The Republican journal., 1898-06-23
"But not large enough for all this coal. p"


struggled! You must pay tine''
"a finer' shouted George. ''What
foro'
You have endeavored to deceive the
custom house. You are a smuggler.
You will have to pay three times the
value of the coal" -
II shall do nothing Of the kind" said
George.
Then shall put your ship under ar
rest" said the custom house officer
And, sure enough, when George went
| back to luncheon, ne found two Spanish
officials in charge of the vessel The
Crocodile was a prisoner until the fine
should be paid.
George Williams was annoyed. 1t was
bad enough to be fined when you were
guilty, but to be fined when you We're in
nocent was simply disgusting. Besides,
the fine was heavy one, and ii the own
ers had to pay it, their feelings toward
him might undergo a change. This
would be unpleasant. To pay the fine
himself would be more unpleasant still.
| What was to be done? There was a
Spanish man Of war lying in the harbor,
and George knew that any appeal for help
on the part Of the custom house officials
would receive immediate attention in that
| y
with the utmost caution. He sent tor the
engineer, and asked him how soon he
could get up steam. The engineer replied
that lie could be ready in about an hours
time. You see this was really most inn
portant matter. If a ships boilers are
once allowed to become cold, it takes as
a rule, good four and twenty hours to
get up steam again, But the Crocodile's
fires had been banked up, so the engines
could be ma e ready to start again at
comparatively short notice. Having Civ
en- his instructions to the engineer and the
mate, George turned to the custom house
officials and commenced a fluent conversa-
ton with them in his best Spanish. He
began by observing that he thought he
had been foolish; and that it was useless
to struggle against properly constituted
authority, and so he had made up his
mind to pay the fine. He then remarked
that the engineer had discovered a leak
in one of the boilers and had been busy
repairing it. He now wished to give the
was all right again. Probably they would
not object to this. And he finished up by
inviting them to step downstairs into his
private sitting room and drink a bottle of
wine with him.
Whether it was that these poor Span
iards were guileless souls, or that offer of
a drink was one that could not be declined
| know not, but the invitation was ac-
cepted with avidity. Hospitality is one
OF Georges strong points, and it is need
less to say that he spent delightful time
with his two new friends. After a while
the steady, regular throb of the engines
began to make itself felt, but this in no
way interrupted the harmony of the pro-
ceedings. Presently. however. the merry
little party was startled by a boom OF
gun. They all rushed upstairs on TO the
deck.
The Crocodile was steaming as fast as
she could toward the mouth of the harbor. |
George turned and looked at the Spanish !
warship. Ap angry puff Of white smoke
appeared on her side. and the screeching
OF the shot as it passed overhead told him
that she was really in earnest this time.
One of the unhappy custom house officers,
gave yell and leaped into the sea, where
he was presently rescued by a friendly
boat. The other, having distaste for
cold water, ran downstairs and hid.
George Williams at once made his way
on to the blid-e This is another of those
perpleXing nautical terms. 1t means a
SOFT OF perch near the middle OF the ship
from which the captain is accustomed tn
give his orders, Another gun from the
waIship and this time The shot tell into
the sea quite close to them.
"stevard, said George, fetch me
my glasses. loH will tnd them on the
table in my sitting room
1t was tho binocular glasses that he
meant, mt the other ones. But there
was no time to explain. Fortunately, the !
steward was a clever man and understood J
perfectly. He ran downstairs, found the |
glasses and came back rs quickly as he |
could. While lie was making his way
up on The bridge the warship fired again. |
The Shot Just wbisked off the steward S |
cap, and passed on without doing further
damage.
\ friend of mine has asked me to sup |
press this fact on the ground that i'll a |
story of this kind some such incident in
Nariably occurs. There is a great deal of |
force in his criticism, but | cannot com
ply with my friends request | feel |
bonnd to tell the story as George Williams /
told it. And he assured inc that it was |
true.
The Crocodile had by this time got
clear of the harbor and, though the man
Of war continued firing for some little
time longer, none of the shots took effect.
But George Williams knew very well that |
as yet he was by no means out of his diff
Guilty. He had seen that the Spanish bat
tie ship was getting up steam as fast as
she could, and he was quite aware that
once started she would gain upon him
steadily. Sc he steamed away westward
as fast as his ship could carry him. 1t
was all in vain. Far away in the distance
a black smudge of smoke on the horizon
told him that his enemy was in hot pur-
suit. Hour after hour passed, while the
Spanish warship came gradually nearer
and nearer, and George Williams was en-
abed to experience those delightful SEN
sations which all true sportsmen declare
that the fox so thoroughly enjoys when he
hears the hounds in full cry. At length
Gibraltar appeared in sight. George, in
his playful way, told me that he 'made
the Rock But, of course, this was only
his humorous exaggeration. George is
high minded gentleman, and in his more
serious moments l have never known him
to deviate from the truth-except when he
was talking Spanish And that is Ian
guage which lends itself to allegory.
When he was within mile or two of
Gibraltar, George suddenly stopped and
allowed all his steam to blow off through
something which, | believe, is called the
exhaust pipe. L have not an idea what
this is, but | do know that the noise was
simply hideous. The captain of the Span