Evening star., 1899-04-08

MURRAY i'm delight at his new promotion,
wrung his old commanders hand again
You've slaved hard enough as mate
Kettle went on. You've sweated ana slaVeu
SO much that your clothes hang on you like
a slop-chest shirt on a stanchion just now.
But you'll fill 'em out nicely by the time
you get back to England again. my lad"
The pair of them liked one another well,
but the ties of discipline had kept them
icfly apart up to now. Murrays promotion
put them on an equal footing of grade.
Running the Parakeet doesn't seem to
have made you very plump. skipper
Constitutional / guess said Kettle. Il
don't believe the foods grown thatd make
me carry flesh. I'm one of those men that
was sent into the world with whole ship
load of bad luck to work through before
came across any of the soft things
You haven't much tc grumble at now,
said Murray. cheerfully. Here am KICK
ing you out Of the command of the Para
keet, to be sure And why? Because while
you've been her old man you've made her
psy so well that the firms saved enough
Ia buy a bigger ship and they're naturally
going to give her to you to scare up more
fat dividends. Lord said Murray, hitting
his knee, the chaps on board here Will De
calling me the old man behind my back
now. w .
You'll get used to hearing the, title,
said Kettle, griTnly- before you MAKE Noul
pile. You'll get married. / suppose. on the
strength of the promotion? | saw girl 5
photo nailed up in your room
The new captain nodded. Got engaged
when l passed for my masters licked Ar
ranged to be hitched so soon as | found
ship. Well I suppose you go straight nome
by mail from Alden here?s o.,
'Hullo, haven't they told YOU
My letter was only the dry formal an
nouncement that you were promoted to the
new ship, and 1 was to take over the Para
.sT-bev don't waste their typewriter in the
office | suppose they thought I'd hand on
my letter If / saw lit. Read through that.
said Kettle. and handed across his news.
This is how it ran: ..
Your cables and reports you are making a
good thing for US out of tramping the
Parakeet We have pleasure in transferring
Won 7,Ir new boat which is now building
on .,yde She will be $3.50 tons, and
we may take out passenger ceruhcate
Your wage on her viii be FL per month
with 2ls per cent commission as peIort &
But for the present. till this new boat is
finished we want you To give over com
nand of the Parakeet to Murray ana tahe
on a new job Our Mr.. Alexander Blrd mas
recently bought the wreck OF the steam
shin Crecian and We are sending out a
steamer with divers and full equipment 10
get the salvage. We wish you to go on
hoard this vessel to watch over our inter
ests. We give you full control. and nave
notified Capt. Tazzuchi, at present III COM
rnand. to this effect .
Birds are getting on, SAID MURRAY. pui ou
T've big doubts about three new poats an
AT one bite One they might manage on
a mortgage But three? l don't think II.
Old keys too cautious ,a
''Messrs. Bird are your owners anu
mine" said Kettle. significantly
"Oh" said the newly made captain, m
not one of your old-fashiOned sort that
thinks an owner little TN soa. ,,,
MY view is" said Kettle, that your
owner paws You. and so Is entitled 10
your respect so long as he 1s your owner,
but you've got such a big notion OF your
own right that were not likely TO agree
Besides, you've got to check my accounts
and see I've left it all for you shipshape
See YOU again before l go away, and wei
have drop of whisky together TO Wlsn tne
Parakeet's new old man a pile OF luck
At the edge OF the harbor Alden baked nn-
der the sun. The salvage steamer rolled
at her anchor at the opposite side OF the
harbOr, and Kettle and two pormanteaux
were transhipped direct in one of the Para
keet's boats.
He was received on board by an affable
italian, who introduced himself as Captain
Tazzuchi. The man spoke perfect EngllSh
and was hospitality personif1ed. Tazzuchl
put the best room in the ship at his guests
disposal and said that anything that could
act for his comfort should be done forth
with.
"Yknow. captain" said Tazzuchi, this
Is what you call 'dago' ship and we
serve out country wine regular ration.
home ways best, and so I've ordered the
ships chandler ashore to send off case of
Scotch. and / sent also for some London
pickles. know how you English like your
pickles
In fact all that man could do in the
way of outward attention TaZZuchi did,
but somehow other Captain Kettle got a
suspicion of him from the very first mo-
ment of their meeting
Perhaps II was because the civility was
little unexpected and ever-efusive. Put
ting himself in the Italians place, Kettle
certainly would not have gone out of his
way 10 be pleasant to a foreigner, who
was sent practically to supercede him in
command
But perhaps a second letter which ne had
received had something to do with this
hostile feeling 1t was from the same hand
which had written the FIRMS formal letter.
Dut 1t was couched In quite different VEIN
Isaac Bird was evidently scared for his
very commercial existence, and he thrust
out his arms to Kettle on paper as mis-
only savior. 1t seemed that Alexander
BIRD the younger brother, had been run
HlhS little wild of late. The wreck of the
Srecian had been put up to auction Alex
ander Strolled into the room by accident
ana bought II at an exorbitant figure He
came and announced his purchase to Isaac
uecIarlAg II as an instance of his fine busi-
ness instincts Isaac set 1t down to whisky
and recrtminations followed Alexander in
a nun; said he would go out and overlook
the salvage operations in person But forth
with Alexander. still in his Guns gets to
brawling, and is next discovered in hospital
with a broken thigh
nave found Alexander's department of
the business very tangled" wrote Isaac
and the thought of this new compIicsfion
drove me near crazy. Salvage is out of our
line. Alexander should never have touched
H. But there ii is: money paid. and I've
nad 10 borrow; and engaging that italian
lrm for the job was the best thing I could
manage What English firms wanted was
out or all reason. / don't wonder at Iloyds
selling wrecks for anything they will fetch
A pittance in cash is better than getting
into the hands Of these sharks. And what
guarantee have that the firm will see even
the money outpaid again, let alone reason
able interest? None"
Ihere were several words erased here,
and the writer went on with what was eyi-
IDENTITY considered dramatic finish
But stay, say TO myself You have
Kettle. He is down in the Red sea now. do
Ing we'll You had all along intended to
promote him Do it now, and set him to
overlook this Italian salvage firm whilst
the new boat is building He is the one to
See that Isaac Birds foot doth not fall for
Capt o Kettle is a godiy man also"
The letter was shut off conyentiona1lv
enough, with the statement that the writer
was Captain Kettles truly and ended in a
n fIa Off tha.