El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-19

ity is not u thing that pays with orr
entails. Stolid indifference. on the 9TH
er hand, may earn easy admiration
: But at last the man took his courage
I'm n firmer grip and came up from the
Parakeet's lower deck, where the hands
were working cargo, and advanced I'M
der the bridge deck awnings to Captain
Kettles long chair and salaamed low
before him.
I Kettle seemed to see the man for the
first time He looked up from the &C
counts he was laboring at "Wel?" he
said CURLY.
! 1t was clear the Arab had no Eng
fish. 1t was clear also that he feared
being watched by his fellow country
men in the lighter which was discharg-
ing date bags alongside. He maneu-
vered till the broad of his back covered
his movements, materalized somehow
or other n scrap of paper from some
fold of his burnooSe, dropped this in
Kettles lap without aLy perceptible
movement of either his arms or hands
and then gave another stately Salaam
and moved away to the place from
which he had come.
IF you are an out of work conjurer,"
said Kettle to the retreating figure,
you've come to the wrong place to get
employment here
The Arab passed out of sight without
once turning his head. and Kettle
glanced down at the scrap of paper
which lay on his knees and saw on it q
scrawl of writing.
Hello" he said: "postman, were
you-not conjurer? 1 don't expect
any m~il here. However, let's see.
Murray's writing. by James, he NUT
tered as he 1attened out the grimy
scrap of paper. and then he whistled
with surprise and disgust as he read.
Dear captain" the letter ran. I've
got into the deuce of n mess. and IL
you can bear n hand to pull me out it
j got caught up that side street to the
left. past the mosque. but they covered
my head with n cloth directly after
and hustled me on for half an hour
and where I am now the dickens only
knows. It's a cellar. But perhaps
bearer may know who's got my watch
The trouble was about a woman. a
pretty little piece whom I was photo
graphing. You see'-
! And here the letter broke off.
! That's the worst Of these fancy,
high toned mates." Kettle grumbled
,''What does he want to go ashore for
at a one eyed hole like this? There are
mo saloons. and besides he isn't a drink
ing man. your new fashioned mate
isn't There are no girls for him to
kiss. seeing that they are all Moham-
medans and wear a veil An' as for
going round with that photography box
of his. l wonder he hasn't more pride.
l don't like to see a smart young fellow
like him that's got his masters ticket
all new and ready in his chest bringing
himself down to the level of n common,
dirty haired artist. Well, Murray's got
a lot to learn before he finds an owner
pit to trust him with a ship of his
own"
i Kettle read the hurried letter through
a second time and then got up out of
his long chair and put on his spruce
white drill uniform coat and exchanged
his white canvas shoes for another
pair more newly pipeclayed. His
steamer might merely be a common
cargo tramp. the town he was going to
visit ashore might be merely the usual
savage settlement one meets with on
the Arabian shore of the Persian gulf,
but the little sailor did not dress for
the admiration Of fashionable crowds.
He was smart and spruce always, out
or Difference to his own self respect.
. He went up to the second mate at the
tally desk on the main deck below and
gave him some instructions. "I'm go
Ing ashore" he said, land leave you in
charge. Don't let too many Of these
lniggers come aboard at once, and tell
the stewards to keep all the doors to
below snugly fastened. 1 locked the
.cAarthouse myself when I came out
SHave You heard about the mate"
J mo, sir"
"Ah. thought the news would have
been spread well about the ship before