The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 11, 1906, Page 5

: THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. ¥ OIIN G. DAVIDSONXN, “;‘.‘.h his cleanly <h cleft chin, w, might have co tade, es a have cher, ¢ beer a pro: was taken for & onal base- apparently, country youth was unburdening him- self to this agreeable stranger as he had never talked to his closest friend. “I live over to Hebron Valley, in he said. 'm clerk in old man Briggs' general store. Been work- in’ there since I was tourteen. The old man wants.to retire now, and I'd like to buy the business.” “I see,” rejoined Davidson politely. las beat a tattoo with clumsy fin- gers on the window-sill and _smiled with embarrassment before he pro- : “There’s—there's a girl, you ‘Indeed; Briggs' daughter, I sup- pose?” No; Jemnle Gardner. We're—we're ed, you sec. That's why I want the store.” Feel as 1f you'd ought to be set up in business befores you marry, eh?” queried the broker, smiling a little. “Well, no; I don't," eplied the young re v, “and Jennie don't neither does her ma. But her father— he's John Gardner, the banker there at Hebron—he don’t like me. Thinks I ain’t got money enough, I guess. Then there’s another fellow, the postmaster, ts Jennie to r - e s Interest quickened. run away “Why with the girl?” he er. So is her mother, faor that mat- He's a hard man.” “He'd be satisfied to let you marry if y wned the store?" that's just some as. more o' his : thinks it's impo: r me to buy it or he wouldn't say All 1 got’s five hundred dollars. ants two thousand. I'm goin’ down to New York to s {1 can't raise it. I've heard of money being made on Wall street—" d get your hay in about twenty minutes on Wall street,” responded Dav- idson decisively; I know - that's where I hang ¢ But see here, Ashlar I've got -a little sporting blood in my velns, and I've been under dog myself Suppose I heip you down this tu'-penny banker?’ dred. There's something on for to-mor- ay, 1t you only would row, and maybe I can clean up your ery well. Let's have y five hun- little pile for you during the excitement. D O DOIUSIONISONN: BY BELLE MANIATES rs e of ex-schoolmates 1 w e at the The ex- we-inspir- m a dista ed from Page 4 ranked “We ted him squarely. open time fe and and and awe bunkering not stepped ndoubted knack >uld look ex- had first d the of Obi en; al episode of washing p e from the ship's outer fabr a already come into inti- mate contact with his crew. The tired deckhands had refused duty. Clumsy cored to force into ¥ honored meth- and had been knocked down in the fle and trampled on, when up’ came ttle, already spruce and clean, and 2 irapartially Into the whole grimy ng of them with a deck scrubber. hey were new to their little skipper’s virtues, and thought at first they would treat him @s they had already treated the fat 0ld mate. and as a consequence A her forced courage oozed henever he addressed her. One morning the re with the exception of Mi trooped away to the golf links remained at write but when she If to be alone in this big, ie suddenly experienced er-childhood days, and an irresistible desire The daring idea of upon Ruth’s uncle to seized her. “I'd itke to see him ‘on du she “I might—yes, I go in- rs contain- to Ruth's de- ing & parted kin Presently there emerged from the ex- e mansion a qu ttle figure » an old-fashioned flower- prigged skirt, a lace mantilla, a neat 1d 2 lace-edged veil. was or y a short dis- » executive mi ion, and few persons. he guard, ho stood in the broad corridor as she entered, dld not vouchsafe her a sec- OLGEOLLOL RSN L0000 bleeding faces and c plentiful, and and deep, in half rope. But Kettle stiil 1 spruce and clean and a un- touched. It takes some art y thrash a dozen savage, ¢ men with a light broom without bre the stick or knocking off the head € the Sultan of Labuan the crew of to at not inspired for him laying pin whisked up out of the dar ness and knocked off his cap as he stood upper bridge, and just before the a chunk of co: V! d up and shed itself into sp} n the wheel- inch e wall. not an from his ear. as Kettle replied to the of these compliments by three prompt revolver shots almost before the thrower had time to and rushed out and caught the second assaflant by the neck-scruff and forced him to eat up every t had been throwr scrap of coal ation crew to tackle to let him do thelr law- , Wwas ex- Kettle de 8 tred. f Labuan had wn the Corn had rounded , and was s z off on a 1ich would make Finisterre her The glass was sinking the seasca was made up of whites and lurid grays; but 1 the air was cold and raw, the rer was not any worse pected for the time of year. »s were off, and a good strong coal gas billowed up from below ed with the sea scents. wi Il a northern sailor's distrust for a “dago,” Kettle had spotted his spruce young fan second mate as Gedges probable tool, and watched him like the apple of his eye. No man’s actions could have been more innocent and normal, and this, of course, made things all the more suspicious. The engineer staff, who had access to the bilgecocks, and could range disasters to machinery, were like- wise, ex-officio, suspicious persons, but as it was quite impossible to overlook them at all hours &nd on all occasions, he had regretfully to take them very largely on trust. Blundering, incompetent old Murga- troyd, the mate, was the only man on board in whose honesty Kettle had the least faith, simply because he considered him too stupid to be intrusted with any operation so delicate as barratry, and to Murgatroyd he more or less confided his intentions. “I hear there’s a scheme on board to scuttle this steamboat,” he said, *because she's too expensive to run. 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 Baid. And let me tell you this, if she stops any- where on the road and goes down, all hands go down with her, even if I have to shoot them myself. So they’d better hear what's in the wind and have a ond glance as he directed her to the executive office. Mignon did not follow his directions. Ruth had told her how she gained his private sanctum when she was in a nurr$ and did not have time for the red - tape channels of approach through private secretary and messen- ger. She slipped into the “Governor's parlor’ and boldly opened the door from there into his private office. The Governor chanced to be alone and he turned In surprise to see who w S0 bold in Intrusion. “Did you wish to see me, madam?” asked in courtly manner, placing a he chair for the visitor. @ “You are the Governor?” asked a queer. high-pitched voice. “I am,” he admitted. “1 came to see if you would give me a position in the Capitol. I am the widow of a soldier—and—I" pay taxes—— “A soldier’s widow?" asked the Gov- ernor with interest, “In which war did your husbana serve, civil or Span- ish-American?” frovTvTTry PO o NGGLLEONNLNENN N N N N D G N R G oG o S 00 S0 DSBS S 0 S R G0 000000000008 R0 0000008 * THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN s et N S S D N DL DL, D B o e o S oo I G S LG DD 0000 R R R R R R R R R N e A D R N A N R P e D P N S e e N N S 0 S By SO N0 000 000 S OS0GRS G000 S 000000000000% chance to save their own skins. You un- derstand what I mean?” “Aye,” grunted the mate “Well, just let the word of it slip out —in the right way, you understand.” “Aye, aye! Hadn't we better get the hatches on and battened down? She's shipping in green pretty often now, and the weather's worsening. There's a good siop of water getting down below, and they say it's all the biige pumps can do to keep it under. “Mr. Meddle Murgatroyd,” Kettle snapped, ‘“are you master of this blamed ship, or am I? You leave me to glve my orders when I think fit, and get down off this bridge.” “Aye,” grunted the mate, and waddled clumsily down below. The old man's suggestion about the hatches had touched upon a sore point. Kettle knew quite well that it was dan- gerous to leave the great gaps in the decks undefended by planking and tar- paufin. A high sea was running, and the heavy-laden coal boat rode both deep and sodden. Already he had put her a point and a half to w?eslwlrd of her course, so as to take the oncoming seas more fairly on the bow. But still he hung on to the open hatches. The coal below was gassy to a degree, and if the ventilation was stopped it would be terribly lable to explosion. The engine and boiler rooms were bulk- headeq off, and there was no danger from these; but the subtle coal-gas would spread over all the rest of the vessel's living quarters—as the smell hinted—ana a carelessly lit match might very com- fortably send the whole of her decks hurtiing into the air. Kettle had no wish to meet Mr. Gedge's unspoken wishes by an accident of this sort. However, it began to be plain that as they drew nearer to the bay the weather worsened steadily, and at last it came to be a choice between battening down the hatches both forward and aft, or be- ing incontinently swamped. Hour after hour Kettle in his glistening oflskins had been stumping backward and forward across the upper bridge, watching his steamboat like a cat, and holding on with his order to the very furthest moment. But at last he gave the command to bat- ten down, and both watches rushed to help the carpenter carry it out. The men were horribly frightened. It seemed to them that in that gale, and with that sea running, it was insane not to have bat- tened her down long before. The hands clustered on the lurching iron lecks with the water swirling against them waiat high, and shipped the heavy hatch covers, and got the tarpaulins over; then the Norweglan carpenter keyed all fast with the wedges, working like some amphiblous animal half his time under water. > The Sultan of Labuan was fitted with no cowl ventilators to her holds, and even if these had been fitted they would have been carried away. So from the mo- ment of battening down the gas which oozed from the coal mixed with the air till the whole ship became one huge ex- plosive bomb which the merest spark would touch off. Captain Kettle called his mate to him and gave explicit orders. “You know what a powder hulk is like, Mr. Mate?” O AN e S A e . ¥ MIGNON’S POLITICAL INSTINCT. ¥ SN N N NN OR 0005 5500605 HE HANDED ASHLAR A SLIP_OF PaPrER ¥ ‘Are you willing to trust me and take tfe {rembling fingers, a bulky envelope from chance?” Ashlar's answer was to draw, There was a moment's hesitation before Mignon decided to locate “her husband” in the Civil' War. “What was his'company, regiment did he enlist Silence. “Don’t you know the number of his reg- iment?” ““Oh, yes; Thirteen “And what State’ “Pennsylvania “And what wa and in what the letter of his com- pany?” he asked, beginning to make a memorandum. 2 “Why—] triumphantly.” His pencil poised. “The companies were only lettered to K for infantry, you know.” “‘Then probably it was K,” she said. « “K looks like R, you know."” ““Yed, "sometimes,” he admitted, “‘but *what kind of & position did you wish?"” “Any position!” desperately. “What experience have you had?” I have copled legal papers,” remember- ing a brief she had once copied for her father, who had wrathfully consigned it to the flames with the criticism tha resembled his Chinese laundry ‘check. “Have you, indeed!"” he said in evident * said Murgatroyd. , this ship is a sight more danger- ous, and we have got to take care if we do not want to go to heav 3 got to be ‘all lights out’ aboard this ship ull the weather eases and we can get hatches oft again. Go round now and see it done yourself, Mr. Murgatroyd, please. Watch the doctor dowse the galley fire, and then go-and take away all the fore- castle matches so the men can't smoke. Put out the sidelight, the masthcad light and the binnacle lamps. Quartermasters must steer as best they can from the un- It card.” “Aye, aye. But you don't mean the sidelights, too, do ye? There's a big lot of shipping here in the bay, and we might easy get run dewn—" The old man caught an ugly look from Kettle's face and brose off. And grumbling some anclent saw about “obeying orders if you break own- ers,” he shuffied off down the ladder. Heavier and heavler grew the squalls, carrying with them spindrift which beat llke gravel against the two oll-skinned tenants of the collier's upper bridge; worse and worse grew the sea. Greal, green waves rearcd up like walls crashed on board and filled the lower decks with boiling, yeasty serge. The funnel stays and the scanty rigging hummed like harpstrings to the gale. Deep though she was in the water, there were times when her stern heaved up clear, and the propeller raced In a noisy catherine wheel of fire and foam. On every side, ahead, abeam and astern, were nodding yellow lights, jerked about by unseen ships over thunderous, unseen waves. It was a regular Biscay gale, such as all vessels may count on in that corner of the seas one voyage out of eight, a gale with heavy seas in the midst of a dense crowd of shipping. But theref was nothing in it which seamanship under ofdinary circumstances could not meet. Captain Kettle hung on hour after hour under shelter of the dodgers on the upper bridge, & small, wind-brushed figure in vellow ollskins and black rubber thigh- boots. About such a “breeze” in an or- dinary way he would have thought little. Taking his vessel through it with the minimum of danger was only part of the dally mechanical routine, but he stood there a prey to the livellest anxlety. The thousand and one dangers in the bay appeared before him magnified. If the ship for any sudden and unavoidable reason went down, the odds were that he himself and all hands would be drowned. But at the same time Gedge would be gratified in so easlly touching the cov- eted insurance money. The fear of death did not worry the little skipper in the very least degree whatever, but he had a most thorough objection to being in any way Mr. Gedge's catspaw. Twice they had near escapes from be- ing run down. The first time was from a sodden blundering Cardiff ore steamer, which was driving north through the thick of it, with very little of herself showing except two stumpy masts and a brine-washed smokestack. She would have obviously drowned out any lookout on her foredeck, and the bridge officers got too mugch spindrift in their eyes to see with any clearness. But time is mon- with broker, an inner pecket and pass it over to the who tore it open and counted surprise, and Mignon felt that she had acquired importance in his regard. The Governor scemed to be absorbed in medi- tation, and Mignon began to feel the si- lence embarrassing. “I don’t know of any vacancies or open- ings at present,”” he finally remarked, “but if you wil make a formal applica- tion and leave it here on file I will com- municate with you as soon as the oppor- tunity offers.” “Oh, thank you,” she said gratefully. “I don’t seem to have any blank forms,” he said, looking over the papers scattered on his desk. “However, I'll write one out and you can siga it, and leave your address also."” Migncn had already name and address, so when he present- ly handed her a paper he had written, sne removed her'glove and on the line indicated she wrote: “Nancy Bettens, 1611 L street.” He studied the signature carefully. “And what was your husband's first name, Mrs. Bettens? m,”” was the glib response. ow'll hear from me, soon, Mrs. Bet- decided upon a tens, Mignon took this as a dismissal and e to go. “Do you think r there is any hope?” and even Cardiff ore steamers must and so her master drove ahead full steam, slap-slop vi v, and trusted that other people would get out of his way. Kettle's keen eyves picked her up out of the sea mists just in time, and ported his own helm, and missed her sheering bow with the Sultan of Labuan's quar- ter by a short two fathoms. A touch in that insane turmoll of the sea would have sent both steamers down to the shells and the flickering weed below; but there was no touch, and so each went her way with merely a perfunctory interchange of curses, which were blown into nothing- ness by the gale. Escapes on these occa- slons didn’t count, and it is etiquette not to speak aboutethem ashore afterward. The seccnd shave came from a big white-painted Cape liner, which came up from astern, Jit like a theater and almost defying the very gale itself. Her look- outs and officers were on the watch for lights. But the unlit collier, which was half her time masked by the seas like a half-tide rock, never struck their notice. with all a shipmaster’s sturdy gally, had the right of the road, held on till the great knife-like bow was not a score of yards from his taffrail. But then he gave way, roared out an order to the quartermaster at the wheel and the Sul- tan of Labuan fell away to starboard. As if the coal boat had been a magnet the cape liner followed, drawing nearer hand over fist. Changing direction further was as dan- gerous as keeping on as he was, so Ket- ile bawled to the quartermaster to ecady on that,” and then the great. white steam hotel suddenly seemed to wake to her danger and swerved off on her old course again. So close were they that Kettle fancied he could hear the quick, agitated rattle of her wheel en- gines as they gave her a “hard down” helm. And he certainly saw officers on her high upper bridge peering at him through the drifting sea smoke with a curiosity that was more than pleasant. “Prying to pick out the old tub’s name,"” he mused grimly, so as to report me for carrying no lights. By James, 1 wish some of those dandy passenger boat of- ficers could try this lowdown end of the tramping trade for a bit.” Night went and day came, gray and wet and desolate, The heavier squalls had passed away, but a whole gale still remained, and the sea was, if anythi heavier. The coal boat rarely showed ai of herself at once above the waters. Her progress was & succession of dives, her decoration (when she was visible) a fringe of spouting scuppers. . Watch had succeeded watch with the dogged patience of sallormen; but watch after watch Kettle hung on behind the can- vas dodgers at the weather end of the bridge. He was red-eyed and white- cheeked, his torpedo bearu was foul with sea salt, he was unpleasant to look upon, but he was undeniably very muck awake, and when the accldent came (which he concluded was Mr. Gedge's eftort to realize the coal-boat’s insur- ance), he was quite ready to cope with emergencies. From somewhere in the bowels of the ship there came the muffied boom of an A i ] the contents dexterously. There was five hundred dollars In the package in well- thumbed tens and twenties. The broker stowed the money away and produced a bit of pasteboard. ““There’'s my address,” he said, handing the card to Ashlar. “You come to that number day after to-morrow at 10, and I'll e some news for you.” When at dusk Ashlar, bewildered by the appalling noise and confusion of the big city, adventured from the railway station into the street, he suddenly felt that he had done a foolish thing in en- trusting all his money to a perfect stranger. But the remembrance of Dav- idson’s face with i1ts undefinable attrac- tion reassured him. *“I was a darn fool for ever thinkin' of this thing,” he mut- tered. “They'd surely beat me if I tried speculatin’ by myself. I guess Davidson is square.” The New York and Western episode on the Stock Exchange next day was merely & gkirmish in the great industrial war- fare which goes on ceaselessly In that slit in the xTanite called Wall street. A few profited; scores were ruined. Before Davidson & Cole had loaded up irretriev- ably with the stock, Davidson smelled danger, and had begun to let go. Hig suspicions were justified. The story of the fight for control was a clever fake which had already caught many small firms. It developed that the Silvers and the Hillmang had long since come to an amicable agreement in regard to the road. “Then we're out about sixty-five thou- sand,” sald Lucius Cole, the morning after the skirmish, as he sat with his partner in their private office. “About sixty-five thousand,” agreed Davidson, “‘and if I hadn’t got wise until e half hour later we'd been down and out to-day."” A clerk ushered In Silas Ashlar. The country youth was haggard with anxlety. “The morning paper says we were hit hard,” he began. “My money “Your money is all right,”” interrupted Davidson. “I had your little old two thousand salted before the balleon as- cension. Here’s your check.” He handed Ashlar a slip of paper. Silas, for a few moments, was dazed by the good mews. Then he began to stammer his thanis, but Davidson waved them aside. now, Stlas. I want just two promises of you: That youw'll never monkey with the Stock Ex- change agaln; and that you will go home and fix up a wedding within two weeks. Do you agree?” fot a wor There were tears in the young man's eyes. “If Jennie says the word, we'll be married mside twenty-four hours. This money shuts her father up. I don't want any more Stock Exchange business either, you bet. I've been too worried the last two days. God bless you, Mr. Dayidson. If you ever come to Hebron Valley, I'll try to show how much you've done for us.” A dark flush mounted Cole’s thick neck and overspread his face as the grateful Ashlar left the office. ‘“Are you Davidson?’ he demanded angrily. the @evil d1d you give up that money for? The fool hayseed would have belleved anything you told him.” Although meant as a sarcasm.-a note of anxiety crept into his high, excited volce at the next question. “You ain’t turning honest, are you?" here was mere bitterness than humor in Davidson's mpile as he repiled: “It's a little late in the day for that, lsn't #t? But I'll tell you why [ did it, if you want to know. Did you ever stop to think why I wasn’'t married?” “Oh, a girl away back, probably.” “Dead right, Lucius. Her folks thought I didn’t have money enough, so they sold her off to a tight-fisted grubber with a few hundred dollars and a heart ltke a hickory nut. It's her daughter Ashlar wants to marry. Her husband doesn’t like him, and he put the same stumbling- block up to the boy that was laid in my path—money. Well, I ain't kicking, am 17" snarled Cole, with a change of front which would have puzzled any one but his partner. “You're senior member of this firm, and you can make an ass of yourseif if you want to. But while I was about it, I'd have got the boy more than a measly two thousand!” (Copyright, 1%6, by Ruby Dou; ) e O IS O she could not resist asking as she gained the door. “I do. The fact of your being a sol- dler's widow and your having had ex- perience in office work will lead me to consider your application favorably. I shall offef you a position very soom,” he reglied earnestly. “What fun 1 shall have telling the girls!” thought Mignon as she sped home. When she had made a change of costume she discovered te her dis- may that it was too late to join the girls at the cauntry club for luncheon as she had promised. While she was reflecting on this change in her pro- gramme the library door opened and the Governor entered. Oh, there isn't any luncheon!” she said. “The girls are at the golf links. Mrs. Farnham is invited out for the day and I—I made a mistake in the time and didn’t meet them. You weren't expected.” “I didn’t come for luncheos plied, “but what will you do?" “Oh, the cook will see that I don't go hungry,” she laughed. Some way, her fear of him had vanished. “Let me see to that instead of letting the cook. Will you go to luncheon with me now?” " he re- “What have you been doing all the morning?”’ he asked as they sat at a little palm-screened table. “I've been writing,” she replied In a ruminating tome, “'So have I, and I feel the need of recre- ation. Wil ‘you drive with me after luncheon?* Mignon & he would not tell the girls of her !ntng call. As the days went by, she became the companion of the Govermor In his hours of ease. One evening as she sat alone in the library he suddenly appeared and lald a paper before her. She caught her breath. It was the paper she had signed in the ex- ecut! office. “I have come for the fulfillment of your promise,” he said, gravely She had not read the paper that morn- ing in his office, as he had given her no opportunity to de so. With burning cheeks she now perused the startling ap- plication: “1 do when Stephen State of 1 will aceept hereby faithfully promise that Thorn, Gevernor of the . asks me to be his wife, the offer. “NANCY BETTENS, “1611 L street.” “Well?" he asked entreatingly. “It isn’t legal or binding.” she said, de- fiantly. “because you see it is signed by a fictitious name.” “WIll you not remedy that defect?” prefer,” she said softly, “that you make me a verbal offer.” (Copyright, 1906, by E. C. Parcells) explosion, the bridge buckled up beneath his feet, so that he was very nearly wrenched from his hold, and the iron main deck, which at that moment hap- pened to be free of water, rippled and heaved like a tin biscult box moves when it is kicked. There was a tinkle of broken glass as some blown-out skylights crashed back upon the deck. He looked forward and he looked aft, and to his surprise saw that both hatches were still in place and that very lttle actual damage was visible, and then he had his attention occupled by another matter. From the stokehole, 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 thidt needed deal- ing with at once, and Kettle was the man to do it. From beneath his ollskins he lugged out the revolver which they knew so painfully aiready, and showed it with ostentation. “By James,” he shouted, “do you want to be taught who's captain here? I'Il give cheap lessons it you ask.” His words reached them above the hoot- ing and brawl of the gale, and they were cowed into sullen obedience. “Carpenter, take a couple of men and away below with you and see what's broke. You blessed, split-trousered me- chanics, away down to your engine room or I'll come and. kick vou there. The second mate and his watch get tarpaul- ins over those broken skylights. Where's Mr. Murgatroyd? In his bunk, I suppose, as usual; not-his wateh; no affair of hig if the ship’'s blown to heaven when he's oft duty. Here, you steward, go and turn out Mr. Murgatroyd.” The men bustled about after their er- rands, and thelr engines, which had stopped for a minute, began to rumble on again. Captain Kettle paraded the swaying bridge and awaited develop- ments. Presently the bareheaded steward fought his way up the bridge ladder against the tearing wind, and bawled out some start- ling news. “It's Mr. Murgatroyd's room that's been blown up, sir, made a ‘orrid mess of. Chips says 'e picked up ‘is lighted pipe in the alleyway, sir, an’ it must a' been that that fired the gas.”" . “The blamed old thickhead,” sald Ket- tle savagely. “'E was arskin' for you, sir, was the mate, though we couldn’t rightly make out what ‘e said.” “He won't be pleased to see me. Smok- ing, by James, was he?" “The mate’s burnt up like a piece of ¢oke,” sald the steward persuasively. “’E cawn't last long."” The carpenter came up on the bridge. ‘Dose blow-up vas 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 der's nod much water. Und der mate, sir. He say he vould like to see you. He's in ver’ bad way." y “All right,” said Kettle. “T'll go and see him.” He called up the Italian sec- ond mate on to the bridge and gave over charge of the ship to him, and then went below. The author of all the mischief, the stupid oid man who. through sheer RETTLE. o crass ignorance, had gone to bed and smoked a pipe In this powder mine, lay horribly Injured In the littered aley- way, with a burst straw cushion under the shocking remnants of his head. Most of his injuries were plain to the eye, and it was a marvel that he lin- gered on at all. It was very evident that he could not live for long, and it was clear, too, that he wanted to speak. Kettle's resentment died at the sight of this poor charred cinder of human- ity, and he knelt in the litter and lis- tened. The sea noises and the ship noises without almost drowned the words, and the old mate’s volce was very weak. It was only here and there he could pick up a sentence. “Nearly got to wind'ard of you, skip- per. . . . It was me. . . . Gedge paid me 59 pound for the job . . . scuttle her . . . after Gib - would ‘a’ done it, too in spite of your bloomt: teeth.” The old fellow broke off. and Kettle leant near to him. “How were you go- ing 'to scuttle her?” he asked. There was no answer. A second time he repeated the question, and them again a third time. The mate heard him. The sea roared outside, the wind boomed overhead, the cluttered wreck- age 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, wagsing to the thud of the ship, his eye opened in a glassy, unseeing stare, and he was as dead a thing as the iron deck he lay upon. “Well, matey,” said Kettle, apostroph- izing the poor charred form, “we've been shipmates before, but I never Itked you. But, by James, you had your points. You shall be burfed by a pukka parson In Gib, and have a stone put over your ugly old -head. if I have to pay for It myself. I think I can hammer out a bit of verse, too, which’ll make that stone a thing people will remember. “By James, though, won't Gedge be mad over this! Gedge will think I spot- ted the game you were playing for him, and murdered you out of hand. Well, that’s all right, and it won't hurt you, matey. I want Gedge to understand I'm a man that's got to be dealt straight with. I want Mr. Blessed Gedge to un- derstand 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 a'so that he sacks me from this berth before I've got the coals over into the lighters at Port Said. By James, yes, Gedge is a man that sticks to his plans, and as he can’t lose the Sul- *tan of Lgbuan with me as her skipper, he'll jerr'another old man into the chart- house on the end of a wire. wha'll do the job more to his satisfaction.” The Norwegiin carpenter came up and# asked a question. “No, no, Chips. put the canvas away. 1 want you to kneeck up some sort of a box for the poor old mate, and we'll take him to Gib, and plant him there in sty I owe him a bit. We'll all got safe e.ough to Port Said now.”