Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-07-26
The Guns for Cuba.
By cuTcLrFFE HYHE.


By CUTCLIFFE HYNE.
copyright. ls9s, by the Author.
or done kicking you, once it's got fair
start, and you never know where it will
shove ont its ugly hoof from next. No,
Mr.. Gedge give me the States for nice,
comfortable law. where man can buy
1t by the yard for paper money down.
and straight pistol shooting is always
remembered in his favor.
The young man who owned the
steamship Sultan Of Borneo tapped bis
blotting paper impaiiently. "Stick to
the point, Kettle. We're in England
now and have nothing whatever to do
with legal matters in America. AS for
your advice. am not q fool. You can
lay your ticket OH IL / know to nm inch
how stand. And may tell you this,
the shipment is arranged for"
I'D like 20 see Us cleared, said Cap
tain Kettle doubtfully.
No one will interfere with the clear
ance. The Sultan Of Eorneo will leave
here in coal, consigned TO Havana. a
private yacht will meet her at sea aud
transship the arms out Of sight Of land"
Tyne coal for Cuba; They'd get
their coal thoro from Norfolk or Welsh
steam coal from Cardiff or Newport "
ut seems not. This contract was
placed long before ship was asked for
to smuggle cut the arms. :"
"Well, il looks tshy, anyway"
II can't help that" said Gedge irri-
tably. "I'm telling you the naked truth,
aud il truth, az usual. looks unlikely it's
not my fault Now, have you got any
more objections TO make!''
mo, sir" said Captain Kettle.
"None that can see Mt present.
''Very well. then, said Gedge 'Do
you care to sign on us master for this
cruise or axe you going to cry OFF,"
They'll hang me If I'm caught.
said Kettle.
mot they. They'll only talk big, aud
the British consul will get you clear.
You bet they daren't hang an English
man for mere smuggling in Cuba. And
besides. amt 1 Offering To raise your
screw from Gl2 month to el4 so rs To
cover the risk? However, you won't get
caught You'll find everything ready
for you. You'll slip the rifles ashore
and then you'll steam on to Havana and
discharge your coal in the ordinary
humdrum way of business. And there's
$40 bonus il you pull the thing Off
successfully. Now, then, captain. quick.
You 80 or you don'ti"
II Co." said Kettle gloomily. I'm
a poor man, with wife and family,
Mr.. Gedge, and can't afford to loso n
berth. But it's that coal i can't swal-
low. I quite believe what you say about
the contract. Only it doesn't look nat
ural And it's my belief the coal will
trip us up somewhere before we're done
and bring about trouble"
(Which. Of course, You are quite
stranger TO, ;" said Gedge slyly.
Don't taunt me with it, sir, said
Captain Kettle. Il quite well know
the kind Of brute | am. Trouble with q
crew or any other set Of living men at
sea Is Just meat and drink TO me, and
I'm bitterly ashamed Of the taste. Ev-
cry time | sit underneath our minister
in the chapel here in South Shields /
grow more ashamed, and II you heard
the beautiful poetical way that man
talks of peace and green fields and gold.
en barps you'd understand.
"Yes, yes, said Gedge, "but | don't
want any Of your excellent minister's
sermons at secondhand just now, cap
tain, or any Of your own poetry, thanks.
I'm very busy. Good morning. Help
yourself to cigar. You haul alongside
the coal shoots to get your cargo at 2
o'clock, and I'll be on board 10 see you
ut q. Good morning" And Mr..
Gedge rang for the clerk aud was busily
debating letters before Kettle was clear
OF the Office.
The little sailor went down the grimy
stairs and into the street and made to-
ward the smelling Tyne. The black ci.
gar rested unlit in an angle OF his
mouth, and he gnawed savagely at the
butt with his eyeteeth. He cursed the
fates as he walked Why did they use
him SO evilly that he was forced into
berths like these! As bachelor, he
told himself with sneer, he would
have jumped at the excitement OF 1t.
As the partner OF Mrs. Kettle and the
father Of her children he could have
shuddered when he threw his eye over
the future. For week or SO she could
draw his salf pay and live sumptuously
at the rate Of e. month. But after
ward, il he got caught by some angry
Spanish war steamer with the smuggled
rifles under his matches and shot or
hanged or imprisoned or otherwise de-
barred from earning income at his craft,
where would Mrs. Kettle be then:
Would Gedge do anything for her? He
drew the cigar from his lips and spat
contemptuously at the bare idea.
With the morality Of the affair he
troubled not one jot The Spanish gov
ernment and the Cuban rebels were two
rival firms who offered different rates
1.-THE shore part must lie entirely with
you, SIR" said Captain Kettle. "It's
mixed up with the foreign enlistment
act and the Alabama case and dozen
other things which NAV mean ANYTHING