Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-03

flew pilot jack there. and off Point Lynus
picked up pilot. i
tie, as the man of narrow waters swung
himself up onto the bridge.
You are" said the pilot 1.-THE papers
are just full of you. captain, all of them,
from the Shipping Telegraph to the Lon
don Times. The Cunard boat brought in
the yarn. A pilot out of my schooner took
her up
How do they spell the name? Cuttle?"
well think it's Katie mostly, though
one paper has 1t Kelly
Curse their cheekH' said the little sailor,
flushing. =
"starboard a point said the pilot and
turf ed to Kettle with some amusement.
They don't seem to have done you much
harm this journey, captain. They've made
the country just ring with you and this old
packet. Why, they're getting up subscrip-
tons for you all round"
I'm not blessed mendicant" said Ket-
tie, stiffiy. He walked to the other end of
the bridge, and stood there chewing saw
agely at the butt of his cigar.
Rum biolle," commented the pilot to
himself though aloud he offered no COM
nent. Still the pilot was right in saying
that England was ringing with the news of
Kettles feat. The passengers of the Gu
harder, with nothing much else to interest
them, had come home thrilled and tingling
with it. A smart New Yorker had got
scoop by slipping ashore at Queenstown
and cabling a lavish account to the Amer
-,
London from the states. Parliament was
lot sitting and there had been no news
paper sensation for week, and as a nat
ural consequence the papers came out next
II. ornng with accounts of the rescue, vary
ing from two columns to page in length.
But let the frillings in this case be fact or
fiction, there was no doubt that Kettle and
mis- crew had saved a ship load of panic
stricken foreign emigrants. The pride Of
race bub5led through the British daily
press in prosaic long primer and double
loaded bourgeois There was no saying
aloud, I'VE rejoice that an Englishman
has done this thing, after having it proved
to us that it was above the foreigners
strength" The newspaper man does not
rhapsodfze. But the sentiment was there
all the same.
The Flamingo was worked into dock and
a cheering crowd surged aboard of her in
understandable Thousands. Strangers came
up and wruns Kettles unwilling hand and
dropped tears on his coat sleeve; and when
he swore at them they only Wept the more
and smiled through the drops. Ii was mag
niticent, splendid, gorgeous. Here was a
man. Who said that England would never
lose her proud place among the nations
when she could still find men like Oliver
Kelly-or kettle-or Cutie, or whatever
this man was called, among her obscure
merchant CAPTAINS?
Even Mr.. Isaac Bird caught some of the
general enthusiasm, and withheld for the
present the unpleasant remarks which &C
Cured to him as suitable touching Kettles
! neglect of the firms interest in favor of a
parcel of bankrupt foreigners. But Kettle
himself had the subject we'll in mind and
whilst the crowd was cheering him he was
figuring out the value of the iettisoned
cargo, and while pompOus Mr.. Isaac was
shaking him by the hand and making a
neat speech for the ear of casual reporters,
poor Kettle was conjuring up visions Of the
Workhouse and pauper corduroy.
But the fates We're moving now in a man.
ner which was beyond his experience. The
" bar
before for all of a lifetime, suddenly dis
covered that he was a hero, and that, too
without knowing half the facts. The press
with its finger on the public pulse pub
lished Kettles literature in lavish columns
1t gave twenty different "eye-witnesses' ac-
counts of the rescue. And finally it took
all the little mans affairs under its consid-
Grafton, and Settled them with a lordly
hand
Who pays for the cargo Can't. Kuttle
threw overboard?" one paper headed an ar
ticle, while another wrote fervidly about
Cattle ruined for his bravery Here was
a new and striking side issue Should the
weeks hero pay the bill himself out of his
miserable SAVINGS" Certainly not. The
owners of the Grosser Carl We're the benefit
ing parties, and it was only just that they
should take up the expense. So the entire
press wired off to the German firm and next
morning were able to publish a positive as
surance that of course these grateful for
eignerS would reimburse all possible outlay
a,
was naturally discovered that the hero
toled for very meager pittance; that he
was getting on in years, and had a wife and
family depending on him-and-promptly
there opened out the subscription lists. Peo-
pie were stirred, and the lists totaed up to
g., ioo, which to some people, of course is
silded affluence.
Now, Capt. Kettle had endured all this
publicity with a good deal of restiVeneSS
and had used language to one or TWO inter
viewers who managed to ferret him out
which fairly startled them: but this last
move for public subscription made him
furious.
IF they call a meeting to give me any
thing" said he, TN chuck the money in
their faces, and let them know straight
what L think. BY James, do they suppose
I've got no pride? Why can't they let me
alone? If the Crosser Carl people pay up
for that cargo that's all ] want"
But the eternal healer, time, soothed
matters down wonderfully. BY the time
the subscription list had closed and been
brought together, the Flamngo had sailed
for the Mexican gulf, and when her cap
tain returned to find curt, formal letter,
from a firm of bankers, stating that e., 40
had been placed to his credit in their es-
Establishment, he would have been more
than human if he had refused 1t. And, as
point Of fact, after consulting with mad
am, his wife, he transformed it into
houses in that terrace of narrow dwellings
in Birkenhead which represented the rest
This house property was alleged by a
sanguine agent to produce at the rate of
Ito per annum apiece, and there We're thlr-
ty-six houses. The trade connection" in
the Mexican gulf had been very seriously
damaged. AS was somewhat natural, the
commercial gentry preferred to send what
they had by boats which did not contrive
to meet burning emigrant liners And then
the second part of the prophecy evolved
itself naturally. Messrs. Bird relieved
Capt. Kettle from the command, handed
him their check for wages ,due-there was
no commission to be added for such an I'M
satisfactory voyage as this Iast-and pre-
sented him their best wishes for his future
welfare.
Kettle had thought of telling the truth
in print. But the mysterious law of libel,
which it is written that all mariners should
dread and never understand, prevented. So
he just went and gave his views to Mr..
Isaac Bird personally and privately, threw
the ink bottle through the office window,
pitched the box of business cigars into the
hre, and generally pointed his remarks in
a way that went straight to Mr.. Birds
heart, and then prepared peacefully to take
his departure.
Il shall not prosecute you for this" said
Mr. Isaac.
Il wish you dare. 1t would suit me fine
~ to get into police court and be able