The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-12

VeSSel; ana tne mpfOmpUu concert nJly con-
Guided with God Save the Queen" Presently
the smoking-room thinned. The American gen
tleman with the moist eye remained, leaning
back in seeming slumber; the Australian jeweler
was still on hand, fdgeting about as if there was
something on his mind: / sat smoking silently in
my own dark corner. Presently the ieweler
awoke the American with a touch on the shout
der, and sat down beside him. The cautious
Australian some words, of which l
caught, False bottom"-"Are they very sharp"
The American spoke out like a man, "Guess l
know some of the boys-see you right through,
partner and then followed hot toddy.
Two days after this episode the usual specta-
Gle was afforded of the moist-eyed man having
afternoon tea tete-a-tete with a lady in the most
retired corner of the great saloon. Madame and
| had both disseminated the quaint tale we had
been told at the beginning of the voyage, and
the big blue-eyed man with the far-otf express
sion so often in his face vas regarded with no
little kindly interest. Then it became pretty
well known that he had been in the Frisco Gus
toms employ, and that he was a civil, pleasant
natured, scottish sort of fellow generally. His en-
~tertainer at the4 o'clock tea rejection was a gaunt,
withered little grig of a Scoto-New Zealand
woman, who called herself Mrs. Lorne and
professed to be a widow, both of which preten-
sions were considerably inaccurate. She had
'corraled" the moist-eyed man on the subject Of
her baggage, about which, ever since she joined
the ship at Auckland, she had been betraylng
nervousness among her intimates. AT least l
gathered this had been her little game from the
frank, hearty remark the moist-eyed man made
as he stood up from the tea-table: Don't you
skear worth a cent, Madame, don't We. Colonel
ODriscol, the boss on the jetty, is an old-time
crony of mine. I'll say one word to the Colonel,
and you're through as slick as an eel!' whereat
the bogus widow Lorne blushed and looked half
pleased, half confused.
Among the passengers who Joined the Tas-
manian at Auckland was a droll little American
from FIJI, a hard-bitten beech-comber style of
old reprobate, with a keen zest for liquor. The
old fellow professed lightness of purse, and an
ranged with the people of the ship that he
should occupy one of the state-rooms in the sec
ond cabin department, which was orite empty,
having the run of the frst-class saloon for his
rations. Fiji had a good thing of it with that
six berthed state-room all to himself, and he inn
proved his opportunity by having all his bag
gage, of which he had no inconsiderable guam
tity, and some Of which looked suspiciously
unlike personal Effects slowed in the
state-room to keep him company. From his
first day he went at the drink, but, even i'll an
advanced state of cocktail, the queer gnarled old
stick maintained a cuIiously satuInine de
meanor. The American gentleman with the
moist eye drank with him industriously, stand
ing treat with a reckless freehandedness, and
getting, to all appearances, himself into a more
mixed temperament than Fiji ever exhibited.
But the American gentleman had a marvellous
faculty for swift self-recuperation. l spoke to
him once or twice when he seemed very far gone;
he drew a long breath, shook himself,
uOOhCO dG u6 OuU Ol LlOS6 WOuueTIul
blue eyes, whose limpidness no alcohol
seemed to affect, with the original quaint CON
templative gaze, and replied with deliberate CO.
%herency. And, stranger still, no sooner had we
parted than he had visibly lapsed again into hic-
coughs, incoherency, and other ugly testimonials
to insobriety. One afternoon. while both the
gentlemen We're liquOring up as usual, the moist
eyed man complained vehemently to the assist
ant purser of the heat of his berth, which, it
seemed, was adjacent to the engines. He eX-
nl1InnU in npAOf of this oOJnn11int that he al
ways kept a bottle of grog on tap in his state
room for his friends, who, when they came down
to partake of a convivial glass with him, growled
because the liquor he gave them was lukewarm.
cried Fiji" with a hiccough, and on
this genial hint, which probably had
been drawn from Fiji by the mention of
the moist-eyed geentlemanis facilities for re
freshment, the latter effected a transfer of resi-
dence. l am bound to say that this added pro-
pinquity did not seem to inspire the room mates
with any practical admiration for total abstin-
ence. One night Fiji" evacuated the smoking
ing-rOom more than commonly disguised. Next
morning | heard him Illuminating at his steward
for not having secured his baggage by flashing it.
The trunks, he said, had gone adrift during the
night becauseo of the roll of the ship, which struck
me as strange, for she had not been rolling more
than her somewhat emphatic wont. He grum-
bled consumedly that the wax on the seal of a
special little trunk had got smashed in the fall.
Il sleep like a dead whale" he grunted across to
the mOist-eyed gentleman. who had begun to
sputter and yawn in his bunk over the way;
but, darn it, | wonder the muss among the bag
gage didn't rouse you up!'
BOSS, replied the moist-eyed one genially, II
guess | sleep like Il dead whale as has been resur-
rected, got tired O the bother of keepin' alive,
and gone dead again for good!'
The pair continued inebriate, and at length
their names were given to the bartender, a
measure which stopped the supplies. | heard
the moist-eyed gentleman, one evening. com
planning touchingly of thirst to a little American
Jew-with a-dash of the ockney, who was one of
the passengers, and who was travelling up from
Australia professedly in the buggy interest.
The jew volunteered to procure drink if the
moist-eyed man was ready with the compensa-
ton. The latter, | noticed, got strangely soon
affected. L supposed that the old debauch was
not yet quite dead in him. 1t was then that the
little Jew, taking him aside, impaired to him a
secret, which l overheard; The Hebraic
worthy had two trunks stuffed with
"dutiable goods" on which he was most
anxious to make no contributions to the federal
revenues. Far gone as he was, the moist-eyed
man was promptly equal to the occasion. TX for
Colonel o. Driscol on the jetty, an square him"
I know he can be got at. Besht thing, before
you come ashore yourself, send on to the wharf
a little note addressed to the Colonel, with $25
an your card enclosed, and then strike him as
soon as you land. You'll find him hunky, you
bet. Thatll pass you along as easy S slipping off
a log. Only, never give a soul a hint | put you
up to thisy'
"An right, pardner," was the philosophic com
ment of the astute Hebrew, 'fguess the lot on
you ROSTERS understand each other, kinder
ehl'
The moist-eyed man winked and hiccoughed.
and Mr.. Moses retired to rest in the pleasing
Consciousness Of not having wholly wasted his
friendly Offices in c~ircumventing the bartender.
At Honolulu the Tasmanian embarked a
large draft of passengers for San Francisco
rather a mixed lot. A large number of these had
to take their meals in the emntV second saloon
the table seats in the chief saloon being all pre-
viously occupied. Two nights after leaving
while. dinner was being served in the
latter apartment, the gentlemen with the moist
eye compromised himself by a miscellaneous re-
sort to strong expressions uttered by no means
soto voce, and was summarily elected by the
chief steward, who characterized him in allie
gorical language as having been "as full of drink
as the Baltic sea-"
For myself, 1 observed with unfeigned sorrow