Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-29

| y
| or stoker. waiting for the jump, caught the
authenticated young fellows grip as he
| threw it aboard.
| THAT'S pretty fne-looking stowaway,'
! thought L to myself. The young chap was
| easily six feet three with shoulders on him
| like those OF a Hercules His biceps and
back muscles bulged out his cheap coat
| The next afternoon, when We were about
| $50 miles down the coast from New York.
| the purSer-I had known him other YES
sells of the line-took me below to look over
the steerage, which was pretty we'll taken
| up with a rough lot of Texans who had
! been having a Bowery whrl in New York.
| Sitting on the edge of bunk in one of the
| sleeping compartments, smoking sawed
off wood pipe. was the good-looking young
| giant whose little stowing-away act l had
| inadvertently witnessed the afternoon be-
fore. He didn't make any attempt to stink
out of sight when the purser hailed in view.
| Pursers have shrewd memories for faces,
and he spotted the auburn-haired young
| fellow as soon as he saw him.
| Son, said he, walking up to the huge
young chap, 1 don't remember having got
your bit of pasteboard when L gathered in
fares last night
Neither do T. replied the stowaway,
| cOmDlaiSantly.
| Wherefore produce your ticket said
81 pass replied the young man.
| Slowed away, EN-? said the purser,
| looking the young man over. You've got
| pretty big carcass for that sort of work.
However, you won't need any hair dye for
| those sunset locks of yours when you get
| into port The dust'n do that work for
| you. You'll 60 a little stocking stunt for
| your passage Come with me and we'll see
what the skipper has got to say about you
| Put him in the bunkers, regular
| Watches, was the captains verdict, which
the young chap took as though shoveling
coal for four-hour stretches in dark coal
| bunker5, the temperature of which ranged
from 100 to 155 degrees, was simply pie for
| him.
| Ten minutes later he was standing
| watch in the hottest bunker on the ship,
| in tattered old pair of dungaree overalls
| that fireman loaned him. The assistant
| engineer took me into the bunker to see
| the stowaway work. He was stripped to
| the waist, and his huge muscles stood out
he worked. and the heat of the bunker,
| which was terrific, didn't appear to bother
him little bit. The way he shoveled coal
| was caution to snakes.
| Hard graft, eh, pail? said I to the
| stowaway.
Just little pipe-opener,' he replied, in
| the accent of an educated man.
| Game devil isn't he? said the assistant
| does three times as much work as any old
| time stoker we've got aboard. and | wish
he'd ship with US. But he's too much of a
| thoroughbred for this game as a steady
| thing, you can Sec
THE next afternoon L saw him sitting in
| the breeze at the top of one of the engine
of spades, and his tight auburn curls were
| full of the ebony dust But he looked as
| contented as you please. Then a number
| of kindly, fussy elderly women passengers
| who had heard of the StoWaway ap-
| preached him and called him poor
thing and all that, and offered him good
| things to eat from the cabin table, where
| upon | could him blush through his
blackness, and he incontinently bolted
down the hatch ladder. Ten minutes later
the strains of probably the most beautiful
| violin music 1 ever listened to came up
| from the steerage. and a number of US
| hustled down below to see who the remark
| able performer could be. The stowaway
| was sitting on the edge of the lantern
| chest, playing on violin belonging to one
| of the old quartermasters The old quar-
| termaster, who could play but one tune
| himself, stood by, listening, looking like a
| man in trance, and all of the steeraee
! passengers and the off-watch members of
| the crew were grouped around quiet as
| mice. The young mans music was superb
| technical, brilliant, appealing. 1t was
| enough to snite fellow with a strange
| sorrow to see chap who could handle a
| violin this auburn haired stowaway did
| getting the beautiful notes out of the in
strument with fingers blackened and rough
ened with the toll of coal bunkers. When
| he had finished paying-and by that time
| all of the cabin women We're peering into
| the Storage wonderingiy-we asked him
| where he had picked it up. He made some
evasive reply, and ten minutes later he
| was shoveling coal in his bunker to the
! whistled tune of The Pilgrims Chorus
| 1T is an eight-day cruise from New York
| TO Galveston, but | didn't happen to see the
| stowaway again until, after lying all night
| off the Galveston bar. steamed up to
| our pier the next morning. There were
| knots of eXpectant walters for debarking
| passengers all over the pier. Close to the
point amidships where the gangway was
| to be thrown to the pier stood a laughing,
| chatting party of about thirty or forty
very high-grade and richly dressed people
most of then pretty girls and young men.
| They had their eyes glued to the gangway,
| and all of them seemed to be awaiting the
appearance Of one person. The engines had
| stopped and the plank was just about to
/ be pushed aboard, when the stowaway
leaped out of the same port by which he
! had gained the vessel at the New York
| dock He was the first ashore, and the
crowd at the gangway saw him. The young
men in the crowd let out cheer, and the
young womeaR gave little screams of de-
| light They iall rushed for MN. but the
| first to reach him was a beautiful elderly
woman withia great mass of white hair.
She was about to throw herself upon Cur
stowaway. who grinned through his streaks
| of coal dust but he hoped lightly aside. Q
:" Don't touch me yet. mother; you'll ruin
your dress he said to her, but what he
said didn't go with her. She huggec him
| anyhow. Then his father. a tine-looking
| man, with auburn locks tinged with gray
got through the crowd. saying something
| imperfectly scrubbed paw of his boy. Then
| all the rest of the crowd took a hack at
him, after which, all of them laughing and
| talking at once the party, with the stow
away, got into carriages and were wheeled
| of the pier.
1.-The young fellow belonged to one of the
| best and wealthiest families in the so,,th-
west. He had been studying at a German
university for thres years, and he had
slowed away at New York out Of pure
deviltry. He got honorable mention for his
| conduct before Santiago with the Rough
Riders last July and q Mauser In the Shout
| der" Iesi
Fashionable physician-'.What you reaIlv
| want is change Of climate"
The Patient-"Change of climate! Why.
| I've never had anything else! I've lived in
london all my Hfe."-Tt-Rits.