Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-04-02
CHAPTER MI.
THREE FOE TwENTY-sENE


THREE FOR TWENTY SEVEN.
"Now, my lads" said Kettle, you've
got To hump yourselves, or we'll have the
steamer swsmping beneath us. tn he
touch and go anyway. Mr.. Cambel, you'll
have the deck all to yourself, after you We
done your job on the forehold, Of course,
and you'd better jump lively after that at
once Every gill of water tells now, and
IL strikes me IL we've very much more Of
the Mexican gulf on board the decks will
blow up. and she ]! GO down like kentledge
ballast -
Cambcl tarted throagh the doorway
And now, Mr. Sullivan, understand
that, although ! still continue to rate as
skipper of this craft. for the present I'm
going to work as fireman and coal trim.
mcr. You will be chief engineer, and I'm
the sum total Of your crew, and between
ms we've got 10 do the work of seven
horses and ono mule Are the bilge pumps
clear"
Yes, sor"
"And has she still good head of
steami'
she has. Nonc's been blown off -
Then pick up your feet and let 5 go to
your hardware shop and start in work -
Wait q hit, sor, " said the donkeyman
There's things here l don't understand
Arcn { the lives of us in bcastly danger?
Didn't them boats go of because the
steamer sinkings"
DO you, rctorted Kettle, consider
me one of those fancy sort Of maniac who
have no wish To survive the loss Of ship,
tell you I should have been drow ned
eight times already IL that had been my
lay. No, Mr.. Chief. Fair fights right
Cntu-I upI I'll stand nm n -,
and VALUE my life at less than rice mat,
but at other times you bet I'm no fool to
chuck 1t away
But, said the donkeyman. what
gets mes this: II the blooming steamer 5
bottoms shot out, what's the fun in
messing with it; The Mexican gulf will
circulate through that hole longer than
our bilgc pumps will run
''Iou tire me" said the little man
who said she'd her bottom blown out? I
tell you this steamer was sunk q few
plates below her usual trin-for reasons
and now we are going to pull her up
again. See here, new Mr. Chief, take the
cinch from me and ask no more questions
and you'll get told 10 lies It'll pay you
IL you do as you're bid aboard of me-
you'll have sovercigns enough given you
to work through the biggest spree that
was ever spread cut in a seaport town"
The big donkeyman apprcciatively Dire w
the back of u hand across his muzzle. All
captain, dear" he said ccaxingly, I'd
Just like Tn hear We mention figure"
Call IL two elO notes"
Then, be Christopher. I'm yer man for
any piece OF devilment in the calendar
Come along. captain, dear. lis mclo
dious little man ye are, for all they say
against yez"
Meanwhile the steamer was becoming
more and more water logged with every
plunge and roll, and Patrick Cambcl fear
cd that his dangerous stratcgem for driv-
ing away the crew had been carried too
far. II seemed To him impossible that they
could salvage her now True, she was
brought up To the wind by the after can
vas. and her ro!lin9s were not Of such
sickcning strength but the stern loomed
high in the wild night air. and the bows
lunSed deep into every successive sea that
rolled up from the stormy south taking
the green water over the forccastIe head
In masses which secured anchors and
windlass To the naked iron
The wash found its way below through
that Jagged gap in the lower deck In crash.
ing waterfalls. and every moment. too.
the opened valve beside her keel was
gushing In fresh gallons to her swapping
holds. Any larger sea which swept up
now might well settle over her solidly and
launch her with bursted decks onto the
sponges and the coral growths 100 fathoms
below
Some men, in the face Of such condi.
tions. would have been amazed. helpless.
physically incapable in the presence OF
that solitude tn making any necessary
effort, for IL Is enc thing 10 do desperate
matter before the eyes Of an applauding
crowd and another when the devil below
is your only apPrecistiyc oniookcr. IL
would have been beyond the capabilities
Of Captain Kettle. for instance. Cambci,
however. WAS the ore man ia The million
60 whom the adventure was rs ineat and
drink. IL he succeeded. then the prof,
was his. II he failed, death would bc use
full to him, and anyway there was the wild
excitement OF the moment, which was q
meal to be enjoyed, and one which moth
ing could snatch away.
II was in this mood Of mind that the
man on whose actions the very outer all
existence Of the Port Edes depended left
bis fellows in the chartr6om and raced
forward to where the jagged lip of Tho
iorehold hatch yawncd to the splashins
brine. Without lantern. without 50 much
- hook before him, he lowered himself
on 70 the twisted battens below, with tb,
eiean water raining OF to him from aboy,