The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-09

his palate with a black Italian "Vir-
ginia" cigar with a straw up the mid
die; he uncorked a bottle of the Scotch
whisky and put it ready for reference
when his guest should feel athirst
Kettle accepted it all with a dry civil
fty. He had every expectation of up
setting this mans plans Tor robbery
later on. Though it was TazZuchi who
presented the VirginiaS. he took it Tor
granted that Messrs. Bird, Bird & 20
had paid for them. and he was not
averse to accepting a little luxury from
the firm.
The wreck of the Grecian was out of
the usual steam lane. She had, it lp-
peared, got off her course in a fog, holed
her in two compartments, and thee
been steered for the shore in the wild
attempt to beach her before she Sunk.
She had ceased floating, however, with
some suddenness, and when the critica,
moment came, not all of her people
managed to scrape off with their lives
in the boats, Those that got away
found themselves in a gale, and when
they We're picked up could only give her
Whereabouts vaguely. However. they
stated that the Grecian's mast trucks
remained above the water surface, and
this fact was brought out strongly by
the auctioneer who sold the wreck, ard
had due influence on the enterpris1ng
Alexander
The salvage steamer wandered for
several days amongst an intensely dan
gerous archipelago, and many times
over had narrow escapes from piling
up her bones on one or other of those
reefs with which the Red sea in that
quarter abounds. Tazzuchi navigated
her in an ecstacy Of nervousness, and
Kettle (Xho regarded himself as a pas
sengea- for the time being). kept pri-
waite store of food and water bottles
handy, and saw that one of the quar-
ter boats was ready for hurried lower
ing. But nowhere did they see those
much-talked-about mast trucks. They
did not sight so much as scrap OF
floating wreckage.
There seemed, however, a good mary
dhow coasters lodging about in and
amongst the reefs, and from these Ket-
tie presently drew a deduction.
Look here" he said to Tazzuchi one
morning. what prevents those gentry
ashore from having found the wrecl:
already? 1 guess they aren't out here
taking weekend trips for siX-penny
yachting cruises
No" said Tazzucili, land they aren't
fishing"
well. I give you the tip for what its
worth" said Kettle, and that afternoos
the steamer was run up alongside a
dhow, which tried desperately to es-
cape. Her captain was dragged on
board, and at that juncture Captain
Kettle took upon himself to go below.
He knew what would probably take
place, and though he disappeared of
such methods strongly. he felt he could
not interfere.
But presently came noise of below
ing from the deck above, and then that
was followed by shrill screams as the
upper gamut Of agony was reached.
Kettle was prepared for rough han
ding. but at information gained by alb
solute torture he drew the line. it was
clear that these cruel beggars of Ital-
ians We're going too far
by James" he muttered to himself
owners or no owners, ] can't stand
this" and started hurriedly to go back
to the deck. But before he reached the
head of the companionway the cries of
pain ceased, and so he stood where he
was on the stair and waited. The en-
gines rumbled, and the steamer once
more gathered way. \ clamor Of bar
barrie voices reached him. which grad
ually died into quietude 1t was clear
they were leaving the dhow behind.
Captain Kettle drew a long breath
They would stick at little. these Dagos,
III 7CtGhS btt S"iN d3c VI tiie IletldI,
and it seemed preposterous to suppose
that, once they gripped the specie in
their own fingers. that they would ever
give it up for the paltry pay which had
been offered by Bird, Bird & Co. Their
own poverty was aching Still. the
poverty of these Italians was no con-
Germ of his. They were paid servants
of the owners, and it was his duty to
see that they earned their hire. He
took it that he was one against the
whole ships company. but the odds did
not daunt him. On the contrary, his
old fighting spirit, which had been of