Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-03-26

shortly TeturDacs With him was a s,ri--
eled mp little man of about 10. with =.
head and a peaked red beard. who made a
stiff. nervous salaam TO Mr.. Theodore
Shelf and then turned 20 stare at CaInbel
with ruchered alnazenlsnt.
Cambel nodded and laughed. Been
carrying any more pilgrims from Port
Said to tie Morocco coast on iron decks.''
he said
Il never did that" snapped Captain
Kettle.
"Ah, GEES memory fails at times. !
dare say also you forget a water famine
when the condenser broke down, and a
trifiing affray with knuckle busters and
other toys, and a dash of cholera, and nine
dead bodies Of Hadjis which went over
board' Perhaps, too, you don't remember
Judging clean bill of health and black
sheeshing certain officials of his Shereefan
majesty
No." said Captain Kettle sourly, Il
don't remember
I'm going to forget it also, If you'll
prove yourself a sensible man and deal
amicably with Mr.. Shelf and myself I'm
also going TO forget that when you were
shipping rice for Calcutta in 1889 you
rented mats you called your own to the
consienor and made q tidy penny out CO
that, and / shall similarly let slip from
my memory a triiiing squeeze Of $500
which you made out of a stevedore in New
Orleans before you let him touch your
ship in the fall of 1887
You can't make anything out of
those" said Kettle. They re the ordi-
nary customs of the trade"
ship masters perquisites for which
owners pay. Exactly. l know shippers
consider these trifies to be their lawful
right, but court of law might be igno-
rant enough to set them down Us robbery. -
Il should like to know whereve you
got all these things from" Captain Kettle
demanded, facing Cambel with his lean,
scraggy neck thrust forth nearly foot
from its stepping. Il should like to know,
too, how you re heres I'd a fancy you were
dead
'Other people have labored under that
impression. But I've an awkward knack
of keeping alive. You've the same. The
faculty may prove useful to us both in the
course of the next month if you're not ass
enough to refuse $780,
'Io! That the game we've got about,
is It? What old wind TANNER do you want
me to lose now?''
STRIP Numbered Shelf, lifting his voice
for the first time. This is pretty Ian
guagc. l would have you remember that
but q short time ago you were in my EN-,
ploy."
And n fat Let of good it did me- re
torted the sailor. But, " he added, with the
sudden recollection that it is never wise OF
master mariner to irritate any shipown.
er, hut, sir, wasn't talking to you ]
fancied i: was Mr.. Cambel here who was
wanting 90 deal with me-
Then your fancy carried you astray,
captain" said Shelf. Come, come, don ;:
let us get angry with one another. AS
repeatedly impress on all who come in
contact with me, there is never any good
born out of words voiced in anger Mr..
Cambel has seen fit TO mention few OF
your-shall l say-eccentricities just J
show-er-that we understand one an
other"
To show he's got his knife in me, Mr.
Shelf, and can wraggle it if he chooses. -
What fractions pepper box it is,
said Cambel, with laugh. Man, dear
if I've got to be shipmates with you for a
solid month, d ye think I'd put your back
more up than's necessary: If you rcmem
Der me at all, you must know M The