The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-03-17

tthe tales sound much worse. when they
are told IN the rush aud growi Of the
muddy waters that the Countess OF Stir
ling $50 tons. touched ard capSfzed IN
ten minutes: and 3eN ton steamer In
two: and a pilgrim ship in FIVE. and an
other steamer literally in an instant.
holding down her men with the mas.s
and shrouss as she dashed over. When
a ship touches on the James and Mary
the river knocks her down and hurtes
her AMI the sands CULVER ali around her
and reach out under water and take new
shapes.
Young jim would lie up in the bow of
the tug and watch the straiEing buoys
kick ard smother in the coaee-coiore5 red
current. ard the serlaphores and Tags
signal from the bank how much water
there was in the channel till. be learned
that men wTls deal with men can AFFORD
10 De careless on the chance of their fell
lows being like them; bat men who deal
with things dare not reiax FOR an instant.
And THAT'S the very reason" old Me-
Even said 20 him once. that the James
and Mary is the safest part Of the river.
and he pat the big black Rar9oorah that
draws twenty-five feet through the East
ern Cat. with turhans Of white foam
wrapped round her foot and her screw
beating as steadily as his own heart.
II Jim could not get away 10 the river
there was always the big. cool port Office.
where tho soundings were calculated and
the maps were, drawn: or the pilots
room. where he could lie In long chair
and listen to the talk about the Hugh:
and there vas the library. where IL You
had money you could buy charts and
books OF directions against the time that
you actually steamed over the places
themselves. It was exceedingly hard for
Jim 10 hold the list of Jewish kings in
his head, and he was more than uncer-
tain as 30 the end OF the verb .'audio" IL
you followed ii far enough down the
page. but he could keep the soundings OF
three channels distinct In *his head and.
what Is more confusing. the changes In
the buoys from Garden reach down TO
Saugor, as well as the greater part of
the Calcutta Telegraph. the only paper
he ever read
Unluckily, you cannot peruse about the
Hugh without money. even though you
are the son of the best-known pilot on
the river and as soon as Trevor under
stood how his son was spending his time
he cut down his pocket money. and Jim
had a very generous allowance. In his
extremity he took counsel with Pedro.
the plum-coiored mulatto at the Sailors
home. And Pedro was a bad man. He
introduced Jim to Chinaman in Ma
chuatellah. nasty place in itself, and
the Chinaman. who answered to the
name of Erh TIE. when he was not smok-
ing opium talked pigeon English to Jim
for an hour.
''S'pose you take. Can do?" he said, at
last
Jim considered the chances. A junk he
knew would draw about eleven feet, and
the regular fee for qualified pilot out
ward would be 200 rupees. On the other
hand, he was not qualified. so he could
not ask more than half But. on the
other hand, he was fully certain of
thrashing from his father for plotting
without a license. So he asked 175 ru-
and that was like Chinaman all over.
The cargo of his junk was worth from
5o,oao to 10000 rupees and Erh TIE was
getting enormous freight on the collins of
thirty or forty dead Cinnamon whom he
was taking to be buried in their native
country. Rich Cinnamon will pay fancy
prices for their services, and they have
superstition that the iron of steam
ships is bad for the health of their dead.
Erh TEES junk had crept up from
Singapore via Penang and RAN
COON to Calcutta. where Erh TIE had
been staggered by the pilot dues. This
time he was going out at a reduction
with Jim, who. Pedro said. was just as
good as pilot
Jim knew something of the outside of
Junks, but he was not prepared, when he
went down that night with his charts,
for the confusion of cargo and coolies
and collins and day-cooking places and
other things that Uttered the decks. Jim
had sense enough to haul the rudder up
a few feet = he knew that a junk.s rudder
goes far below the bottom and he allowed