The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1891-04-10
PURSER WATKINS.
A PRIZE STORY.

Iherc was hcrcc competition on Pu-
get Sound between two rival lines of
steamers. Fer Il long time one company
had controlled the traffic between Vic
toria and Tacoma, but when some enter
prising men started an opposition line,
there was sharp struggle between the
TWO.
| obtained 4 position as assistant en-
gineer on one Of these opposition boats.
She was steamer called the Occident,
brought from San Francisco, where she
had been used about the Bay.
nc crfcf ousi~-as named Georue
Starr. He was agrim, elderly man, who
never spoke unless he was addressed, and
then replied i'll the fewest words posi-
bic. He was good mechanic, and kept
the machinery in as good working order
as it was possible to keep it.
The Occidcnt's engine was probably
the most complicated aud untrustworthy
piece of machinery atloat. Sometimes
tue steamer would make excellent time,
easily distancing any steamer Oh the
Sound. AT other times she could, only
with the greatest difficulty, be made to
move 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, ard great deal for arriving at
their destination in the shortest possible
time.
The Captain knew every foot of the
Sound by day or night. lie never tied
up for storm, fog or darkness, but drove
the Occ!dent to her destination. Years
OF exposure TO the rains and for had
given him disease of the lungs. Often
he stood in the pilot-h house all night when
he sEcud have been in bed, but he had
fan ily dependent upon him, and must
keep going.
The purscr was young man who had
been educated to the business on the
Columbia River. He was bright, ,lapper
energetic, wide awake, red-haired and
red-mous!achcd. His obliging DISPOSE
tion made him great favoritc on the
Sound. He was, too, always looking out
for the interests of his employers.
-----Ihe steamers Of both lines left the
1ares and freights to very low fi@nre
ana 'he rush of business was treman6
Gus. OrS lower deck was crowded -,
every trlpmith freight and Chinamen
while every state room was occunicd on2
the saloon floor often covered with 'no.
trcSses. ,f ''i iuaI-
AS the hour for departure approached.
'neic were crowds shouting, pushing and
struggling on the docks; freight WINS he.
ing rapidly run on board, and CARRIAGES
ana wagons were in seemingly inextrica-
bic confusion. N''i'a-
Oh !Ecse occasions Harry Watkins
our purscr, seemed to be everywhere at
once, securing business for his boot Nv
means that were extraordinary and offer
comichl. "n" oi'el
che evening we lay at Tacoma nre.
l"i,.s ior the trip north. The hour oI
"i'ihg was ten o'clock, and it IackeG
Du' twenty minutes Of the time. On,
lrlP Gown had been the fastest on record,
we had distanced our comnet;tor
'"oie 'han 1our hours, and taken ~. l.
and Seattle. io"hseho
was IN good spirits, and even Georo.
,o'"ir grim face relaxed little when p,
ICoked over the machinery. which ofta.I
hard work, we had succeeded in nottin
MO paSsable shape.
!, we don't beat our own record thi.
mp. said, clambering down ofte,
,''hlng some complicated repairs, "I'n
mistaken very much"
Oon t lie too sure" said Starr
having few moments to snare
eh1 TO the gangway of the boat an6
l"Ieeo our. 1t was a cold drippino
Sht. The fog was so dense that tbr 8
'''e,nS on the dock made little points k
Seilow light, revealing nothing. n
trucks loaded with freight were com. n
( down the gang-plank with a crash f,
d a rattle. Was" -
was just turning away when Uarr, "
came sliding down s.a.vtI the ga%g ig, Il Il
ri'whlle with his other hand he draggod
BOY about nine years old. ,
iaont time to go around bv tb,
SSch@cr gangwag.' he said, breath in
SLY. "Here, Billy" as he couob, Of
'h' OF me, 'stow these kids about ih,
&inc room somewhere where it's warm ca
iey re most frozen, poor little things w
lake care of 'em when we get unde, IN
=" s' '"oe' tn
Trusting the little girl into my arms. WI w
was oil Ikea flash, ait
he little girl, who was about fom -
RS old, was trembling violently from ia
Il ana excitement. / made nv wan an
tlG!iy among the piles of freight and De-
"ds OF Chinamcn that blocked the
II deck to the engine.room, through De'
arrow =, passage piled high with freight inc
ne cnglne-room WIS comfortable roc
C. lhere was broad cushioned
across the end. not
Is came in, the Captain was leapino the
one OF the half. doors that onencd
the side passages, talking with the |
'i.engIneer. He was on his wax Io cap
piiot-house to spend the long, cold on
night there. No one else on hoard tair
M I.I~