The morning news., 1899-04-30

/ OF MS UPS ne coAtl not nave nteu more
! solicitous for their welfare. Cranze came
/ pague and four Of liqueur brandy as part
/ OF his personal luggage, and his first
/ question 10 every official he came across
1 was how much ne would have TO pay for
! corSaee. He seemed TO take a delight la
: advertising his chronic drunkenness. ana
/ between whites hc made a silly show of
/ the fact that he carried loaded revolver
! in his hip pocket.
/ Now. Capt Kettle in his inmost heart
J considered that the man was nerving HIM
] self up with drink 90 the commhtal of his
| horrid deed. and so he took very natu-
ural precaution. Before they had dropped
| the Irish COST, ne had managed 10 bor-
/ row the revolver unbeknown 90 rs owner
ana carefully extracted the powder from
the cartridge replacing the bullets for the
sake of appearances.
The revolver became the Joke Of the
snip Crane kept up a steady soak on
King peg. anh was naturally inclined TO
be argumentauve- Any one of the ships
company who happeued to be near him
would get up discussion on any matter
that came TO his mind, work things gently
TO climax and then contradict Cranze
naty- Upon which out. would come the
revolver, and down would 60 the humori-t
on MS knees. pitifully begging for pardon
and life to the vast amusement of the on
lockers. Frivolty of this sort In no way
suited the appetite of Capt owen Kettle
He talked with GRANGE with a certain dry
eordiaiity, and at times he contradcted
him In fact the little sailor was a man
with strong opinions, and he regarded toI-
erance as mere weakness. Moreover
Cranze's chronic soaking nauseated him
But. though his civil'ty was scant. Crane
never lugged out the foolish weapon In
MS presence. There was a something in
the shipmasters eye which daunted him
In pleasant contrast to this weak, con-
temptible knave was the man Hamilton
his prospective victim For him Kettle
formed liking at once, though for the
tirst days of the voyage II was little enough
he saw Of his actual presence, until the
FIamingo began to make her southing, and
the wIllowy tangles Of weed floating in en-
erald waves bore evidence that they were
sJeaming against the warm current of the
Gulf stream. Then Hamilton came into
view. He found a spot on the top of the
nddley where a chair could stand, and sat
there in the glow Of sun and boilers and
basked complaceutly. He was a shy ner-
vous little man, and though Kettle had
usually fine contempt for all weakness
somehow his neart went out to this ret!r-
ing passenger. Myself, I am inclined TO
think It was beca use he knew him 10 be
hunted, knew him to be the object of
murderous conspiracy But Capt Kettle
says the mans frahtles, In fact, almost
disgusted MIN before he had made sure Of
his other qualities. But those other quail
ities were glaringIy obvious from the very
first. Kettle was poet himself, and with
the kinship OF species, he felt this poetic
fire glowing out from the person of this
Mr. Hamilton.
Kettle was intensely sensitive about his
accomplishments and with passengers es-
pecially he kept it scrupulously in the
background. But somehow he and Hamll-
ton, after a few days acquaintance, seem
ed to glide into the subject imperceptibly
II seemed that Hamilton, too, AXE Kettle,
was devotee of the stiller forms of verse.
You see. skipper" he said, i've been
a pretty bad lot and I've made things
hum most of my time. and so ] suppose
l get my hankerings after restfulness as
the natural result of contrast"
Same here, sir. Ashore 1 can respect
myself and in our chapel circle you'll
. find few more respected men. But at sea,
shouldn't like to tell you what I've done
II a saint was 10 come down and skipper
the brutes we have to ship as sailormen,
nowadays, he'd wear out his halo finging
ii at them And when matters have been
worst and I've been bashing the hands
about. or doing things to carry out an
owners order that I'd blush even to think
OF ashore. why then, sir, gentle verse TO
tunes l know, seems to bubble UP inside
me like springs in barren land"
We'll, 1 don't know about that" said
Hamilton. doubtfully, but when 1 get
thoroughly sick of myself. and wish I was
dead l sometimes stave off putting a shot
through my silly head by getting a pencil
and paper, and shifting my thoughts out
of the beastly world 1 know, into-well.
it's hard to explain. But 1 get sort O.
notions don't you see and they seem to
run best in verse. l write 'em when the
fit'Cs on me, and burn EN- when the ft's
through; and yOu'n hardly think il, but 1
never told a living soul l ever did such a
thing till l told you. But you seem TO be
a fellow that's been in much the same sort
of box yourself"
i don't know quite that AT any rate.
I've never thought of shooting myself"
"Oh, didn't mean to suggest we were
alike at ell in detail. / was only thinking
we had both seen rough times. Lord for
bid that any man should ever be half the
fool that have been"
He sighed heavily. However. suficient
for the day. Look out over yonder; there's
a biz Of color for you'
A enoal OF flying fish got up out of the
warm shining water and ran away over
the ripples like so many silver rats. on
the western horizon screw-pile light
houses $1,000 up out OF the water, marking
the nearness of the low-lying Floridian
beaches.
"A man, they tell me-" said Hamilton.
''can 90 into that country .at the back
there and be a hermit, and live honestly
on his own fish and fruit. / believe l
could live there. and be decent and per-
haps In time I should forget things"
Don't you try 1t. The mosquitoes are
shocking"
There are worse devils than mosquI-
toes Now, I should have thought there
was something about those everglades that
would have appealed to you, skipper?"
There isn't. and I've been there You
want a shotgun In Florida to shoot call
ers with not eatables I've written verses
there. but it was the same old tale sir
that brought ii TO my fingers ends. No
Mr.. Hamilton, you go home and find a
country place. and get on "a farm and
watch the corn growing. aud hear the
birds sing and get hold Of the smells Of
the fields and the colors OF the trees. and
then you'll enjoy life and turn out poetry
you car be proud OF"
Doesn't appeal TO me You zee Won