The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 31, 1898, Page 24

24 1898 eSSSSSSY N NippecesssssS THE CAPTAIN HUNG ON HOUR AFTER HOUR UNDER THE SHELTER OF THE DODGERS. Copyright, by Cutliffe Hyne. APTAIN OWEN KETTLE folded the letter card, put {t in ks pocket and relit his cigar. He drew paper towurd him and took out a stub of pencil and tried to Lioke -verse which was his habit when things were shaping fhemsel awry; but the rhymes refused to come. He changed the meter; »_up laboring to fit words to the air of “Suwanee and started fresh lines which would go to -the of “Greenland's Icy Mountains,’ a meter with h hé had-at other times been notoriously successful. But it failed him now.” He could not get the jingle; spare d at every turn; and the field of poppies on e was erigaged became ‘every moment more : elusive: 3 o use. .He.put down the pencil and sighed; frowning at himself for his indecision, took out card again and deliberately reread 1it, front 1 back. ptain Kettle was a man who made up his mind over rs’ with the.quickness of a pistol shot, and . rightly or wrongly, he always s Yn the letter card, was a even femporarily, from his mind; it inv far too large to be hazarded by 'a has either one way or the other and. the difficuity in coming factory conclusion irritated him heavily. r-card was and seemed o pre- w to its au ypewritten; it was h ; it committed atements sent someoody to penal irew out hints, whether true or untrue, ‘aptain Kettle heir to'a whole world of anxlety that m and tre I excellent academic rule to ent letters, but it is by no means d there are -times wh WAYS an easy n a friendly must be conveyed anonymously, or not at all e (id not worry himself about the ethics of letter: writing as a profe his . attention b by typewritten card for Well Wis d in his hand. hip goes to sea never to reach paort There {s an insurance robb 3 You think elf very s time you are being made a comn writer wound Up by saying: hint of how it's going to be know the gare's fixed. So keep your we skinned, and’ take the Sultan of Labuan safely out and back, and maybe you'll get something more solid .than:a drink. - From “YOUR WELL WISHER.” Kettle crammed. the blue letter-card into his ocket anfl took his cap. Ve " he i down to Mrs. Ke who w aily wash in the L ffice to see Mr. er, le I know, and the youngste € Cettle thought out many as he jour- South Shields to the grimy office of his em- his data were insufficfent, and ld of any scheme by which he 0 say the very least of ubject. € had hired him as captain.of the Sultanof Labuan; had said no word abov losing her, and how was he to force the man’s confidenc: It looked the most unpromising enterprise in the world. Moreover 5 tellow , he was ushered upon Gedge in his v him sjgning letters, and casting occasional ntences to a young woman, who flicked them down in shorthand. vner frowned. 'He was very bus: “Well, d "1"1.“ i{s 1t? Talk ahead. I can listen ese lett te'question-I'd like to a¥k you about run- ‘Want Miss Payne to go out?"’ “If 1 might trouble her so far. Gedge jerked his head toward the door. “Type out what you've got” he sald. The shorthand writer went out and closed the: glass door after her. w, Kettle.”” 3 g ptain Kettle hesitated. It was an awkward subject o captain, out with it, quick. I'm in the of a h T wish you'd let me know a little more exact in eon- of course—how vou wish me to run this steamer. Do you want me to—I mean—"" “Well, get on, get on.” “When do you want her back?’ Gedge leaned back in his chair, tapped his teeth with the end of his pen. “Look here, captain,” ne said, “you didn’t come here to talk rot like this. You've had your or- ders alre: You aren’t a drinking man, or I'd say you were scréewed. - 80 there’s something else behind. &ome, out with it “T hardly know how to hegin. “I'don’t want rhetoric. If vo: not"—Mr. ‘Gedge leaned signing. his letters. Captain Kettle rudeness without so much as a flus He sigh ,-and then, after another few ' thought, 'took the letter-card from his pocket and laid it on his. employer's- table. After Gedge had conned through and signed a couple more sheets, he took the card up in his fingers and skimmed {t <hrough. As he read the color deepened in his face. and Kettle gaw that he was moved, but said nothing. For a moment there was silence between them,.and Gedge tapped at his teeth and was apparently lost in thought. Then he said: “Wheére did vou get this?" “Through the post.” “And why did you bring it to me?”’ ““I thought you-might have something .to say about it."” “Shown it to any one else? B No, sir; I'm in your service and earning your, pay.” T pulled you out of the gutter again quite re- * cently,. and you sa you'd be able to ger your wife’s cloth out of pawn with your advance note.” “T'm very grateful to you for giving me the berth, sir; and I shall be a-faithful servant to ycu as long as I'm in - vour employ. But if there’'s anything on I'd like to be in vour confidence. T know she isn't an old ship, but—" “But what?" & “‘She’: neconomical. Her engines are old-fashioned. It wouldn't pay to fit her with triple-expansions and new bo! “I see. You aprear to know a lot abcut the ship. cap- tain. . more than 1 do myself, in fact. I know you're a small tin saint when you're within hail of that Ebenezer or Bethel or whatever vou call it here ashore; but at sea you've got the name for not being over particular.” ““At sea.” =aid the little saflor with a sign, I am what I have to b But I couldn't do that. I'm a poor man, sir; I'm prefty nearly a desperate man; but there are some kind of things that are beyond me. I know it's done often enough.- but—you’ll have to excuse me. I can’'t lose her for you." A “Who's asking yvou?” sald Gedge cheerly. “I'm not. Don’t jump at conclusions, man. I don't want the Sultan of Labuan lost. She’s not my best ship, I'll grant, but I can run her 4t a profit for all that, and even {f I couldn’t e got a tale, tell it, it his desk again and went on AVOIDING UNPLEASANT COMPANY. ““Why. do you look s0 pleasant all the time?"” “There's suth a crowd of amateur Yhotorr hers around here that you never can be sure that you're not being taken!"—Fliegende Blaetter. dveniu I'm not the sort of man to try and make my diyidends out No, not by any ‘means, captain; I've got my name to keep up. Captain Kettle brought up a sigh of refief. hear it, sir; I'm glad to hear it. But I thougnt it best to That beastly letter upset me.” have it out with you. “Well, if you want to know who Gedge laughed slyly. I did myseif. K ) 4as ol “Well, to be accurate, I did it by deput it, man, what an unbel He pressed one of the electric pushes by the side of d the shorthand writer came In and stood at . Payne, you typed this letter c: Payne dutifully answered, “Ye: Well, Kettle, 1 hope you're T sent this blessed card because I wanted to see how deep this shore-going honesty of yours went, which I've heard so much about; you may take it from me that you'll clally in the very near future. to do with have been mostl of a straight man, I know captain, and a prosperous voyagi idnight mail to-night from hi down to Newport to: ously incredulous. You hae yer ng Jew you “Thank you. satisfied now? d now I know, and rofit from it finan- shipmasters I've had rogues, and when I get hold ow to appreciate him. Now, you e you'll just get her come into vi Here, good-hy. I'm f 3 But, busy though he might be, Mr. Gedge did not imme- CAPTAIN KETTLE REPLIED TO THE diately return to signing his letters after Captain Kettle's Instead, he took out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead and wiped his hands, which for some reason seemed to have grown unaccountably clammy, and for awhile he lay back in his writing chair like a man who feels physically sick. Captain Kettie, however, cheerful air, and as the 12-0'elock mall roared out that night across the high level bridge, he settled himself to sleep in his corner of a third-class carriage and to dream the dreams of a man who, after many vicissitudes, has at last found righteous employment. ence for him, and he permitted hims joying it to the full. A train clattered into Monmouthshire some twelve hours later, and he stepped out on Newport fresh from the Bristol channel. ortmanteau he could easily have carried in his ut there is an etiquette about these matters which even the hard-up shipmaster to whom a shilling is a financial rarity must obsery wheeler down to the agent's office and made himself The Sultan of Labuan, it seemed, had come up the Usk and gone into dock barely an hour before, and so Kettle, obedient to his orders, went down at once to take went his ways hummin a new experi- latform into a fog, raw and ; and so he took a four- It was not a pieasant operation, this ousting another man from his livelihood, and as Ketttle had been supplant- ed a weary number of times himself, he thou, pretty well the feelings of the man whom he replace. His reception, however, su the former master of the Sultan of Labuan, handed over his charge with an air of obvious and sincere relief, and Kettle felt that he was being eyed with a certain embar- rassing curfosity. The man was not disposed to be verbal- 1y communicative. “You look knocked “Might well be,” retorted Captal had a blessed wink of slee] of Thames mud.” “Not had bad weather, have you?" /‘No, weather’s been right enough. Bft thickish, that's 11 “What's kept vou from having a watch below, then?" the ship, captain. I never been up be- don’t want to try what it sald Kettle wiht a sigh, “it’s horrible; they're 1 have been there.'” = uessed,” suld Willlams, Look here,” said Kettle, “what are you you're doing me a was never so ple Only thing is, I h letts you step in." Rffilo:q'ao lpe& plain, captain; s. . tht he knew rised him. Williams, up,” =aid Kettle, in Williams. “I haven’t p since 1 pulled@ my anchors out ‘“Fraid of losing fore the Board of “So I might have “Don’t think ouse in my life. you a bad turn y James!" said don’t go on hinting like bad turn, eased to ste or a moment (A “I am maundering on too much, captain, and that's & fact. Result of being about tired out, 1 suppose. But you must excuse me s‘uukln further; there’s that blasted Iibel law to think about. Now, captain, here’s the key of the chart house door, and if you'll let me I'll go out first and you can lock it behind you. You'll find one of the tumblers beside the water bottle broken; it fell out of my hand this morning just after I'd docked her; but all the rest i according to inventory; and I'll knock off three- pence for the tumbler when we square up.” They plunged straightway into the aridities of busi- ness, and kept at it till the captaincy had been formally laid down and handed over, and then the opportunity for further revelations S gon “aptain Willams was clear- ly worn out with wearine responsibility had kept him gmu;i till then, but now that responsibility had ended, he was like a man in a trance. Hi drooped; his knees failed him drunkenly; he wa speech; and if Kettle had not by main force drags m off to ped at a tem- perance hotel he would have tumbled down incontinently and slept like one dead in the guiter. Ax it was he tay on the counterpane in the heaviest of sleep, the picture of a strong man worn out with watching and labor, and for a minute or so Kettle stood beside the bed and gazed upon him thoughtfu ~ “‘By Jame he muttered, “if I could make you speak, captain, I believe you could tell a queerish tale.” But Kettle did not loiter by this taciturn bedside, He had signed on as master of t Sultan of Labuan; he was \ . 77 FIRST OF THESE COMPLIMENTS BY in Mr. Gedge's employ and earning Mr. Gedge's pay, and every minute wasted on a steamer means money lost. He ‘went bt across to the South dock, and se: the ma- chinery of business to work without delay ‘here was grumbling from both mates, engineers and crew that had bLecn given leisure for s ely a breath of snore air, but Kettle was not a man who courted popularity from his underlings by offering them indulgences. He Statea that their duty was to get the water ballast out, and the coal under the hatches in the shortest time on record, and mentioned that he was the man who would see it done. The men grumbled of course; behind their driver's back they swore; two deck hands and three of the stoke- hold crew deserted, leaving their wages, and were re- placed by others from the shipping office; and still the work went remorselessly on under the gray glow of the fog so long as daylight lasted, and then under the glare ol raw electric arc lamps. Kettle got his clearance papers with the same fierce, businesslike bustle, and came back and stepped lightly up on the tramp's uppper bridge. The pflot was there waliting for him, balf admiring, half repeélled; the old blue-faced mate and the carpenter were on the fomgcastle head, the second mate was aft, the chief himself a the third engineer were at the throttle and the reversinghgear below. The ship's entire compie- ment had quite surrendered to the sway of tnis new task master, and stood in their coal grime and their tiredness ready to jump at his bidding. Eristol channel tides are high, and the current of the Usk is swift. It was going to quick work If they did not miss the tide, and the pilot, who had no special stake in the matter, said it could not be done. Kettie, however, thought otherwise, and the pilot in consequence saw some seamanship which gave him chills down tne back. “By gum, captain,” he said, when they were fairly out of the river, “you can handle he: “Quartermaster,”’ saild Kettle, “tell my steward to bring two goes of whisky up here on the bridge. Pilot, if you say such things to me, you make me feel like a girl with a new dress, and I want a drop of Dutch courage to keep my blushes back.” “Well,” said the pilot, when the whisky came, ‘‘here's lots of cargo, captain, of good bonuses. “Here's deep-draft steamers for you, pflor, and plenty of water under 'em.” The whisky drained down its ntpnolnted channels, and the pilot said: "BY the by, I've this for you, captain,” and brought out a letter-card. “Typewritten address,” said/ Kettle. ‘No postmarak on the stamp. Who's it from?" “‘Man I came across. Look you, though, I didn’t know him. But he sajd there was a useful tip i the letter ‘which it would please you to have after you sailed. Kettle tore off the perforated edges apd looked Inside the card. Here was another anonymous communication. also from Well Wisher, and, as before, warning him thought you'd been long enough at you over with the sécond mate right now. against the machinations of Gedge. ‘‘Got no idea who the man was who gave it you?" he asked. “Well, I did have & bit of talk with him and a drink, and I rather gathered he might have had something te do with insurance. But he didn’t say his name. hy, isn’t he a friend of yours?" “I rather think he is,” said Kettle, “but I can’t be quite sure yet.”” He did not add that the anonymous writ- er guaranteed him a present of £50 if the Sultan of La- buan drew no insurance money till he had moored her in Port Said. From the very outset the voyage of the Sultan of La- buan was unpropitious. Before she was clear of the Usk it was found that three more of her crew had managed to slip away ashore and so were gone beyond replace- ment. Whilst she was still in the brown, mucdy waters of the Bristol Channel there were several bredkdowns in the engine room which necessitated stoppages and anxious re- pairs. The engines of the Sultan of Labuan were her weak spot, for otherwise her hull was sound enough. But these machines were old and wasteful in steam, and made ail the difference in economy which divides a profit from a loss in these modern days of fierd ea competition. ‘With Murgatroyd, the old blue-faced marte, Kettle had been shipmates before, and there existeil between the two men a strong dislike, and a certain mutual esteem. They interviewed over duty matters when the pilot left. “Mr. Murgatroyd,” said the little skipper, “youll keep tho hatohes off and do everything for ventilation. This Welsh coal's us gassy as petroleum.’” “Aye, aye,” rumbled the mate. “But how about heavy weather comes and the decks are full of water?” Yow'll have fresh orders from me before then. Get hen your hoses to work now and sluice down. The ship’s a ¥, pigsty " Aye, aye. But the hands are dog tired. “Thej 'Sy 2 to drive them. I should have Then it's your place to d T xnow that. But if you aren't up to your business, just say, and I'll swap The old mate’'s face grew purple. “If you want a driver,” he said, “you shall have one.” and with that he went his way and foused the tired deck hands to work af- ter the time-honored methods. Bt 1 Captain Kettle did not spare his crew he was equally hard on himself. He was at sea now and wearing his sea-going conscience, which was an entirely different plece of mental mechanism to that which regulated his actions ashore. He had received Mr. Gedge's precise in- structions to run the coal boat in the ordinary method, and he intended to do it relentlessly and to the letter. He had had his doubts about Mr. Gedge’s reat wishes before, and even the episode of Miss Payne, the typewriter, had hot altogether deceived him, but the second letter from “Well Wisher” which the pilot had brought on board THREE PROMPT REVOLVER SHOTS cleared the matter up beyond a doubt. There was not the faintest chance that Gedge had written that; there was not the faintest reason to disbelieve now that Gedge wished his uneconomical steamboat off his hands, and had arranged for her never aagin to come into port. Now, properly approached—say with sealed orders to be openedponly at sea—I think there is very littie doubt but what Captain Kettle would have undertaken to carry out this nefarious piece of business himself. The average mariner thinks no more of *‘making the msurance pay’ than the average traveler does of rol Nn? his fellow coun- trymen by the importation of Belglan cigars and Tauch- nitz novels from the channel packet. And with Kettle, too, loyalty to an employer, so long as that employer treated him squarely, ranked high. But for a second time ‘Well Wisher had repeated the word ‘‘catspaw,”’ and for his purpose he could not have used a better spur. The little captain’s face grew grim as he read it. “By James!" he muttered, “if that's the game he's trying to pla{. I'll make him rue it.” n due time the Sultan of Labuan had run down the Cornish coast, had rounded Land's Eng, and was standing, off on a course which would make Finisterre her next landfall. The glass was inking steadily. The hatches were off and a good strong smell of coal gas billowed up from below and mingled with the sea scents. With all a Northern sailor's distrust for a “Dago,” Kettie had spotted this spruce young Itallan second mate as Gedge's probable tool, and watched him ifke the apple of his eve. No man's actions could have been more inno- cent and normal, and this, of course, made things all the more suspicious. The engineer staff, who had accesss to bilge cocks, and could urrenFe disasters to machinery, were lfkewise ex-officio suspicious persons, but as it was quite impossible to overlook them at all hours and on all occ:slox;m, he had regretfully to tatke them very largely on trust, Blundering, incompetent old Murgatroyd, the mai was_the only man on board in whose hone’sty Kettle hsfd the least faith, simply because he considered him too stu: pid to be intrusted with any operation so delicate as ba ratry, and to Murgatroyd he more or less confided his in- n B “I_hear there's a scheme on board to steamboat,” he sald, “because she's too expenuf\‘/xeu{g l'tl?ll\s Well, Mr. Gedge, the owner, gave me orders to run her, and he told me he made a profit on her. I'm going by Mr. Gedge's words, and I'm going to take her to Port Said. And let me tell you this: If she stops anywhere on the road, and goes down, all hands go down with her, even if 5 BAve th ahoot e L they'd betler heat what's n the wind, and have a chance to save You understand what I mean?” thets own eking. TS e e e “Well, just let a word of it slip out—in you understand.” ; P the right,way, “Aye, aye &Hadn't we better get them hatches on and res of Capl Kelfle. Dy Cufiifié Yr)e; battened down? She’s shipping it green prett)"m%{tirl:ogozf and the weather's worsening. There's a g o8 o biigs water getting down below, and they say 1t's & eep it under.” ., v g v to give r.of this blame ship or am 1? You leave me ve E;s“f;deurs ‘When 1 think fit, and get down off this bridge. " “Aye,’ grunted the mate, and waddled crumsily below. Sk ¥ ut the hatches had touche o0 5 s0te potEE. 'gf:sz(l!:";ni}’wo quite well that it was dan- upon a sore point. Ki Aty Berous to leave the great gaps in the decks undefended by lanking and tarpaulin. Pl wever, 1t began to be plain that as they drew nearer to the bay the weather grew worse steadily, and at last i came to a choice between battening down! the natches both forward and aft or being incontinently swamped, Hour after hour Kettle, In his glistening oilskins, ha been stumping backward and forward across the upper bridge, watching his steamboat like a cat, and holding on with his order until the very last moment. But at last he gave the command to batten down, and both watches £ elp the carpenter carry it out. e s clactereq on the lurching iron decks, with the water swirling against them waist-high, and shipped the heavy hatch-covers and got the tarpaulins over, an then the Norwegian carpenter keyed all fast with the wedges, working like some amphibious animal, half his > und er. N tan of Labuan was fitted with no cowl venti- lators to her holds, and even if these had been fitted they would have been carried away. So from the moment of battening down the gas which oozed from tne’coai mixed with the air till the whole ship became one ‘huge explos- ive bomb, which the merest spark would touch off. Cap- tain Kettle called his mate to him and gave explicit orde ou know what a powder hulk is Itke, Mr. Mate?" e,” said Murgatroyd. 3 “Well, this ship is a sight more dangerous, and we have to_take care if we do not want to go to heaven quick. It's got to be ‘all lights out’ aboara this ship till the weather eases, and we can get hatches off again. Ge 'round now and see it done urself. “Aye, ave. But you don't mean the side lignts, too, do 7 There's a big lot of shipping here in the bay, an we might easy get run down—" The old man caught an ugly lopk from Kettles’ face and broke off. And grum- bling some ancient saw about ‘“‘obeying orders if you break owner e shuflied off down the laader. Night went and the day came. gray and wet and deso- late. The heav qualls had passed away, but a whole gale still remained, and the sea was if anything neavier. he coal boat rarely showed all of herself at once above the water. Her progress was a succession of dives, her decoration (when she w sible). a fringe of spoutin scuppe: Watch had succeeded watch with the dogge e of saflormen, but watth after waten Kettle hung chind the canvas dodgers at the weather end of the bridge. He was red-eyed and white-cheeke his torpedo beard was foul with sea salt, he was unpleasant to look upon, but he was undeniably very much awake, and when the accident came (which he concluded was Mr. Gedge's effort to realize the coal boat’s insurance) he was quite ready to cope with emergencies. From somewhere in the bowels of the ship there cameé the muffled boom of an explo: ; the bridge sprang up beneath hig feet so that he very nearly wrenched from his hold, and the irbn main deck, which at that mo- ment happened to be free of water, ripplea and heaved as a tin biscult box moves when it is kicked. There was a tinkle of broken glass as some blown-out skylights crash- ed back upon the deck. He looked forward and he looked aft, and to his sur- prise saw that both hatches were still in place and that very little actual damage was visible, and then he had his attention occupied by another matter. From the stokehold, from the forecastle and from the engine room the frightened crew poured out into the open, and some scared wretch cried out to “lower away zem boats.” Here was a situation that needed dealing with at once, and Kettle was the man to do it. From beneath his oil- skins he lugged out the revoiver which they xnew so pain- fully already, and showed it with ostentation. “By James,” he shouted, ““do you want to be taught who's captain here? I'll give cheap lessons if you ask.” His words reached them above the hooting and brawl of the gale, and they were cowed into sullen obedlence. Presently a bare-headed steward fought his way uj the Beidme: Jadder -agninst the: tearing wintk and Hewle out some startling news: ‘It's Mr. Murgatfoyd's room that's been blown up, sir; made a ‘orrid mess or; Chips says 'e picked up 'is lighted plge in the alley way, sir, an’ it must 'a’ been that that fired the gas.,” ““The blamed old thickhead,” said Kettle, savagely. “’E was arskin’ for you, sir, was the mate, though we couldn’t rightly make out what ’e said.” ’ "I;‘le won't be pleased to see me. Smoking, by James, was he?” “The mate’s burnt up liké a piece of coke;” said the steward, persuasively. “'E cawn't last long. It's a mar- vel ‘ow 's’s alive at all, sir!” + The carpenter came up on the bridge. ‘Dose blow-up was not so bad for der ole ship, sir. She nod got any plates started dot I can see: Dey have der bilge pumps running, but dere’s nod much water. Und der mate, He say he would like to see you.. He's in ver’ bad wa; The author of all the mischief, the stupid old man who through sheer crass. ignorance had gone€ to bed an smoked a pipe in this powder magazine, lay horribly in- jured in the littered alleyway, with a burst straw cushion under the shocking remnants of his heae Most of his injuries were plain to the e, and it was a marvel that he lingered on at all. It x very evident that he could not live for long, and- it w: clear, too,.that he wanted to speak. 2 Kettle's resentment died at the sight of this poor charred cinder of humanity, and he knelt in the litter and listened. 5 ‘Nearlyrgot to windward of you, skipper. It was me— Gedge paid me £50 for the job—scuttie—her after Gib— would 'a’ done it, too—in spite of your teeth.” The old fellow broke .off, and Kettle leaned near to him. ‘“‘How were you going to scuttle her?”’ be asked. There was no answer. A second time he repeated the question, and then again a third time. The mate heard him. The sea roared outside, the wind béomed overhead, the cluttered wreckage clanged about the alleyway. The old man was past speech,” but he opened an eye, his one remaining eye, and slowly and solemnly winked. It was his one recorded-attempt at humor during a lifetime, and the effort was his last. His jaw dropped, wagging to the thud of the ship, his eye opened in ‘a glassy, unseeing stare, and he was as dead a thing as the fron déck he lay upon. ““Well: matey,”"said Kettle, apostrophizing the poor charred ferm, “we've been shipmates before and I never liked you. But, by James, you had your points. Yeu shall be buried by a pukka parson in Gib and have a stone put over your uily old head if 1 have to pay for.it myself. I think I can hammer out a bit of verse, too, which’'ll maks that stone a thing people will remember." By James, though, won't Gedge be mad over this! Gedge will think I-spotted the game you were playing for ‘himh, and murdered you ouf of hand. Well, that's all right, and it won't hurt you, matey. I want Gedge to un- derstand I'm a man that's got to be dealt straignt with. I want Mr. Blessed Gedge to understand that I'm-not the kind of lamb to make into a catspaw by any manner of means. I bet he does tumble to that, too. But I bet also that he sacks me from this berth before I've got the coals over into the lighters of Port Sald. By James, yes! Gedge is a man that sticks to his plans, and as he can't lose, lga Sultan of Labuan with me as her skipper, he'll jerk an- other old man into the chart house on the end of a wire, who'll do the job more to his satisfactio Y The Norwegian carpenter came up and asked a ques- tiol No, no, Chips; put the canvas away. I want you to knock up some sort of a box for the poor old mate, and we'll take him to Gib and plant him there in style. I owe him & bit. We'll all get safe enough to Port Said now.” CAUTIOUS. T\ S "|Ye§, T've been all over Europe, Asia, Africa and Aus- a. “Ever been to America?” : “No, tha place I won't visit! You see, there' man I know gone over there. and I can't endure him Fliegende Blaetter. > o