Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-06

Odessa in October, 1889, and the
Chief, the Fourth, and myself Il was
acting as third engineer at the time)
were ashore one evening, in a ship
chandler's shop, in company with
many other engineers of different
steamers lying in the port. The pro-
prietor of this establishment Whom
for the purpose of this tale 1 will call
George Dimetri) was man well
known to seafarers trading to that part
of the world
Several Of those present, who knew
the Greek better than l did, had re-
marked that he seemed to be in most
uncomfortable mood that night, and
he had evidently tcld them the cause
of his troubles, for much whispering
had been going on between the Eng
lishmen. Our Chief, who appeared
to be sin the know" later on proposed
that we should go for a walk, in the
course of which he explained that
certain Nihilist, who had been cap
tured by the Russian Government,
and sent to Odessa for transportation
to Siberia, in one of the volunteer
feet had escaped, and was actually
at Dimetri's shop in hiding. We were
told, further more, that Dimetri had
begged us Englishmen to get the man
safely out of the country.
The Chief asked our opinion on the
matter; sounded us, in fact, aud 1,
for one, was strongly against having
anything to do with the affair. L
cannot say whether 1 was won over
by the pitiful yarn that was spun
about the poor fellows condition, or
the fact that it was understood that
money was no object; suffice it to say,
that at last we three engineers con-
sented to smuggle this Nihilist to
England. 1t had been decided that
the representatives of those steamers
i'll port should draw lots as to which
one was to undertake the risk, for
risk it undoubtedly was. We fully
understood that to be caught aiding
this man would be serious business
for us.
Well, our Chief lost the toss, and
we had to arrange the matter as best
we could. I may mention here that
the looks of the fugitive himself 1--WE
could never grasp his crack jaw name,
and so always referred to{ him as
Him were not 10y any means pre-
possessing, and so repelled was ]
when first crawled into the hole un-
der Dimetri's roof, and was intro
duced to the man as one OF his would
be saviours, could have recalled my
decision there and then to aid anC
abet his escape. You see, there's nc
getting away from facts. In fictior
the fugitive would be a really noble
looking fellow, possessed of every at
tribute that commands ones admira
ton.
Him" however, was fully six fee
in heighV, with shaggy head OF
hair, reminding one of the tradi
tional pictures of poets; beard tha
covered the whole of his chest, ant
had apparently never been trimmed
and a face that generally seemed never
to have known the cleansing proper
ties of soap. His clothes, which hat
evidently at one time been Dimetri's
and were ridicuously too small all
round, by no means improved his ap
pearance. Such were our first impres
sions of our romantic hero. In dismay
we decided to leave "Him" where he
was, for that night, at any rate, and
hold a consultation with our second
engineer, who was aboard the ship
before doing anything further in tn,
matter.
Perhaps 1t would be as well to stat,
here how matters stood in our steam
er. The c. was q new vessel
owned by Greek firm, and flying th
Greek flag. The whole OF the crew
with the exception of the four engin
eers, were Greeks, and we were pu
on board by the builders of the ma
chinery, a wellknown north-countr.
firm, as their guarantee men.
Now, four English engineer, al
fellow-townsmen, and all likely to b.
employed on this same steamer TO
about six months only, and then to re
, turn to the same engine-shop together
were more than friends. AS a fact, W
were more like four brothers. There
fore, when we told our second engin
Ger WuuU udi OcCulIctl, he TpuullY &C
quiesced, and we all four sat down in
the mess-room and worked the prob
lem out. [ will not weary you witt
an epitome of the suggestions offered
let it suffice to say we decided tba
the best place to stow "Him" was il
the evaporator.
Without diving into technicalities
let me say that the evaporator is
, machine used in modern marine en-
gineering for making fresh water Ii
the form of vapor) by boiling sal
water. A powerful jet of steam is ru
through a series of coils. When tn
dome is raised, these coils can be re
, moved. and then a cylindrical spac
is left, some six feet in height by thre
feet six inches in diameter. OF course
the machine can be worked or left III
used as required, all ingress of stear
and water being regulated by valves
When we started work as usua
l next morning at seven o'clock, sc
my men = raise the dome within; W