The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-04
Plenty OF Opposition.


eXpostulaton, and when those didn't 60
he landed a neat swing on the squaller's
Jaw that stopped the concert in no time
But the worst case of that was fat lit
tie brute who was down on his knees near
the front gates, using his voice for all there
Was in il. I've heard some pretty tough
talk In my time in more than one Ian
guage but for concentrated blasphemy
that guy laid over anything ! had ever
heard before As soon as l had time |
got him by the neck, but I had to choke
him silent and then he kept trying to go
on;
"Quit that Jonah act says as soon as
l could get a word in. You're enough 10
sink whole fleet of ships, let alone one
ferryboat'
" Let me alone he whlmpered, I'm 60
ing to die. Let me make my peace with
heaven. It's my last prayer
" You're making yourself solid with the
other place all right l told him, and if
that's what you call praying Ia hate to
| De brought up I'm your Sunday school.
" One last prayer he cried and went
On Cabling that awful stuff
And he was in earnest, He actually
thought he was praying but in his panic
| he got fatally twisted. l hauled him to
his feet and then / saw he had life pre-
server fastened tight around his knees.
cut 1t off in one sweep and at that he
grabbed me around the waist and began
TO cry and beg me not to sacrifice his last
chance of life and to tell me that he was
wicked and not fit to go TO his account,
with specifications. From what he said
l couldn't make out but what he'd led
pretty respectable sort of life, but that
wasn't the question. l tried 20 explain
| to him that unless he wanted to go floating
! around the bay wrong end up making
sort of breeches buoy of himself, he'd bet
ter not wear his life preserVer around his
Apf tai aFta hat
get him fixed up and planted in a place
where he'd be out of the way. There were
a couple of young ladies who had been
hustling around among the others trying
10 Keep them quiet and get them ready
to jump, If the worst came, ana neither
of them had thought anything about her
self. 1t was a job to round them up and
get them into cork, but l got it done,
and then l ran into the queerest specimen
of the lot. I've heard of men who were
drunk coming sober when confronted by
danger, and I've seen one case of it; but
this was the first time I'd ever seen the
opposite.
This chap had a beautiful jag on, and
I'll swear he was all right when the boat
started, for he came up to me and asked
me for a light, and If he'd been unsteady
1t would have been easy enough to spot
the booze on him then. Maybe he had
still on. Anyway he was reeling around
ing some razzle-dazzle ditty in a voice
like a dead mans and occasionally re-
marking that he wasn't afraid of any
thing and could lick any three men aboard.
Last / saw of him he was trying to chuck
the S00-pound lady under the chin and
explaining to her that there wasn't any
real danger so long as he stood by her,
which he would do until death did them
part. As she was about half conscious
il didn't disturb her and the jag was left
TO watch over her, which at least kept
him out of mischief.
by this time l was having pretty gay
sort of time for a man just on the edge
of the grave. My little pet watery grave
scheme hadn't returned to my memory
yet; but, on the other hand, / didn't seem
TO care much what happened. Guess l
had n touch Of the time-of-peril JOY that
for solid 2i-karat exhilaration makes
champagne loog like calico tea. There
was still that uncomfortable sag to the
deck, and out in the fog things were max
ing a million kinds of fancy racket but
ii didn't disturb me any more. | man
aged TO keep busy though, as a cheerer of
the downhearted | wasn't in the same
class with the young ladies who were dis
pensing good advice just as cool as II
there wasn't any danger within hundred
miles Comparatively speaking, things
were gettngf Gained downfall Is the
yelling wasn't such a continuous per
Torrance, but what you could hear your
self think now and again-when a young
grocer's boy came fitting out of a wagon
where l suppose he'd been sleeping
through all the mess, with his eyes just
popping out Of his head. He began TO
shin up one of the cabin supports and
paint my nose green if he didn't cling
there and begin to crow like a rooster. 1t
was the weirdest performance l saw in
the whole show.
There was nothing about ii in the rules
of the game, and the way he did 1t made
little shvers go down my back. Corder
came up, and he says to me:
Hes going mad he says. First thing
you know he'll drop down and bite some
body, or throw himself overheard. We
ought to get him down.
Not for me- / says. That isn't the
variety of Willie / like to NEEDLE with.
That ought to be in the padded CELL 1
says, and / dodge
That's where Corder had more nerve
than l had, for he hauled the kid down,
and. sure enough, the kid bit at him like
a dog. 1t gave me such a bunch that 1
swear if I'd had a gun I'd have come
PRETTY near putting bullet in his head,
like shooting a wild animal But Corder
got him down, and with the help of the
broker party Strengthened him out. They
said afterward il was sort of eplleptic
it Whatever it was, it started the whole
crown OIL lODLit5 IdNllS dSdlils anu ItSut
in the middle of II little, thin, weazened
guy came up to me with hop, skip and
jump and gave a sort of howl.
It's you, he says.
OF course it's me- l told him. who
did you think II was, the ice man.?
oh, it's you; it's YOU he says, doing
a double shuttle; 4 knew it the minute l
saw those eyes.
Now, be nice says I, for a cross-eyed
man has some feelings of his own Be
nice, and don't make cracks about my
eyes or something might happen to yours
Those eyes, those eyes,, he yawped,
dancing the highland fling. You looked
at me when l came aboard, and now the
boat Is sinking
"Well, that chap was honestly of the
opinion that my off-side eye had wizard
ed the craft and brought about the acct
dent, and he looked like an intelligent cit
izen. too. Pretty soon he danced away
still bemoaning my peeps, and 1 went
through the rear of the cabin to see IL
there was anything doing there. Nobody
had got busy around that region and there