The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 18, 1906, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CAL ; i l[\'f' TR Y AR LN AL .\\‘ A\ \\ ¥ $ This story published to-day, 3 % wThe Salving of the Dun % ¢ Head, is the last o ¥ of thrilling mea stories # cliffe Hyne, detailing th ¢ ventures of Captain Kettle, {# that haye been appearing reg- # wilarly ia The Sunday Call These stories are to be followed by equally interesting marra- < tives—the first of which, “Be- { tween Two Shores,” n romance of a men voyage by Ellen G gow, appearing in next Sun- day's Call. The stories to fol- Jow this ome will be announced % imter. O a2 O (Copyright by t of teak and enough for That would mean y to share. So is, can you is lifeboat and her for the I'm no' what list elf, just for Kettle eyed the grimy serge of =fay “You don't with ¢ from must bave been a MeT, t get t Gib becs “But as it hap- ack. I ran from I'd no wish to get this news use- , of course, 1 had »und in wages that to look like 2 it was a specu- It's a bit of a speculation, If ye reckon up, asking a newly sacked a captain to join in such a venture.” Kettle's face hardened. “See here,” he “keep & clvil tongue in your head, ) r go of this lodging. I'm to be =d with respect, or I don’t deal with n let my clothes alone, and be clvil It's a mighty dry shop this, in ve no whisky In the place, nor spare money to buy it. If we're to go on with this plan of yours we shall want every dollar that can be ralsed.” “That's true, and neither me nor 'Tonio have 10 shillings between us." Kettle gave up pacing the room and sat nself on the edge of the table and frowned. *I don't see the use of taking her Antonlo, if that's his name, or your other dago. I don't like the breed of them. You and I would be quite enough to handle an open boat, and quite able to take care of ourselves. If the wreck’'s got the money on her, and we finger it, we'll promise to bring them back their share all right: and if the thing’'s a fizzle, as it's very likely to be—well, they'll be saved a very unpleasant boat crulse.” “It's no go,” sald the engineer, “and you may make up your mind to have them as shipmates, captain, or sit here on your tail where you are. D'ye think I've got amy appetite for dagoes myself? No, sir, no more than you. I don’t trust them no more than a stripped thread. And they don’t trust me. They wouldn't trust you. They would no' trust the provost of Edinboro’ i he was to make similar proposals to them.” “Then have you no idea where this steamboat was put on the ground?” “Man, I've telled ye ‘no’ already.” Seems to me you don't know much, Mr. McTodd.” “I dom’t. What I know is this: I came ashore here after a very exhaust- ing trip down the Mediterranean, just for a drink to fortify the system against the chills on the run home. I went to a little dark shebeen, where L kenned the cut-throat In charge, and zave the name of the ship I wanted fending back to. In case sleep over- and settled down for an’ aft- came me, ernoon’s enjoyment. Ye'll ken what I nean? "] know you're a drunken beast when you get the chance for an orgle.” ° 1 have my knesses, captain, or maybe, I'd 10’ e left Ballindrocha- ter, where my father Free Kirk meenister. We both have our weak- nesses, Captain Owen Kettle, and it's they that have brought us to what we ar 5"1: you don’t leave me alone and get on with your yarn,” sald Kettle acidly, “you'll find yourself in the street.” “Oh, I like ycur hospitality fine, and I'll IR PR A0 T ARG R ‘\sl‘ \ ] “\& \‘\u\ thanks. Weel, I'd just settled nyself down to a good scuare drink at this Spaniard's cen. when out of dark corner com onio other dago, bowing and tak thelr hats as polite as though I'd been an Archbishep at the very least. “I'd met "Tonlo in Lagos. He was a greaser on a branch boat there, and I as her second engineer. He's some English, and he did the talking. The other dago krnew nothing but his own unrighteous tongue, and just said see- see when 'Tonlo explained to him what was going on, and grinned like a bag- ful of monkeys. I give 'Tonlo credit; he spat out his tale like a man. He and his mate were in the stokehold of a dago steamboat coming from the river Platte to Genoa and calling at some of tke Western Islands en route. “One night they were just going oft watch, and were leaning over the rail to get a breath of cool air befors turn- ing in. They were steaming past some rocky islands, and there In plaln sight of them was a vessel hard and fast ashore. There was no mistake about it! they both saw her; a steamboat of some 1500 tons. And what was more, the other Portugee, 'Tonio’s friend, said he knew her. According to him she was the Duncansby Head. He'd served in her stokehold three voyages. and he said he'd know her anywhere. “A dago's word {sn’t worth much for a thing like that,” sald Kettle, “Wait a bit. The pair of them stayed where they were and looked at the rest of the watch on deck. The second mate on the bridge was staring ahead sleepily; the quartermaster at the wheel was nod- ding and blinking at the binnacle; the lookout on the forecastle was seated on a fife-rail, snoring; no one of these had seen the wreck. And so they themselves didn't talk. The boat was running short of coal, and so she put into Gib here to rebunker, and from another dago on the coal hulk, who came abcard to help trim, they got some news. The Duncansby Head had shifted her cargo at seu, had picked up heavy weather and got unmanageable and had been left by her crew in the boats. The mate's boat and the second mate's boat were picked up: the old man’s boat had not been heard of. It was supposed that the Duncansby Head herself had foundered immediately after she was de- serted.” . “Yes, all that's common gossip on the Rock. Mulready was her skipper—J. R. Mulready—I'd known him years.” “Weel, poor deevil, it's perhaps good for him he’'s drowned.” “Yes, 1 suppose it is. stay, m He's saved a A1 A RN AR \ Ps 12 sight of trouble. D'ye know, Mac, Jimmy Mulready and I passed for mate the same day and went to sea with our brand-new tickets in the same ship, him as mate, me as gecond.” “‘The sea’s an awful poor profession for all, except a shipowner that lives ashore.” “'Tis, Yes, that's a true word. It is. And so Antonio and his mate told the other dago that they'd seen the wreck?”" “Not much. They kept their heads shut. There was money in the idea if it could only be worked, and & Portugee likes dol- lars as much as a white man. So there you have the whole yarn, except that they got to know that the Duncansby was on her way home after a long spell of tramping when she got Into trouble, and carried all the money she'd earned fin good, solid gold in the charthouse drawer.” It sounds a soft thing, T'll not deny,” said Kettle. "But why should Mr. Antonio and his friend come to you?” “They ran from their ship here in Gib and 1ald low- till she had sailed. It was the patural thing for them to do. But when they Legan to 103k around them in cold blood they found themselves a bit on the beach. They'd no money; there's such a shady crowd here in Gib that everything's well watched, and they couldn’t steal; and so there was nothing for it but to take a partner into the con- cern. Of course, being dagos they weren't likely to trust one of their own sort.” “Nct much. And so they came to you?”’ } ONaeY N ) ‘“V Y 7 A AHEAU, BEHINU THE J}Y/Aj > “They knew sala the engineer. me,” “And T came to you because I knew you, captain. I'm no navigator myself, though I can make shift to handle a sailboat, so a navigator was wanted. I said to myself the man in all creation for this job Is Captain Kettle, and then what should I do but run up against you.” “Thank you, Mac.” “But there's one other thing you'll have to do. and that's buy, beg, borrow or steal the ship to carry the expedition, be- cause the rest of us can’t raise a blessed shilling amongst us. It needn't be a big outlay. That old P. & O. lifeboat which I was talking about would carry us fine, and I think three £5 notes would buy her.” “Very well,” said Kettle. ‘““And now let's get a move on us. There's been enough time spent in talk, and the sooner we're on that wreck the less chance there is of any one else getting there to over- haul her before us. It would be unprofitable to follow in detaii the fitting out of this wrecking ex- pedition upon insufficient capital, and so be it briefly stated that tne old lifeboat (which had passed through many hands since she was cast from the P. & O. sei vice) was purchased by dint of haggling for an ahsurdly small sum and victualed and watered for eighteen days. The Por- tuguese, who still refused to disclose the precise location of the wreck, said that it might take a fortnight to reach her, and prudence would have suggested that it BANK S OF BELAKEES THE RUSTLEY OKEJTACK AND TRIPPED HMERCA A}IT@’P);EH%};A <o - was advisable to take at least a month's provisions. But the meagerness of their capital flatly forbade this, and they were only able to furnish the boat with what would spnin out to eighteen days on an uncomfortably short ration. They trusted that what pickings they might find in the storerooms of the wreck herself would provide them for the return voyage. ‘With this slender equipment then, they salled forth from Gibraltar Bay, an ob- vious party of adventurers. They were bombarded by the questions and the curi- ous stares of all the shipping interest on the Rock; they were flatly given to un- derstand by a navel busybody (who had been bidden to carry his inquisitiveness to the deuce) that they had earned official suspicion and would be watched accord- ingly, and If ever ill wishes could sink a craft, that ancient P. & O. lifeboat was full to her marks. The voyage did not begin with pros- perity. There is always a strong surface currert running in through the straits, and just then the breezes were light. The lifeboat was a dull saller, and her people in consequence had the mortification of keeping Carnero Point and the frowning Rock behind in sight for three baking days. The two Portuguese were first pro- fane, then sullen, then frightened; some saint’s day, it appeared, had been violated by the start; and they began first to hint at, and then to Insist on a return. To which Kettle retorted that he was going to see the matter through now., if he had to hang in the straits for the whole eighteen Gays, and subsist for the rest of the trip upon dew and their belts; and in this McTodd backed him up. Once started away from the whisky bottle there was nothing very ylelding about Mr. McTodd. Only one compromise did Kettle offer to make. He would stand across and drop his Portuguese partners on the African shore if the; on their part, would disclcse the whereabouts of the wreck: and in due time, when the dividends were gathered, he faithfully promised them their share. But to this they would not consent. In fact, there was a good deal of mutual distrust be- tween the {wo parties. At last, however, a kindly slant of wind took the lifeboat in charge and hustled her wetly out into broad Atlantie; and when they had run the shores of Europe and Africa out of sight, and there was nothing around them but the blue heav- ing water, with here and there a sail and a steamer’s smoke, the Senor Antonlo saw fit to give Captain Kettle a course. “We was steamin’ froma Teneriffs to Madeita whén we saw thosea rocks with Durcanshy Head asho’.” “H'm,” said Kettle. Salvage islands.’” “Steamah was Dile up on de first. 'Notter island we pass after.” “That's Plton Island f I remember. “Let's have a loock at the chart.” He handed over the tiller to McTodd, took a tattered Admiralty chart from one of the lockers and spread it on the damp flocr gratings. The two Portuguese helped with thelr brown paws to keep it from fluttering away. “Yes, either Little Piton or Great Piton. Which side did you pass it on®” Antonio thumped a gunwale of the lifeboat. “Kept it on the port hand going north, did you? Then thaj'll be Great Piton, and a sweet shop It is for reefs according to this chart. I wish I'd a di- rectory. It will be a regular cat's dance getting in. But I say, voung man, isn’'t there a light there?” “Lighta? I not understanu.” “You savvy—Ilighthouse—faro—show- mark-light in dark?’ “Oh, ves, lightahouse. I got there. No no lightahouse.” ‘“Well, there’s one marked here as ‘projected,’ and I was afraid it might have come. I forgot the Canaries were “Those’ll be the Spanish, and Madei: that these rocks w e h would be a sort of slack cross be the pair of them. Manana's the motto, tsn’t it, Tonlo? Never do to-day what you hope another flat will do for you to-morrow.” “So, si, manana,” sald the Portuguese, who had not understood one word in ten of all this. “Manana we find rich, plenty too much rleh. God save queen!™ “Those Canary fishing schooners land and way een as Portugee on the Salvage: etimes,” sald Me- Todd, “so I hearc e in Las Palmas."™ “I guess we got to take our chances, Maec. If the old wreck's been over- hauled before we get there, it's our bad luck; if she hasn't been skimmed clean, we'll take wnat there 1s, and I fancy we shall be men enough to stick to it. It isn't as if she was piled up on some civilized beach with coastguards to take possession and the rest of it. The islands are either Spanish or Portuguese. They belong to a pack of thieves any way, and we've just as much right to help o s one else has. What we've got to do at present is to shove this o yacht. At the shortest we miles of blue water ahead of us.” Open-boat voyaging in broad At- lantic may have its pleasures, but these, such as they were, did not appeal to either Kettie or his companions. They were thoroughguing steamer sallors; they despised salls, and the smaliness of their craft gave them qual both mental and physical. By day the sun scorched them with intolerable glare and violence; by night the clammy sea mists drenched them to the bone. For a larger vessel the weather would have been accounted favorable; for their cockle-shell it was once or tv terrific. In two squalls that they ran into break- Ing combers filled the lifeboat to the thwarts, and they had to bail for their bare lives. They were cramped and sore from their constrained position and want of exercise; they got sea sores on their wrists ‘and salt grime on every inch of their persons: they were growing gaunt the seanty rations; and, in fact, & ter presentation of a boat full of des- perate castaways it would be hard to hit upon. Flotill pink-sailed nautilus scudded ¢ beside them. dropping as con astern; and these made thelr only company. Except for the nautilus, the sea seemed desolate. In this guise they ended their voyage, y to nigh upon 1000 trary winds and the necessity for incessant tacking; and In the height of one blazing afternoon they rose to the tops of the islands out of a twinkling turquoise sea. These appeared first as mere dusty black rocks sticking up out of the calm blue—Great Salvage Island to the north- ward and Great Piton to the south and beyond—but they grew as the boat neared them, and presently appeared to be built upon a frieze of dazzling feathery white- ness. The lifeboat swept on to reach them, climbing and dfving over the roll- ers. decks, quartermast high, contrived to throw off the sprays and over these the faces of her people peered ahead, wild and geunt, salt- crusted and desperate. Great Salvage Island drew abeam and passed away astern; Great Piton lay close ahead now, fringed with a thousand reefs, each with its spouting breake: The din of the surf came to them loudly up the wind. A flock of sea fowl, screaming and cireling, sailed out to escort them in, and ahead, behind the banks of Dbreakers, drawing them on as water will draw a choking man, was the rusted smokestack and stripped masts of a derelict merchant steamer. There is a yarn about an open boat which had voyaged 1200 miles over the lonely Pacific coming upon a green atoll and being sailed recklessly in through the surf and drowning every soul on board; and the yarn is easily believable. Captain Kettle and his companions had undergone horrible privations. Here, at last, w"s the isle of their hopes and the treasure ( seemed) in full view; but by some intoler- able fats they were barred from it by re- lentless walls of surf. Kettle ran In as close as he dared and then flattened in his sheets and salled the lifeboat, close- hauled, along the noisy line of the break- ers to the norrard, looking for an open- ing. The two Portuguese grumbled openly, and when not a ghost of a landing place showed and Kettle put her about to sall back again even the cautious McTodd put up his word to ‘run in and risk t.” But Kettle, though equally sick as they were of the boat and her voyage, had all a sallor’s dislike for losing his ship, what- ever she might be, and cowed them all with voice and threats, and at last his forbearance was rewarded. A sim passage through the reet showed itself at the southern end of the island, and down it they dodged, trimming their sheets siy times a minute, with an escort of dangets always close on elther hand, and finally ran into a rocky bay. which held com- paratively smooth water. There was no place té heach the boat. They had to anchor her off, but with 3 Whip on the cable they were able to steg ashare on & ledge of stone and then hau the boat off again out of harm's way. It may be thought that they capered with delight at treading on dry land again, but there was nothing of this With their cramped limbs and disused joints it was as much as they could de %o hobble, and every step was a wrench But the lure ahead of them was grea enough to triumph over minor difficulties Half a mile away along the rocks was the Duncansby Head, and for her they raced at the top of their crippled galt And the sea fowl screamed curlously above their heads. They scratched anc tore themselves i this frantic progress over the sharp vol canic rocks, they choked with thirst they panted with their labor: but none o} these things mattered. The deserted steamer, when they came to her, was lylug off from the shore a the other side of a lake of deep water But they were fit for no more waiting and each, as he came opposite her, waded in out of his denth and swam off witk cager strokes. Davit falls trailing in the water gave them an entrance way, am( up these they climbed with the quick ness of apes; and then, with one aceord they made for the pantry and the stew (Continued on Page &