Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-11-11
A SAILORS LOVE.

cSS ASANJ
board the United States steamer Yosemite
came ashore in his blues. He could not
very we'll do otherwise, and months of SER
vice had accustomed him to them. He
had been introduced to ladies when he
was as black as a collier and barefooted.
Blues, new from collar to trousers hem.
were the height Of aristocracy, and his
neck was SO evenly bronzed that 1t was
hard to remember how uncomfortable and
uncovered he had felt the first time he
had called on a girl in them. He regis
tered at the great hotel alongside the dock
and went in to luncheon with a group Of
navy men in trim white uniform with
white braid on the back of their coats to
distinguish them from the army. No one
paid any attention to Jacks rolling collar,
and outside in the hall on the table his
Yosemite cap band lay alongside army
and navy caps without number. The only
alien wal a single silk hat from a religious
publishing house, whose agent was at the
post distributing tracts among the
wounded in the hospital. At the table
opposite the one where Jack seated him
self a young lady was talking eagerly to
the wife of one of the captains. She
looked across at Jack once, as If she were
speaking of him, and when he caught her
glance she turned quickly to look out of
the window at her side. A few lengths
from the pavilion the gray Yosemite lay
basking in the molten sunshine. The
bugler on board of her was sounding
YACHT call. "Tra-la-la," '~tra-la-laP'
came over the water in the exquisite
cadence which water gives. There was q
pause in the talk at the officers table,
and Jack distinctly heard the girl say:
because it exposes you to SO much
vulgar curiosity. People will go up and
speak to a man in uniform when they
wouldn't dare to annoy a civilian"
"That's a fact" said the ensign at
Jacks table in d low tone. 'I've had peo-
pie come to me and ask me what my pay
was"
The flag lieutenant laughed a big, jovial
ha-ha and wiped his mustache. "You
ought to have heard an old lady who came
aboard when we were drydocked and
browbeat me for cruelty to my men. l
told her I wasn't the man she was looking
for, and I turned her over to Captain
Whitworth with my compliments. Cad,
but he wouldn't talk to me for two days,
and then his remarks were squally, Ell,
captain?"
"There were only two black sheep in
my native town." said the ensign pensive-
lyme and a chap who Joined the ma
rine service. I got a leave the other day
and went home, and as 1 was walking
across the common the oolors were being
lowered. l stood there, and when it was
over + saluted and went on about my bus
mess, but half the town was gathered
about me with it's mouth OPEN"
The girl at the opposite table left the
dining room while they talked, and in
moment the men put their chairs back.
"Jackie, " said Captain Whitworth, put
ting his hand on the tall shoulder-the
captain was a little man-"Jackie, you
20 up to my room and get a book in vel.
low covers that's lying on the table. Its
called "A Sailors Sweetheart, and it's
all right. Maybe I'll let you read it when
I've finished it, but you must be sure tc
return it," And the little man sat down
to smoke in one of the big chairs in the
lobby while Jack went up to his room.
Jack could remember Captain Whitworth
Is years before, when he had brought the
wonderful books which Jack devoured in
the hayloft behind the stables and got his
taste for ~seafaring.
He smiled as his eyes fell on the familiar
yellow covers and the bold black title and
the captains name in ink across the top.
Jack looked inside as he started down
stairs. 1t was one of those tales in which
the heroine faces the villain with flashing
eyes and says:
"You are deceiving yourself if you
think to gain any advantage by making
these false accusations. 1 am no longer
credulous girl to be influenced by such al
YOU. I am a womanl More than that
I am at this moment q desperate woman.
for I see the peril that threatens the mar
I love and for whom, if | cannot save him,
I can at least die. The bullet which ole
Buck intends for Harry's heart must first
pierce minep'
Jack closed the volume and Rugged II
lovingly, almost ecstatically to his heart
1t carried him back to the hayloft and his
boy days. sShe's the kind of a girl I'm
looking for" he declared to himself as hi
J went down In the elevator holding the
"Sailor's Sweetheart with the title blaz
ing out that whoever ran might read.
When he reached the lobby, he found
the captain surrounded by other officers
and deep In the discussion Of a newly re
ceived order. keep it," he called, way
ing his hand to the flaming volume
"Read 1t. The heroine's just the kind o
a girl I've picked out for you, Jack. III
introduce you tonight. She's gone t.
meet my wife at the city station"
Jack saluted, laughing, and strolled OF
out Of the hotel, carrying the book. The
city trolley was waiting outside. A com
pany of sick soldiers from q transport
which had just come to the dock were be