The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1897-08-15

Iui snip, but niutualconfidence WAS sIa ken.
DoDkin did NOT conceal his delight. We
were dismayed.
Then Illogical Belfast reproaehed our
niger with great fury.
James Wait, With his elbow on the pill
low. chokeG, gasped out .Did / ask you
10 bone the drafted thing? Blow your
blamed pie! 1t has made me worse--you
little Irish lunatc, you!''
Belfast, with scarlet face and trembling
lips, made dash at him. Every man in
the fofecastle rose with shout. There
was moment of wild tumuIt Some one
shrieked piercingly: Easy, Belfast Easyr'
We expected Belfast To strange Wait
without more ado. Dust flew. We heard
through it the niaeers cough. metallic and
explosive like O gong. Next moment we
SAW Belfast hanging over him.
He wassayingp laintivcly: Don't. Don't,
Jimmy! Don't be like that An angel
couldn't put up with We sick as We are,
He looked around at us from Jimm US bed
side, his comical mouth twitching, and
through fearful eyes.
Was James Wait frightened, or touched,
or repentant? mol Decidedly James wait
was not touched or repentant. Truth to
say, he seemed rather startled, He sat up
with incredible suddenness and ease.
'Ahi You think / am bad, do you?''
he said, gioomiiy, in his dearest baritone
voice Ito hear him speak sometimes you
would never think there was anything
wrong with that mani. do you? Wet,
act according! Some of you haven't sense
enough to put a blanket ship-shape over q
sick man. There! Leave 1T alonel | can
die anyhow"
Belfast turned away Imply, with a
gesture Of tliseonra cement. In the silence
OF the fofecastle, full Of Interested men,
Dontin pronounced distinctly, well, I'm
blowedi" and staggered. Wait looked at
him. He looked at him in a quite friendly
manner. Nobody could tell what would
please our inoompnehensible invalid. But
for us the soorn of that Singer Was hard
to bear.
Donllin : position in the forecastIe was
Distinguished, bHt unsafe. He stoodon the
bae eminence of a general dislike. He was
left alone, And in his isolation he oould do
nothing tut think of the gales -of the
Cape Of Good Hope and envy Us the pos
session of WARM clothing and waterpToofs
Oar seaboots, our oilskin coats, our we'll
filled sea chests. were TO MIN so ~ any causes
for litter meditation. He had none Of
those Things, and he felt inst,nctiyely that
no man. when the need afoSe would offer
TO share them with him. He was impu-
IDENTITY ciinging TO Us, and systemati-
cally inSolent to the Officers He antici-
pated the hest results, for himself, from
s6ch line of oonduct-and was mistaken.
Such natures forget that under extreme
rarayncGfinn rupu will lao ict hot
they want 10 be SO ornot. He was flitiless:
told Jimmy that he was a ''black fraud;'i
limited TO us that We Were an imbecile
lot, daily taken in by vulgar niger. And
Jimmy seemed 10 like the fellowi
Sullivan lived untouched hy human er1u.
tons. Taciturn and unsnliling he brea thed
amongst us-in that alone resembling the
rest of the crowd We Were trying to be
decent CHAPS, and found il Jolly difficult.
We oscdlated between the desiIe of virtue
and the tear OF Tiaicule. We wished to
save ourselves from the pain Of ienoIse,
bnt did not want 20 be made the eontemp-
tide dupes Of our sentiment. Jin.nlys
hateful aceofnpliee seemed to have iiown
with his impure breath undfeamed-of sub
Titles into our hearts. We were disturbed
and cowaTdly. That we knew Sullivan
seemed to know nothing. We had thought
him till then as wise as lie looked, but now
we dared, ut tires. suspect him of being
stupld-from old age.
One day. however, at dinner, as we sat
on our foxes round tin dish that stood
on the deck within the circle of our feet,
jimmy expressed his general disgust with
men and ttiinss in words that were par
ticularly disgusting. Sullivan lifted his
bead. We became mute. The old man,
addressing Jimmy, asked: Are you dy
ing?" So interrogated, James Wait ap.
peared horribly startled and confused.
We Were all startled. Mouths remained
open, hearts thliinped; eyes blinked. A
dropped tin fork ratified in the dish. A
man rose as if to go out and stood still
In less thar a minute Jimmy pulled him
self together
''why? Can't you see / amp he an
swered shahly.
Sullivan lifted a piece OF soaked bis
cult (''his teeth" he declared, had no
edge on them now"l to his lips well
get on with your dying" be said with
venerable mldness: don't raise a blamed
fuss with us over that Job We can't
help you Jimmy fell back in his bunk,
and for long time lay very still wiping
the perspration off his chin.
On deck we discussed the incident In
whispers. Oneofthe young scandinavians,
much tormented by doubt, ventured in
the second doswatch to approach Suli.
van 1.-THE old man did not encourage us
much TO speak TO hin) and asked sheep
isbly: "1ou think he VIII die?" Sullivan
looked up.
why, Of course he will die he said
deliberately, land 50 VIII you
We were appalled, We began to hate Sui
Ivan for making fun of us. All our certl-
tudes were going. We suspected Jimmy,
one another. and even our very selves We
lid not know what to do At every insig-
nificaut turn of our humble life we met
Jimmy, overDearing and blocking the way,
arm in arm with his awful and yelled IA
miliar. Il was weird servitude.
1t began a week after LAYING Bombay,
and came on US stealthily, like any other
great misfortune. Everyone had noticed
that Jimmy from the first was very slack
at his work. But we thought it simply the
outcome Of his PHILOSOPHY of life. Donkin
said, You put no more weight on rope
than bloody sparrer - He disdaned him
Belfast, ready for :, fight, exclaimed pro-
vokingly, You don't kill yourself, old
man.
Would you?'' he retorted, with extreme
scorn, and Belfast retired
One morning, as we were washing decks,
Mr. Baker called TO him, Bring your broom
over here, Watt He strolled languidly
Move yourself. Ought grunted Mr..
Baker. Whats the matter with your hind
legs" He stopped dead short He gazed
SLOWLY with eyes that bulged out, with an