Rock Island Argus., 1896-04-03
eOaaGs0s esrse assues

tnougn oIren sne couiu not MAKE the turn
quickly enough and bruised with her
forefoot the Shiny mansrovc stems which
marked the bank. But the current was
strong and each time swept her clear. and
those below were scarcely conscious of the
grI-c.
Knot Ly knot the brine OF the Mexican
gulf was being left behind, and the noises
IF the woods and odors of the trees and
the swamps were closing in on them. The
swell tanning out from the steamers
wake wet the alligators in their baskinQ
places behind the sawgrass, and the reek
from her smokestacks scared the stilt leg
gcd water fowl afish in the shadows. She
coastcd round n bayou of black water
walled in by stern ranks of cypress trees
She cut across another with graceful leav.
ed palmetto scrubbed on either hand and
ragged cabbage palms spouting out from
nbovc. And then she swung noain where
the river forked and steamed down a
straight, unswerving water lane which led
TO the very heart of the Everglades.
Bat the pace was slowing now, slowing
Indeed till the steamer would hardly steer
against the current, which ever and anon
gripped her by the head or the tail and
carried her with sullen sheerings dead
onto mangrove cluster or tree clad bluff
and the reason WAS that the head of steam
was failing. Captain Owen Kettle, like
moro Christian men have done before, ig-
nored his own previous prcaciings when
the application came in and proved only
human soon after he had taken up the role
Of fireman. Driven half lunatic by the heat
Of the work, he kept dipping his lips in
fhc xrntpr buclpt and lrirl-ipo baayr
drafts. As q consequences that unpoe..
ical complaint-cramp in the stomach
overlook him at last and tied him into
those ungainly knots of torture which he
had so frequently observed upon scientific
ally in Others. But as there was none at
hand To- administer the heroic remedy of
ch!orodyne crim Thubarb cum laudanum
cum pill and give him something else to
think about in the original kind of knots
he remained.
The donkeymar, with hearty Belfast
curse, tried to do double work, but as he
had been laboring quite to the top of his
strength for many hours previously the
effort did not meet with unqualified sue
cess. As any one with less doggcd wooden
pluck might have known, it is impossible
for one man to fire a II furnace steamer,
wheel himself coal for the bunker and act
rs engineer and greaser when required,
however great be the initial supply OF
brute force with which God has endowed
him. Every time he wiped the wet from
his eyes and looked ut the steam gauge 1t
had climbed down since the time before,
and however fufiously he might heave
new fuel onto the caking clinkers that
jumping index would continue its down
ward crawl.
The oiled rumbling OF the engines slow
ed and grew more sluggish and then the
ponderous cranks took to stopping on a
turn rs though to gain strength for the
next round. But this did not go on for
long. The donkeyman felt a gentle heave
of the footplatcs beneath him and then a
heel which was not recovered. BE gor,
said he, 1.-The bloody old tramp's TUX the
ground at last. Thanks be-
lie pitched his shovel through a dull
glowing furnace door and turned to where
| tho little captain was lying on the polish
| cd footplates, holding a yellow tiarin2
slush lamp before him to see through the
| sitting dusty gloom. "Gum.'' he com.
| mented. The old man looks pretty sick.
III crane him up in the ashlift''
This he did and took his commanding
officer into the main cabin, where the all
was bright and baking, and the mosaui.
toes were biting like dogs. Then, throw
ing back the lid of the medicine chest,
which stood beside the door into the com.
panionway, he razed appreciativeiy al
the rows of bottles, unstopped one or two
and shifted mt their contents and then
slammed down the lid again as a thought
| struck him. No" he said Red Ket
| tie wouldn't give me physic last time !
thought I'd like q dose, an now Ill see
how he fancies getting round on nothing.
Fair plays jool. I'll just report to the
pilot an then turn in
| The pilot. however, when the donkey
| man had woarily hauled himself onto the
upper bridge and stood by his side. proved
| to be so dead asleep that no amount o
shouting or shaking would wake him
Even the flies did not make him vince.
"Sor. wake, yell be sunstrook, i
ye're not that already. Rouse. sor. l cam
lug We below. an l can't rig an awning
I'm too tired to speak again. but if ye1
stay here We II fry like a rasher an be ats
BY flies. There's a whopping skeeter in eaci
| of yer eyehcles this minute, an a kind o
locust browsing on the end of yer snout
Listen. I'm knockin wild boot toe OF
yer ribs. We'll, man, if ye won't listen tc
reason, it's just leavin yez am to stew
| in yer own juice"
The donkeyman climbed heavily bacl
| down the ladder and went with wear,
steps aft along the bridge deck toward hi:
| own place But at the break of the deci
he paused. spread his grimy, shiny elbow:
on the rail and indulged in a thin, small
| whistle
Now. here we have come, as the skip
per remarked. up IN uubeknowf drain ts
| which mans improvements have not beer
| intrigued. an there's callers turnin u,
| already. That was the nose of gaff
taups'l souin,in between those tree top.
down stream minute ago. or m Dago
| Dye know. Mr.. sullivan, chief of tn,
| Port E,ics. I'm beginnin TO think ye't
| have got better value If ye'd gone cruisir
off by an large wild the other boys in tb,