGuffey reminded his owner calmly. “Chuck down the spondolicks an’ I'l! get off your ship.” Captain Scraggs was beyond reason, so he tossed the money down ‘to the engineer. “Now git.” be commanded. Without further ado, Mr. McGuffey started cross the deckload to the fo’castie head. Scraggs could not see hhn but he could hear him—so he pelted the engineer with potatoes, cab- hage heads and ontons, the vegetables descending about the honest McGuffey in @ veritable barrage. Even in the darkness several of these missiles took effect. Upon reaching the very apex of the Maggie's bow, Mr. McGuffey turned and hurled a promise into the dark- ness: “If we ever) mect again, Scraggs, I'll make Mrs, Scraggs a wid- ow. Paste that In your hat—when you get a new one.” 3 The Maggle wag resting eustly on the beach, with the broken water from the long lazy combers surging weil up above her water line. At most, ‘six feet of water awaited the engineer, who stood, peering shoreward and lis- tening intently, oblivious to the stray missiles which whizzed-past. Present- ly, from out of the fog, he heard a grinding, metallic sound and through a sudden rift-in the fog caught a brief glimpse of blue flame with sparks radiating faintly from it. That settled matters for Bartholo- mew MeGuffey. The metallic sound was the protest from the wheels of a Cuff house trolley car rounding a curve; the blye flame was an electric manifestation due to the Intermittent contact of her trolley with the wire, wet with fog. McGuffey knew the exact position of the Maggie now, so he poised a moment on her bow; as a wave swept past bim, he leaped overboard, scrambied ashore, made his way up the bench to the great tighway which flanks\the shore line between the Cliff house and, Ingleside, sought a roadhouse, and warmed his Interior with four fingers of whisky neat. ‘Then, feeling quite content: with himself, even in his wet garments, he bodrded a city-boupd trolley ear and departed fot the warmth and hospital- ity of Scab Johnny's salldg- boarding house !n Oregon street. Captein Scraggs sat down on the balf-emptied crate of vegetables and commenced to weep bitterly—half be- cange of rage and half because he re- garded himself a pauper. Already he had a vision of himself scouring the waterfront in search of x job. “No use boo-hooin’ over spilt milk, .” ~Always philosophical, the author of the owner's qvoe sought to carry the disaster off lightly. “Don't add your salt tears to a saltier sea until you're certain you're a total Joss an’ no@insurance. I got you Into thts and I suppose It's up to me to get you off, so I guess I'll commence opera- tions.” Sulting the action to the word, Mr, Gibney grasped the whistle cord and a strange, sad, sneezing, wheezy moan resembling the expiring protest of & lusty plg’And gradually increasing into a, To rawn but respectable whistle \reWarded» his efforts, For ence, he could affotd to be prodigal with the steam, antl while it lasted there could be no mistaking the fact that here was a steamer in dire dis- tress. So ee The Weird call for help brought Scraggs aroung to a foller realization of the enormity of the disaster which had overtaken him. In his agony he forgot to cursé his navigating officer for the latter’s stubbornness In refusing to turn back when the fog threatened. He clutched Mr. Gibney by the right arm, thereby interrupting for an In- stant the dismal outburst from the “Gib,” he moaned. “I'm a ruined man. How're we ever to get the old sweetheart off whole? Answer me that, Gib, Answer me, I say. How're we to get my Maggie off the beach?” Mr, Gibney shook himself loose from that frantic grip and continued his pull on the whistle until the Maggie, taking a false note, quavered, moaned, spat stenm a minute and subsided with what might be termed a nautical sob. “Now, see what youve done?” he bawled. “You've made me bust the whistle,” oe - “Answer my question, Gib.” “We'll never get her off if you don’t quit Interferin’ an’ give me time to think. I'll admit there ain't much of a chance, because it's dead low water Now en’ just as soon as the tide ts at the.flood she'll drive further up the beach an’ fall apart.” “Perhaps. McGuffey will have heart enough to telephone Into the city for a tug.” : “'Tain't scarcely probable, Scraggsy. You abused him vile an’ threw a lot of fodder at hin.” i$ tye sS/ a pick up the S. 8. Maggie, an’ no bottom an’ loaded with garden truck, an’ I'll wag my ears an’ look at the back o' my neck. She ain't “Ain't worth it! Why, man, 1 paid US fifteen hundred hard cash dollars for ¢ he =i a “Fonrteen bundred an’ ninety-nine doliars an’ ninety-nine cents too much. They seen you comin’, grantin’ for the sake of argyment // that she’s worth the tow, the next question them towboat skippers'll ask ‘Who's goin’ to pay the bin? It'll be ‘two hundred an’ fifty dollars at the lowest figger, an’ if you got that muclr credit with the towboat company you're some high financier. Ain't that logic?” “Tm afraid,” Scraggs replied sadly, “It is. Sti, they'd have a Hen on the Meggie—" “Steamer ahoy!" came a voice from Ss NS “Man with a megaphone,” Mr. Gib- “Ahoy! Ahoy, there!" “Who are you an’ what's the trou- = oR Saas Captain Scraggs took tt upon him- self to answer: “American steamer ff Mr. Gibney sprang upon him tiger- ishty, plitted a horny, tobacco-smelling palm across Scraggs’ mouth and effec. tively smothered all further sound. “American steamer Yankee Prince,” he bawled like a veritable Bull of “of Boston, Hong Kong to Frisco, with a general cargo of sandal’ Wood, rice an’ silk. Where’: “Just outside the Gate. “o' the Clif? house.” “Telephone in for a tug. We're in nice shape, restin’ easy, but our rud- der’s gone an’ the after web o’ the | crank shaft busted. Telephone tn, my man, an’ I'll make {t up to you when we get a safe anchorage. Log “Lindstrom, of the Golden Gate Life Saving station.” “Tl not forget you, Lindstrom. My owners are Yankees, but they're “All right. -Tll telephone. On my ” A “God speed murmured Mr. Gibney, and released his hold-on Cap: tain Scraggs, who instantly threw his arms around the navigailng officer's burly neck. “I forgive you, Adelbert,” he crooned. “I forgive you freely. By the tall of the Great Sacred Bull, you're a marvel. She's an all night fog or I'm a Chinaman, and if it only stays thick enongh—" hold,” Gibney retorted dogged- “It's a tule fog. hold. Quit huggin’ me., Your breath's They always Captain. Scraggs, hurled forcibly backward, bumped Into the pilot house, lost none of bis enthusiasm, “You're a jewel,” he declared. Whatever made you think of the Yankee Prince?’ 3 Mr. Gibney answered “calmly, “there aln’t no such ship, this land of ours bein’ a free republic where princes don't -go. nice name, ScFaggs, old tarpot—more particular since I thought tt up in a hurry. Bh, what?” “Halvorsen,” cried Captain Scrages. ‘The.lone deckhand emerged from & hole In the freight forward whither he had retreated to escape the vegeta- ble barrage put over by ‘Captain Scraggs when McGuffey left the ship - “Aye, aye, sir,” he boomed. “All hands below to the galley!” “While we're walt. in’ for this here towboat I'll brew-a scuttle 0° grog to celebrate the dis- covery 0’ real sea-farin’ talent. Gib, my dear boy, I'm proud of you. No matter what happens, I'll never have to other navigatin’ officer.” “Don’t crow till you're out o the \) the astute Gibney” warnéd ict LF YA Ny LAE: Up aire aoe Se ISA\ al) rd Les ey SS 25 “Away: —s ra cy a = SQN aot ) <3 \ ce Scraggs shouted. SS >t SE Va (zs x Pe ¥ wv SS Beste SSNS N (To be Continued) Master Story Teller Peter B, Kyne is one of Amer. fcu's reat story tellers. His sea stories take the reader out to sea. There is the tang of the salt alr in them—a vividness such as only the true story teller can impart. And through them all is the Kyne that ability which this writer has of getting fun out of situations which in their handling by # less capable person commonplace. ‘here is interest in the Kyne story from the start. has the very agreeable faculty of taking on new interest as it goes ‘This is especially true:of “Tho Green Pea Pirates,” one of the many good tales told by Peter BURT PROTO? So that new readers may enj the story as well as those fo: nate enough to have begun at tie beginning, ‘The Review.each week will print a synopsis of atl pre- ceding chapters.