Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-30

days, when the hands slipped and sweat
ran into the eyes. When the last wedge
| was hammered home there was no -=ager
an ounce of weight on the supporting col
| umis: and Mr.. Wardrop rrIlmaged the
| snip for boiler plate, three-quarters of an
| inch thick, where he could find it. There
| was not much available, but what there
was was more than beaten gold to him. In
| one terrible forenoon the entire crew,
| naked and lean, hauled back, more or less
into place. the starboard supporting col
| umn, which, as you remember, was cracked
| clean through. Mr. Wardrop found them
asleep where they had finished the work,
! and gave them days rest, smiling. upon
| them like a father he drew chalk marks
| about the cracks. They woke to new and
| more trying labor. for over each one of
| those cracks plate of uhree-quarter-inch
boiler iron was to be worked hot, the rvet
| koles being drilled by hand. All that time
| they were fed on fruits-chiefiy bananas,
| with some sage.
| Those were the days when men swooned
| over the ratchet drill and the hand forge,
| and where they fell they had leave to lie I'm
| less their bodies were in the way of their fell
| lows feet And SO, patch upon patch, and a
patch over all, the starboard supporting col
| umn was clouted: but when they thought all
was secure, Mr.. Wardrop decreed that the
noble patchwork would never support work
| Ing engines. Al best it could only hold the
| guide bars approximately true. The dead
weight of the cylinders must be borne by
vertical struts. and therefore gang would
| repair to the bows and take out with files the
| big bow anchor davits, each of which was
| some three inches in diameter They threw
hot Goals at Wardrop and threatened to kill
| him, those who did not weep Cthey were
| ready to weep on the least provocaton); hut
he hit them with iron bars heated at the end,
| and they lmped forward, and the davits
| came with them when they returned They
slept sixteen hours on the strength of it. and
| In three days two struts were in place. nolted
| from the foot of the Starboard supporting
| column to the under side of the cylinder.
There remained the port, or con-
denSer column, which, though not so badly
cracked as its fellow, had lso been strength
| ened in four places with boiler plate patches,
but needed struts. They took away the
| main stanchions of the bridge for that work,
and, crazy with toll. did not see till all was
In place that the rounded bars of iron must
| be flattened from top to bottom to allow the
air pump levers to clear them. 1t was
| Wardrop's oversight, and he wept bitterly
before the men he gave the order to un-
| bolt the struts and fatten them with nam
mer and flame. Now the broken engine was
underpnned firmly. and they took away the
wooden shores from under the cylinders and
gave them to the robbed bridge, thanking
God for even half days work on gentle
kindly wood instead of the iron that had en-
| tered into their souls: Eight months in the
back country among the leeches at tenn
perature of 81 degrees moist is very bad for
the nerves.
They had kept the hardest work to the
they were Mr.. Wardrop did not dare 10 give
them rest The piston rod and connecting
job for regular dock yard with every ap-
pliance. They fell to it, cheered by a little
chalk showing of work done and time con-
sumed, which Mr.. Wardrop wrote upon the
engine bulkhead. Fifteen days had gone
bans 1900 81, e iaooi-ohu 'hHie was
-'pe 'neih.
,Drr
Anl ~.
But 1t is curious that no man knows how
the re were Strengthened. The crew of
the IJauotis ramenohar that vet, -
at, - 80. ven 'es
.ins' as d ieVer patent remembers the
oehrium OF long night There were fires
everywhere, they say; the whole shin was
one consuming furnace and tho bamm.rs
were neyer st,u Now ,tho,. -, -
- $50 wv ee eouiu ho'
nave oeen more tnan one nre at the most,
for Mr.. Wardrop distinctly recalls that no
Strengthening was done except under his
own eve They remennber too th.t for
o -. -. -. ~ oi
iii"iS years Voices gave ofuers winch they
ooeyeo WIN their oodies. but their minds
were abroad on all the seas 1t seems to
lnem tnat they stood through days and
nights slowly sliding a bar backward and
forward through white glow that was
part OF the ship They remember an intol-
cradle noise IN their burning heads from
the walls OF the stokehole, and they re-
member being saVagely beaten by men
whose eyes seemed asleep. When their
shift was over they would draw straight
lines IN the air, anxiously and repeatedly,
anu "ouiu question one dEOtner IN their
sleep, crying: rs she straight"
At last-they do not remember whether
TINS was by day or night-Mr. Wardrop be-
gan TO dance clumsily and wept the while,
ana tney, too danced and wept and then
went TO Steep tWltcnins all over; and when
tney woke men SAID that the rods We're
straishtened, ana no one did any work for
eWo DAYS OUT lay on the decks and ate
run! i MI: w ruIop would go below from
t,ilie 10 tiihe ana pat the Two rods where
h1,S i"'' anu 'neS iearu MIN singing
ny Tins Tins .,,,,o
inei. ms trouoIe OF mino Went from MIN.
an a. Tue emu oi tne miro gay idieness
- ~, - oe th ~ S.ath UPON lhe ueck,
H. ,,nirted ~ the. t, d. 'ne angles;
Voc n,nra ~ wi Iss mug me piston roo
crcssbaod H. Ill, rs. - s', &c, Lis III. Iou
siSewayS IN ,ha a,;d i ~ ot t Jaiili5Su
stra;na1 and nod 5000 ~ 49,, 49, oauiy
tbs niston ro, u n,os oin.I ~ Nv" 49, emu oi
SHRINK wrouebt iron ooSIo. g. ~ ~. ,o - W
tna niston rod uhara ~ ia;naa ~ -, VI
head and f,on, tba coIl.r ha - 10 >
Y-shaned niece nj iron whose 1--we. go,
should he toItad into The orosshead i ne re
anvTbinc more were needed tbey could GO
up the last of the boiler Mate "'e
c. a. eo,.-s., -