The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-26
The Devil .
. . and the =.
Deep Sea, .v.y..s 3 x,,.,ro
RUDYARD KlPLlNG.
lCopyrisht. ISIS. by tho Autaer.l

hAN ava VI AAS eNah - eBIo sfS
column. which 1t had cracked through
and driven outward against the ships
skin. To all appearances the job was
! more than hopeless, for rod and column
seemed to have been welded in n But
here Providence smiled on them for one
moment to hearten them through the
weary weeks ahead. The second en-
gineer-more reckless than
ful--struck at random with a cold chisel
| into the cast iron of tine column, and a
greasy gray flake of metal flew from
under the imprisoned foot of the con-
| necting-rod, while the rod itself fell
away slowly. and brought up with a
thunderous clang somewhere in the
| dark of the crank-pit. The GUIDES
plates above were still TANNED fast III
| the guides, but the first blow mad peen
| struck. They spent the rest of the day
| grooming the donkey-engine whlch
stood Immediately forward of the en-.
| gine-room hatch. Its tarpaulin, OF
| course, had been stolen, n eight warm
months had not improved the working
parts. Further, the last dying niccousn
of the Haliotis seemed-or II might
have been the Malay from the BOAT
house-to have lifted the thing bodlly
on it's bolts and set 1t down inaccurate
ly as regarded it's steam connections.
.If we only had one cargo derrick
Mr.. Wardrop sighed. w can TAKE the
cylinder-cover off by hand If we sweat,
but to get the rod out of the pistons
no possible unless we use steam. wen,
there'l be steam the morn If there's
nothing else. She'll fi2zle everywhere.
Next morning men from the shore
saw the Haliotis through a cloud, Tor
It was as though the deck smoked. her
crew were chasing steam through the
shaken and leaky pipes to it's work In
the forward donkey-engine; and where
oakum failed to plug a hole, they
stripped on their loin-cloths for lap
ping, and swore, half-boiled and mother
naked. The donkey-engine worked at
a price-the price of constant ent
and furious stoking-worked long
enough to allow a wire rope, 1t was MADE
up of a funnel and a foremast-stay, 10
be led into the engine room and made
fast on the cylinder-cover of the FOR
ward engine. That rose easily enough
and was hauled through the skylight
and on to the deck, many hands assist
ing the doubtful steam. Then came the
tug of war, for 1t was necessary to get
to the piston and the jammed piston
rod. They screwed an iron screw plate
on to the piston, doubled the wire rope,
and set half a dozen men to smite with
an extemporized batteringram at the
end of the pistOn-rod where 1t peered
through the piston, while the donkey
engine hauled upwards on the piston
itself. After rour hours of this furious
work, the piston-rod suddenly slipped
and the piston rose with a jerk, knock
ing one or two men over into the en-
CINE room. But when Mr.. Wardrop de-
clared that the piston had not split,
they cheered and thought nothing of
their wounds, and the donkey-engine
was hastily stopped, for its boiler was
no thing to tamper with. And day by
day their supplies reached them by
boat. The skipper humbled himself
once more before the governor, and as
a concession had leave to get drinking
water from the Malay b~oat-builder on
the quay. 1t was not good drinking
water, but the Malay was anxious to
supply anything in his power If he were
paid for 1t.
Now when the jaws of the forward
engine stood, a it were, stripped and
empty, they began to wedge up the
shores of the cylinder itself. That
work alone filled the better part of
three days-warm and sticky days,
when the hands slipped and sweat ran
into the eyes. When the last wedge
was hammered home there vas no
longer an ounce of weight on the sup.
porting columns; and Mr.. Wardrop rum
mayed the. ship 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
column, which. as you remember, was
cracked clean through. Mr.. Wardrop
found them asleep where they had fin
ished the work, and gave them a days
rest, smiling upon them like a father
as he drew chalk marks about the
cracks. They woke to new and more
trying labor. for over each one of those
cracks a plate of three-quarter-inch
boiler iron was to be worked hot: the
rivet holes being drilled by hand. All
that time they We're fed on fruits
chiefly bananas. with some sago.
Those were the days when men
swooned over the ratchet drill and the
hand forge, and where they fell they
had leave to lie unless their bodies
were In the way of their fellows feet.
And so, patch upon patch, and q patch