The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-10
THE SALT LAKE HERALD: SUNDAY, OCTOBER TO- 1897

The hands know it as we'll as me,
and they say tEley're not going to be
drowned for anybody. They say they're
! SoinG 10 cast off the lawser."
! This time Captain Kettle yelled back
a reply. You tfhiTlgl' he cried. You
putty man, get back to your postl If
I you want TO live, keep those niggers'
( fingers off the shackle. By James. If
! that tow is cast off, III turn the Saigon
! for the beach, ana Drown the whole
crew of you inside three minutes BY
( James, yes; and YOU know me, and you
! know Tll do it. too. You ham-faced
/ jellyt1sh away aft with you, and save
! your blooming lifer'
| The man WINGED under the little cap
! tain's tongue and went away and Cap
/ tain Kettle looked across the wheel at
/ his assistant.
i Cortolyin shrugged his shoulders and
| glanced backward at the beach and
nodded. Kettle leaned across and
shouted.
q know it. sir. as well as You do. I
! know it as well as they do But I've
got a fortune in tow yonder, and I'd
rather die than set it adrift It ism t
{ one fortune, either; it's a dozen for
( tunes, and I have Just got to grab one
of them. I'm q married man, sir, with
family, and I've known what it was
to watch and see en- hungry. You'll
stand by me. Mr.. Cartolvin?"
It seems promised. You know I've
been long enough With Mah0metans,
skipper. to be somewhat fataliSt. So
L say, GOD is great, and our fates are
| written on our foreheadg, ard no man
can change by an inch the path which
it is foreorGained he should tread. But
! they are queer fates, some of them l
went away from England because of
my Wife; [ step out of the middle of
Arabia and stumble across YOU, and
hear that she is dead; l look forward
to going home and living q peaceful
counfry life; and now it appears I'm
to be drowned obScurely. out of the
touch Of newspapers. However. III be
consistent. l Wol't gTUmble, and you
may hear me gay it aloud: La Allah
iIlah Allah
Captain Kettle made no reply
Through the Internal uproar of the tor
nadO, he did not hsar much of what
was said, and part of What did reach
his ears was beyond his comprehension
Besides. his mind was not unnaturaiiY
occupied with more selfish conSidera-
tons. Astern of him, in the German
liner, We're some Thousand passengers,
who were all assets for salvage. Tine
detail of human life did not enter much
into his calculations He had been
cheap and not so pleasant and sayory
thing that it is set much store on. The
passengers we're part OF the ship, just
as much as we're her engines, and the
bullion which he hoped she carried.
The company which owned her was re
sponsible TOR all: their credit would he
damaged if an or a part Of her was
lost, and he, owen Kettle, would reap
a proportionate reward if he could drag
,,,+r,
he thought of the roaring beach so ter
ribly close astern, he bit his beard in
an agony of apprehension lest the fates
should steal this fortune from him
And meanwhile the line of surf was
growing ever nearer. So close, indeed,
were they to the hateful shore, that
when for a moment the fountains of
white water subsidized where the break
ers ragged upon the beach, tllay could
see dlmly beyond through the sea
smoke palm trees. and ceibaS and great
silk cottonwoods whipping and crash
ing before the insane blast of the tor
nado, An hands on the Saigons deck
had many minutes before given them
selves up for as good as dead. Their
only chance of salvation lay in casting
off the TOW rope, and no one dared
touch the linking shacSle. They quite
knew that their savage little skipper
WOulu LuNtAl Iiis CIbI cat II tHCy UISOb%yCI
his orders Indeed, old Murgatroyd
himself sat on the hatch ecaming with
an opened clasp-knife and vowed death
on anyone who tempered With either
sflacllle Cur manila The clumsy mate
had swallowed rough words once but
he preferred drowning TO living on and
hearing Captain Kettle address him as
coward
The shore lay steep-to, but the back
wash ereamed far out into the sea, Al
ready the stern of the German liner
was plunging in the Hfitened water
and destruction seemed question of
seconds. Then a strange thing hap
pened. 1t seemed as though the finger
of God had touched the wind; 1T abated
by visible gradati0ns. and the drift Of
the steamers grew more slow; it eased
to a mere gale, and they held their