Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-11-01
= SLEEK,
SLICK NAN.



for London IN tl.. 18th Of Aug..st.
1881. was lie name Of taaes Mclw!I,
an Engiian,aa.. and Il tiigre ever was
q slcekcr. S!.c&er nan 1Jt ,Eto print |
have not read Uf him. lie i,aal't the
sleek. slick way OF hy2.c..;.cal MS
sionary or passJn. aGt II vas L way OF
his own. He was a daLCy IL figure
and dress. lie had the innocent face
of a child. lie was sGsic.css and in
genuous lie seemed 10 knew SO little
of tie world that you wondered where
he had passed his 30 years Of life. He
wanted TO make everyhody's acquaint-
ance and be friends with all. You
couldn't help but set him down for a
good fellow just to look at him, and
when you had listened to hts droll sto-
ries in the smoking room, his songs in
the cabin and the fairy stories he told
the children you had to agree that he
was justly a favorite.
No one seemed to know Jimmy, as
he asked us to call him, beyond know
ing that he lived up the country on q
big horse farm and was worth half n
million dollars. 1t turned out that no
one really knew that, but had taken
his word for it. However, it was no
ones business to know him. He was
going back to England after a bride,
and all the ladies aboard agreed that
he was a good catch and the girl was
In luck. Perhaps | got more out of
Mr.. Melwill than any other passenger.
1t was more, and at the same time it
was less. In speaking of his horse
farm to me he had been foolish enough
to locate 1t. 1t was far distant from
Melbourne. and it was in an out of the
way place, but 1t so happened that l
had sheepherded and prospected all
over that range and knew his story to
be false. He saw by my looks that l
knew it to be so, and he at once
turned the conversation and refused
any further information. Women will
lie when there is no object, but men
generally plan to make lie serve q
purpose. l tried to figure out why
Jimmy should lie, but the best guess
/ could make at It was that he wanted
to pass for a richer man than he was.
There was nothing bad about that, and
l didn't permit the falsehood to open
any breach between us.
When we came to shake ourselves
down aboard, | noticed that there were
a lot of rather tough looking men
among the steerage passengers. 1t
was explained that they were going to
the Cape to work on a new railroad.
AS near as | could size them up they
were all colonials and men more used
to horses than picks and shovels. Your
true NAVY, or day laborer, would have
sprawled In the shade and slept and
smoked and been content. | picked
out n dozen or more Of the so called
workingmen who were nervous and
uneasy, and they often formed little
groups and seemed to hold much con-
verse in whispers. This, however was
only a trifing incident. People on
shipboard have nothing to do but gos-
sip and observe. y man who would not
walk ten steps on land to see cap
tive eagle will sit for an hour and
watch the erratic flight of a gull. /
think the sleek Jimmy must have
caught me watching the steerage pas
sengers, for he took occasion one day
to observe:
"There seems to be a fine lot of men
going out to the Cape with usP
GAS far as bone and muscle co." re-
piled.
But it takes bone and muscle to
build railroads"
"Of course, but this is the first time
ever heard of Australians being ship
ped to the Cape for such work. Is
there any scarcity of native help2 I
can't imagine one Of those chaps over
yonder with his soft hands doing much
with pick and shovel"
mo, perhaps not" replied Jimmy in
an absent way as he looked at me
through half closed eyes.
Then he extended his cigar case pro-
posed n game of euchre, and the sub
ject was dropped. 1 don't claim that
was suspicious of Jimmy or that / was
disturbed by the gang in the steerage.
On the contrary. l was perfectly easy
in my mind in al respects. | had read
in the Australian papers that the
Ocean Queen was carrying home more
than million dollars in gold. In fact,
/ had seen most of the boxes brought
aboard and taken down to the strong
room. All other passengers must have
been aware Of the treasure, but there
was little or no talk about It. | think
the sleek. slick man was the only one
l hea0 say anything about it. AS we
sat smoking and EARNING one day he
carelessly mentioned the treasure and
then wondered how much all the gold
and silver lost by shipwreck would
amount to.
1t is a wide expanse of ocean be-
tween the Cape and Australia, and at
the end of a week we had all settled
down into grooves and fallen into a
monotonous routine. EarlyOne morning
sail was sighted dead ahead, and al
most as soon as she had been made out
it was seen that she lad a distress flag
flying. The news went over the ship,
and in moment everybody was inter
ested and anxious. The ship in dis
tress was brig. and, so far as any of
us could make out, she was all right
allow and aloft. If she hadn't sprung
q leak, then 1t must be a case of fever
or mUtiny, or perhaps she had run
short OF water and provisions. Jimmy
stood beside me as we bore down on
the brig, and, although l twice asked
him what he thought about it, ne did
not seem to hear nc. | turned to look
al Linn as he closed his glass and found
u smile on his face.
''You don't think it joke, do your
] asked rather brusqU,iy.
"Oh, no. no." he replied. smiling and
chuckling at the same time. NO: it's
no joke. There will be no laughing
over It."
His tones were sarcastic, and for an
instant there was look of triumph in
his eyes. Then he turned away, and |
gave the brig my attention. We ran
down to within half n mile of her be.
fore our engines were stopped. Only
three men were visible on her decks.
and she hadn't a boat in sight. The
trio beckoned and motioncd that We
should send boat, and the captain