The Opelousas courier., 1891-05-16
PURSER WATKINS.
A PRIZE STORY,

torla and Tacoma, but when some enter
pfislng men started an opposition line,
there was a sharp struggle between tie
two.
obtained a position as assistant en-
glneer on one of these opposition boats.
She was a steamer called the Occident.
brought from San Francisco, where she
had been used about the Bay.
The chief engineer was named George
Starr. He was agrim, elderly man, who
never spoke unless he was addressed, and
then replied in the fewest words posi-
Bile. He was a good mechanic, and kept
the machinery in as good working order
as it was possible to keep it.
The Occident's engine was probably
tie most complicated and untrustworthy
piece of machinery adoat. Sometimes
the steamer would make excellent time,
easily ~distancing any steamer CD the
Sound. At other times she could, only
with the greatest difficulty, be made to
nov at the rate of eight miles an hour.
Ordinarily the trip from Victoria to
Tacoma, touching at Port Townsend and
Seattle, occupied about twenty hours;
sometimes we would do it in seventeen,
and again we would be twenty-five or
thirty hours on the trip. Once, to our
great chagrin, we were forty hours on
the way.
Our orders were to make time at all
hazards. The travelling public on Puget
Sound cared little in those days for
safety, and a great%deal for arriving at
their destination in the shortest possible
time.
The Captain knew every foot of the
Sound by day or night. He never tied
up for storm, fog or darkness, but drove
the Occident to her destination. Years
of exposure to the rains and fog had
given him a disease of the lungs. Often
he stood in the pilot-house all night when
he should have been in bed, but he had
a family dependent upon him, and must
keep going.
The purser was a young man who had
been educated to the business on the
Columbia River. He was bright, dapper,
energetic, wide.awake, red-haired and
red-moustached. His obliging DISPOSE.
ton made him a great f~avorite on the
Sound. He was, too, always looking out
for the interests of his employers.
The steamers of both lines left the
terminal ports, Victoria and Tacoma, al
the same hour, and the boats lay at adja-
cent docks. Competition had reduced
fares and freights to a very low figure,
and the rush of business was tremend.
Gus. Our lower deck was crowded al
every trip with freight and Cinnamon,
while every state room was occupied, ano
the saloon floor often covered with mat
tresses.
As the hour for departure approached,
there were crowds shouting, pushing end
struggling on the docks, freight was be-
ing rapidly run on board, and carriages
and wagons were in seemingly inextrica-
BILE confusion.
On these occasions Harry Watkins,
u purser, seemed to be everywhere at
once, securing business for his boat by
means that were extraordinary and Otter
comical.
One evening we lay at Tacoma, pre-.
pairing for the trip north. The hoot oil
starting was ten o'clock, and it laos d
but twenty minutes OF the time. Oul
trip down had been the fastest on record1
we had distanced our competitor bl
more than four hours, and taken the
cream of the business at Port Townsend
and Seattle.
was in good spirits, and even George
STAIRS grim face relaxed a little when he
looked over the machinery, which, after
hard work, we had succeeded in getting
into passable shape.
stIf we don't-beat our oWn record thit
trip I said, clambering down afte1
making some complicated repairs, 'I'n
mistaken very much"
ssDon't be too sure,' said Starr.
Having a few moments to spare.
went to the gangway of the boat ano
glanced out. Tt was a cold, drlpplna
night. The fog was so dense that the
lanterns on the dock made little points
Of yellow light, revealing nothing.
Trucks loaded with freight were COM
ing down the g~ang-plank with a crash
and a rattle.
/ was just turning away when Harry
watkins came sliding down the gang.
plank. In one arm he carried a little
| girl. while with his other hand he draggeo
d bow about nine years old.
uHadn't time to 60 around by the
passenger gangway,n he said, breath
Iessly. aHere, Billy" as he caught
sioht of me, ststow these kids about the
engine room somewhere where it's warm.
They're most frozen, poor little things
ri take care of 'em when we get undel
way
he was off like a flash.
The little girl, who was about foui
wears old, was trembling violently IRON
sold and excitement. I made my way
carefully among the piles of freight ana
crowds Of Cinnamon that blocked the
main deck to the engine-rooim, through
{ narrow passage piled high with freight.
The engine-room was q com1ortapis
Mace. There was a broad cusnioneo
seat across the end.
Az + came ID, the Captain was ieanine
over one of the half-doors that openes
into III side passages, talking wlthsth'
chief-engineer. He was on his way e
The Dilot-house to spend the long, colo
wet night there. No one else on boaIo
Vas caDable of running the Occident Il
s,,ch ] fog Is this. His g1istenlng eyes,
hollow cheeIl and harsh, hacking cougf
told plainly enough that he should have
ls.a, S. his he'd rather than in the spilot-