The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-06-14
SELECTED STORY.
His Revenge.

"A handy contl'vance-that steam steer
ing gear, isn't ~ All that we have above
deck is a little bit of n 3-foot wheel that
you can move with one finger, just handy
contrivance in fact, for opening and shut
ting steam valve Below are n pair of
small engines and some natty lodges for
governing them. They move n drum, and
round the drum is the chain working the
quadrant on the rubber head.
"There's u bit of an index finger for show
ing you how much helm you're giving her,
and there you are.
at is handy, and if you want to appre-
ciate the thing to the full you've only got
to look lnck at the old style. Ocean liners
weren't nearly so big then, but yet I've
seen four men hanging on to 6-foot wheel,
and the pair on the weather spokes getting
lifted off the gratings."
So spoke the chief officer to quiet trio
in the doctors cabin-a seafaring trio
"Of COURSE" he went on, accidents will
happen to the best regulated steam steer
ing gear and rs long as the sea and bad
weather keep company together l suppose
they'll continue to happen
"'Twasn't on this boat. 1t was four years
ago, and was second then on the-well, no,
| won't tell you her name either.
1.-The old man was regular sea dandy
patent leather shoes, pattern plate bags,
new brass bindings and all the rest of it
and he was a rare popular man with pas
sengers A GOOD seaman. too. but his com
panvmauners' scored for him best. and he's
skipper of one of the regular niors now.
"liowever. on that - we'd a chan
aboard he couldn't get With any way.
You see this poor fellow planter who
had been out in the Pc c islands some
Some DAYS he was tolkablv right: some
DAYS he was MS mad as a Natter
"Djrectlv the old man went nm to do the
civil TO some of the ladies on deck the plant.
er would turn up. too. and teach him how
to take a lunar. and in the saloon, so soon
as ever the old man pulled out his society
stop and started the conversation in that
KEY, this blessed nuisance would shove in
his tune. spite of all the snubbings whatso-
ever.
$50 that when we were four DAYS ont no
one was vervmuch SURPRISED when the old
man got through his temperaltogether and
told the other chap what he thought of
him straight.
"The PLANTER stared for n minute or two
through his Sits of ewes without speaking
Then said he m make You lose YOUR shin
for this. caltain.' and without puttinp an
other word to it got up and stalked away
to his berth
"Nothing happened that dav nor the
next except that the wind shifted round to
norrard and worked itself into a whole gale.
with humping great sea to match
son the third day about MIDNIGHT we
guessed we'd seen about the worst of if
I'd got the watch, but the old man was
with me for the first hour. At the end of
4 ia Il ell
is about broken now. so III be off for n hit
of watch below BE sure and let me
know. though. if it worsens again.
"The rain had knocked off. but there was
good deal of scud flying, and the air was
thick When | had been in charge about
an hour the quartermaster forward report-
ed a steamer somewhere ahead.
''She was heading directly down our
course and lay about n mile away. Wishing
to give her widish berth to starboard gave
orders to put the helm over a couple of
points to port
1.-THE fellow spun round the wheel lightly
enough. Nothing damned there but from
the house below, where the wheel engines
were. came half n dozen sharn iolts which
Jared the bridge. 1t was nothing much
just perceptible, and that's about all. but
we on the bridge looked at one another and
wondered what was no.
"Then big wave thumped her broad on
the starboard bow. and She gave such u
quick heel that | was very nearly shot off
my pins. In that moment | tumbled to
what had happened. The ship was falling
off to port: the steering gear had burst
somewhere
"Then took another squint ahead. That
other steamer was drawing up hand over
fist, right down atop of us, and "a humping
heavy one she was too"
The chief officer paused. whistling drear-
lily. One of us told him impatientIy tn get
along.
Get along! Be moving! That was inst
it. There were Il score of things to do. and
didn't know which to begin at first. And
meanwhile Rome was burning.
81 wasted 20 seconds thinking and If
seemed that was frittering away 20 wears.
Meanwhile she had fallen off more into the
trough, and sea caught her on the beam
and sent a lot of green souirtine, bane, o,,n,
the bridge. That washed some wits into
me again. rang off the engines to stand
by ahead and tumbled down myself for
the old man.
BLESS his clever heartl He must have