Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1897-01-28
NJ. $. RAVAGER had met
Il with an accident. Steaming
X IN channel during the night


how the mishap occurred. it was per-
fectly clear that the bark had gone
down, and that the ram of the WaTship
was in Il damaged condition. ii. Nj. ).
Rayager was accordingly put into dry
dock for repairs.
AS very often happens at this place
where the vessel was docked, convictS
were at work upon the quays. Ihey
were Il mixed lot; but, being good-con-
duct men. they all enjoyed greater
"ccdom of action in the discharge OF
their duties than is ordinarily extend
ed to ;he enforced working guests OF
the nation. Yet. not withstandlng TINS
unsp0ken testimony to their compar;t-
tive worth. TIE commander or the KAY
agcr was less disposed than usual to
place trust in them. He was in fero-
cious humor, for that little affair with
the bark was not unlikely to interfere
with his promotion. There would be
an inquiry. of course. and what Chris
tian ever could tell what confounded
foolshness and injustice the Finding
might yield! He cursed the bark, and
the ill-luck ana the navigating lieuten-
ant whom a, one time he had left on
the bridge, each with impartial fury;
and put Il double guard of marines
ashore. with fixed bayonets and ball
cartridge. and an emphatic instruction
to play the very devil with those Jail
birds if they tried Oh any of their ours
ed nonsensc."
The extra prccaution was scarcely
necessary. TO do justice to these un-
willing residents within the shadow Of
the broad arrow. they had no evil de-
signs upon her Majesty's warship.
Their hostility to an unappreciative
country did not rise to quite so great "A
height as that. All the same, the COM
mander might very easily have justi-
fed his course of action (had such been
necessary by the fact that many of
the ccnvicts were working only few
yards from the dock side and some
what removed from the warders immc-
diate watchfulness; though it would
have been possible to show on the other
hand that, being men whose term of
servitude was almost completed, these
prisoners were perfectly relia BILE, mas
much as they could not afford to con-
nit any indiscretions calculated TO
jeopardize their expected early release
Oh ticket leave.
These considerations did not in any
way concern the commander of ii. NJ.
S. Ravager, however. He was merely
resolved to blow the convicts to the
mischief, individually or collectively, ii
they tried on any tricks with his ship;
and in the choicest of quarterback En-
glish gave orders accordingly.
One of the prisoners was working
quite near to the dockside and almost
in the track of one of the sentrics from
the Ravager. Though rather n refined
person in appearance. the degradation
of his position by no means ovcrwhelm-
ed him with melancholy or distress. 1t
may have been the consciousness of
innocence that enabled him to whistle
softly an air which had served the
street organs some seven years be-
fore ana enabled him to view with I'M
concern the close proximity of his fell
bowman. Perhaps he reflected that
those aboard the Ravager were harder
worked prisoners than himself and
that he could afford them a trifle of
pity.
lie did not disdain, moreover. to take
advantage of the situation in which he
found himself; nor was his sensitive.
ness hurt by the silence of Tommy At.
kins when he endeavored to engage
that worthy in conversation. He was
not discouraged by Tommys dignity
and did not hesitate to try again when
guard was changed late in the after
noon and Private Robert Smith com.
menced his mOnotonOus sentry go.
AS it happened Private Smith was in.
tensely interested and excited by the
presence of the cOnvicts. He had good
reason to be, for he remembered with
vividness and horror that set him
shuddering how near he had been some
eight years before to just such deg
radiation as these men were enduring
He was a different parsonage altOgerh
er nOw-different even in name-to the
slip of boy who had thought it dis
t'nctiOn to be the boon companion OF
so clever and so dashing man as
Louis Naudois. The service had made
a man of him. had effected a complete
change in his personal appearance
while the narrow escape from the con
viction for forgery during the period
of Naudois' influence had so frightened
him from wild ways that there was
now no steadier member of her Males
tvs red marines than Private Smith
sometime Roger Vanbrugh. But in one
respect he did not alter He remained
Lstarch to savage hatred against the
man who had certainly brought rui,
into his life, and by scoundrelly insin
untine manners and methods had al
most sent him into surroundings lik.
unto those upon which he had gazet
with such fascination ever since the
RnvAger had been flOated into dock. /
is true the charge against him at the
Old Bailey had not been sustained
through defending counsels clever
manipulation of evidence imperfect,
presented by the prosecution: but III
hated Louis Vaudos no less passion
ately on that account for he had but t.
recall those terrible hours spent befor.
his judges-the miserable twistings
feelings. and haltings of the evidence
and, above all, the business of thu
charge, to fill his heart with such fierce
enmity as even now set his pulses leap
ing and boiling with the widest desire
for revenge.
A thrill of excitement went shiverin:
down his spine for an instant trav
eled icily through his veins as he fOun,