The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-04

alarms at the time and had to stay
aboard on duty. The whole starboard
watch went ashore to see the fight,
which was pulled off in the open on
a big plain a couple Of miles outside
of Seoul
THE liberty of all hands was up at
o'clock the same night, and l just
waited for the Norwegian to be brought
off to the ship in the cutter. chopped
up and ready to pass into the hands
of the surgeon. He came back at s
o'clock, clean and sober. without a
scratch on him. Dillon didn't show up
until the next morning, and you ought
to have seen him. He was the worst
looking case of a hammered sea SOL
der l ever saw, and the men who saw
the fight told me that he hadn't been
in it at any stage of the scrap-that
the Norwegian could have put him out
in a punch had he been so minded,
but that he played with the big ma
rine for six rounds, pounding his mug
into jelly before putting the finishing
touches to him.
1--WE had a goat and young Wild
cat on the old Swatara when she was
over on the Pacific side, and the two
didn't hit it off well together. The
wildcat-it was really a Central Amer
lean panther, but we called it a Wild
cat--took a good deal of humping about
sappy, but when it began to get it's
growth it revolted over being pushed
all over the ship at the points of the
goats horns. and it looked to be only
a question of time before the two got
together for a finish fight. Now the
goat was practically the boss of the
ship, and brass Delaying pins couldn't
put it out of business; so l took the
goat end of it. l announced that I had
500 on the paymasters books that
said the goat would win in walk if
ever it came to a real. sure-enough
scrap between him and the wildcat
The two got together just after mess
gear went one afternoon, and the chief
bo'suns mate, as soon as we heard the
noise, said to me across the mess
table:
They're at it. I'll take you on that
500 proposition of yours if you give
me to l.
Done said I. and we hustled up
from the berth deck to see the scrap.
All hands on the spar deck were try
ing to separate the two brutes, put II
couldn't be done with capstan parS,
and | had to stand by and see that
wildcat shake the life and soul out OF
the goat. in less than three minutes by
the officer of the decks watch, me
goat never had a chance from the iirst
yelp, the cat just grabbing MN ~ the
throat and bleeding MIN 10 uedti' my
loss of the goat made the men aboard
hot, and they chucked the cat over TIE
side with capstan bars. The thing
swan ashore-this happened in the
harbor of La Libertad, San salvador
and probably Joined it's tribe in the
jungle. / drew out my 500 from the
paymaster, paid it, and concluded to
play the long shots thereafter. But l
never did.
lone day I was standing at the gang
way of the old Marion, at the Mare
Island navy yard watching a lot of
rookie landsmen coming over the side
with their bags and hammocks from
the receiving ship independence. An
old machinist was standing alongside
of me, sizing up the bunch. He was
a shrewd old chap and he had a pretty
good eye for men. His eye lit on a
stalwart looking young fellow with a
fine, open face, and the look of a stay
err. and he said to me:
81 bet that one lights out before
he has been aboard a MONTH
Come Off said l. He looks like
young 'un who's just found his home.
He'll stay the cruise and many another
one.
Maybe he WILL said the old ma