The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-01-31

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. 81 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, 1 wonder the
muss among the baggage didn't rouse
you up!"
"Boss," replied the moist-eyed one,
genially, 81 guess 1 sleep like a dead
whale as has been resurrected, got tired
o. the bother of keepin' alive, and gone
dead again for good!"
"Great Scott!" exclaimed "Fiii," as
he scrambled for his raiment, "seems
to me that defunct insec' has been gaily
friskin' around my pants. They're
right out from under the pillow where
L slowed 'em last night, an dog-goned
eff my keys amt loose in the spitbox!"
elbow you pants, "retorted the moist
eyed gen tleman,' ''don't you feel like
washin' down them ere cinders as is
stickin' in your ventilator?" and with
that he passed over the grog-bottle.
The pair continued inebriate, and at
length their names were given to the
bartender, a measure which stopped
the supplies. 1 heard the moist-eyed
gentleman one evening complaining
touchingly of thirst to a little Ameri-
can Jew-with- a-dash- -Cockney,
who vas n of the passen-
gers, 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 compensation. The
latter, I noticed, got strangely o af-
fected. I supposedthat 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 1
overheard. The Hebraic worthy had
two trunks stuffed with ''dutiable
goods" on which he was most anxious
to make no contribution to the Federal
revenues. Far gone as he was, the
m~oist-eyed man was promptly equal to
the occasion. "Ask for Colonel O'Dris-
col onthe jetty, an square him. 1 know
he can be got at. Besht thing, before
you come ashore of youself, send on to
the wharf a little note addressed to the
Colonel, with twenty-five dollars an
your card inclosed; and then strike
him as o as you land. You'll find
him hunky, you bet. That'll pass you
along as easy s slipping off log.
Only, never give n soul a hintI put you
up to this!" "All right, pardner, was
the p~hilosophic comment of the astute
Hebrew, ''guess the lot On you ROSTERS
understand each other, kinder-ehP"
The moist-eyed man winked and hic-
coughed, and Mr.. Moses retired to rest
in the pleasing consciousness of not hav-
ing wholly wasted his friendly officesin
circnmventing the bartender.
At Honolulu the ''Tasmanian" m
barked a large draft of passengers for
San Francisco-rather a mixed lot. A
large number of these had to take their
meals in the empty second saloon, the
table seats in the chief saloon being all
previously occupied. Two nights after
leaving Honolulu, while dinner was be-
ing served in the latter apartment, the
gentleman with the moist eve compro-
missed himself by miscellaneous resort
to strong expressions uttered by no
means soto Uoce, and was summarily
elected by the chief steward, who char
acterized him in allegorical language
as having been .sas full of drink as the
Baltic Sea-" At the subsequent court
martial in the Captains cabin he re-
ceived the mild sentence of modified
ostracism to the second saloon, where
there were neither ladies nor a bishop,
and whose denizens were not nasty par
ticular over a little mild cursing, so
long as the gentleman displaying this
weakness was not backward in desiring
to ascertain practically the form of
poison held in high esteem by his con-
ViUes. If he committed himself beyond
bearing in this society, however, added
the Captain, with a sternness that struck
me as being a little forced, he was to
be relegated to the outer darkness of
the Storage. There was much good
fellowship in the second saloon, where
the moist-eyed man speedily found
marked favor; and sooner or later, as
[ noted during occasional visits to that
bower of iollity, most of the
Honolulu folks had whispered
condolences of an apparently satisfac-
tory nature with him, in regard to the
~idiosyncrasy of the customs inquisitors
on the San Francisco quay. These
condolences had a uniform sequel in
the shape of copious libations, not at
the expense of the moist-eyed gentle
man.
For myself, I observed with unfeigned
sorrow and nc little amaze all those
evidences of a fallen nature on the part
of a man by whose simple and touching
manifestation of a purer and better
spirit l had been so much touched at
the outset of the voyage. But as l
grieved because of the feet, or rather
at that, which disfigured the golden
recognized this man with the moist-eye
as a type. He became to me more and
more identified with the Bret Harte
characteristics Pacific slope man with
the chronic crave to see them .'put up"
with the callous disregard of high prin-
ciple, with the propensity to grisly
oaths; and yet withal, with the strange
holy streak of exquisite genuine tender
ness. At the end of the voyage
thought him more like "Kentuck" than
L had done at the beginning.
As the .'Tasmanian' steamed by
Alcatraz. Island it was an open
secret among a good many OF
the passengers that the moist-eyed
gentleman vas to scramble on to the
wharf by the first cable and give a
quiet, significant intimation to "Colonel
O'Driscol'' and the ''boys" that in
certain specific instances a perfunctory
inspection would be highly appreciated
and not be quite barren of compliment
tary recognition. As he stood in read
mess for the acrObatic feat. noticed
his vest pocket considerably bulged by
quite a little packet of letters, which |
had reason to believe all bore a super
scription to Colonel O'Driscol." The
moment came, and we saw him slip of
the cat-head down the hawser on to the
jetty with an agility that was much adj.
mired by all spectators; some believ-
ing that he was thus urgent that
he might clasp to his bosom the little
wife to whom he had hurried back.