The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-08-29


went off cruising in boat by myself. A
tea steamer picked me up and put me
in Celumbo. | got from there to Bonn
bay as second mate of a tramp. but
/ couldn't stand the old mans tongue,
and went ashore without my wages.
guess. sir, I'm no good except in com
mand; / can't take an order clvlily.
Well, in Bombay I'd q regular nlpgut
time of it. | bummed round the agents
offices till / almost blushed to LOOK at
their punkah coolies; but I'd no papers
to show that would do me any good;
and none of them wOui give me a snip
the size of a rice mat. At last when
| was getting desperate, and pretty near
put to going to sea before the mast.
a Cardiff man | once Fnew cane To
the lodging and gave me tip. He'd
been master of n country steamer: hp Il
been sacked Che didn't deny IT'D for
drunkenness: he'd not drawn sober
breath for months, and didn't see any
prospect of changing his habits; ana
there was the berth vacant, and | might
have it for the asking. The pay WASH
much only Rs 100 month and per-
centage on profits; and the owner was
Parsee I'd never been low enough
down to sign on nder black man be-
fore, but l guess l was past being very
nice in my tastes just then. The owner
was fat and oldish, and wore Il thing
on his head like a top had turned upside
down, and l will say / did not give hlm
much politeness But he knew his place;
he sahib'd me quite respectfully; and
he said he'd be honored if I'd take his
steamer under my charge. She was
all he'd got he said, he loved her like
10
one except a pukka sahib.' OF course
he lied a good DEAL all natives do that:
and he fixed up our bargain so that I'd
little to win and he'd a good deal; which
is those Parsees' way. But / will say
he was always most respectful, and i'll
the matter of victualing he really sur
prised me- Why he actually put Bass
ale on board at four annas the bottle.
"We cleared from Bombay in corn,
and cottons, and earthenware consigned
to Jeddah, and the owner told me I'd
have no trouble in getting a cargo of
dates and coffee to bring back. But
the Jeddah merchants seemed to think
different. l cut down freights to near
vanishing point, but they wouldn't look
at them anyhow | couldn't get a ton
of cargo on board for any spot on the
globe. no. not if I'd offered to carry it
for nothing. The Saigon might have
swung there ut moorings till the bottom
rotted out of her; and expenses were
running up all the time. The climate
was sickly, too. l lost my serang be-
fore I'd been there a week, and two
more of the coolies died in the next ten
days. So when this cargo of pilgrims
offered, | tell you | just jumped at it.
OF course this old wreck was not fitted
for the trade. She's small; she's iron
docks, she's only two boats, and she's
not near enough water tanks. There'd
be big penalties if she was caught. But
| shipped a second rice steamer and
signed the charter party, smiling. 1t
wasn't as if I'd got to go through the
Ditch to one of the Morocco ports; the
pilgrims had only to be taken across
to Kossier; and squaring an Egyptian
custom officer is only case of how
much backshish."
"You do know your trade said Cor
tolvin.
"The under side of it." said Kettle
with sigh. "A man with luck like
mine has to. He never gets on with the
decent lines where everything is square
and above board. He can only get the
little and corner owners, who you've
got to make dividends for somehow and
no questions asked, or else just up and
take the dirty sack. I'm a man." he
added with a frown, that can do the
job well, and they know it, and keep
me to it, But 1 despise myself all the
time 1t isn't my nature, Mr.. Cortolvin.
Put me ashore, give me farm and let
me bend yellow CATERS and large pat
tern coat, and there wouldn't be
straighter, sweeter natured man between
here and heaven"
The hadji swept the perspiration from
his forehead with back of a grimy
knuckle. There's no accounting for
taste, captain. I'm the owner of acres
near Richmond, and if l chose l could
ride about my park and see to the farms,
and live the life of country gentle
man just in the way you think you'd
like. But / tired of il"
Perhaps you have no wife, sir" sug-
gested the sailor.
His guest give short laugh 30
Lord, yes" he said, 1--WE a wife" He
paused minute and then threw his
half-smoked cheroot savagely out into
the sunshine. 'YOu can take it from me
that l have wife, captain. But-well,
you see I've always been an Arabic
scholar and / thought I'd come out to
bastard Arabic than any European liv-
ing, if that's any satisfaction. If 1
chose to go home now, 1 could pose as
no end of a big boss. The only thing
is, | can't quite make my mind up
whether to risk it. BY God, yes" he
added with a stare out into the baking
sunshine beyond the doorway, 80 yes,
I've a wife,"
Capt. Kettle did not quite follow all
this, so he said pointedly and vaguely,
well, of course you know your own,
affairs best, sir" Then he took a long
and steady look at his guest. you'll
excuse me, sir, but your name seems
familiar. / wonder if you'd got that
beard and some of your hear off whether
the Hedjaz to study dialects for a year
or So 1t would be a pleasant change
after the milk and honey of a country
life. l don't seem to have got killed, and
/ think I've liked it on the whole. It's
been exciting, and l know more about
/ should recognize you"