Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1900-02-10
A YARN WITHOUT A MORAL.
By MORGAN ROBERTSON.

traffic. when vessels were small, dis
cipline lax and when each forecastle
might contain one or more part owners.
Dunkirk Sam, Bill Tubbs and Starboard
Jack composing the crew of the little
schooner Alma, held no such dual rela.
tons with their captain. They drew
wages, not profits. But, as their captain
was cid Long Tom Tucker of their own
town, whom they loved and "sassed"
and advised and obcyed as they pleased,
their treatment of him was in no way
calculated to impress strangers with
any other belief than that they owned
the whole vessel-and Captain Tom too.
At Kingston, after discharging cargo
they had put on their shore clothes and
selfishly gone to the theater, leaving
Captain Tom to keep ship or go ashore
with himself or the cook as he liked
The mate, newly shipped, lived in
Kingston, and early in the evening had
fled to the bosom of his family. Tho
captain sulkcd for awhile under the
eight put upon him by his "boys,
went ashore alone. met his agent, then
hunted up his mate and sent him
aboard, for the agent had secured him
q load from Port Hope to Oswego. Then
he hied himself to the one theater of
the town, bought ticket, went in and
vainly coaxed the three upregenerates
TO heed the call Of duty. Useless en-.
deavorl They were kind to him-asked
him to cit with them, but would not
bulge until the performance ended.
Captain Tom coaxed, ordered, fumed
and finally swore; then was collared by
q scandalized fat policeman and cast
forth into outer darkness, followed by
the heartless threat of the three to tell
his wife and the minister when they
got home, for Captain Tucker was a
sturdy pillar Of the church.
Filled to the brim with "aggrava.
ton, he returned to the wharf where
his vessel lay and helped the mate loose
the canvas, vowing to pay off the three
"sogers' at the first American port
The three left the theater at II o'clock
and leisurely made their way to the
vessel Had they seen n restaurant they
would have satisfied their slight hunger
before putting themselves under Cap.
tain Toms domination-not that they
anticipated increased peril from the
weakness attending empty stomachs,
but they knew that the cook, as irdif-
ferent to nautical etiquette as them
selves, had turned in for the night /:
hence, there would DO no night lu&rh
prepared-and 10 was long time until
breakfast.
Discussing tho matter made them
hungrier. Starboard Jack suggested the
advisability of turning back and hunt
ing for an eating house, "for." he said
"the skipper won't turn the cook ont
for us tonight, but he'll get his own
pibblo from the galley" They agreed
to this, and Captain Toms prosperity,
sel6shness condoned their own mutinous
behavior, giving the balance of injury
to them. They became outrageously
hungry and halted when rooster,
aroused by their voices, arose to full
stature. cluttered at them and settled
down again. Fatal mistake.
Starboard Jack testified later that
visions Of chicken potpie, partaken
Of at home, entered his brain. and the
savory odor seemed to be in his nostrils
Bill Tubbs admits that bis hayward
thoughts serenely reviewed mn Oft re-
GREETED early dissipation. in which he
had disgraceiully attended cuckiight
Dunkirk Sam never committed himself
but ii is on record that Dunkirk Sam
was the first to sneak
"Mighty fine rooster; Shanghai. too.
he said
"Nice and fat, " remarked Bill Tubs.
turning square the other way. thus put.
ting temptation behind him
Why discuss the devious course of
criminal thoughts through the doubts
and fears Of noncriminal brainsG Ten
larry dSSits closed around the neck Of
The drowsy bird, sitting the indignant
outcry; five Were later removed to the
struggling claws, threatening to ruin
Starboard Jacks new Ego ashore" coat,
and three guilty maranders fled through
the darkness.
1t was blind. illogical crime for
sake alone. Their hunger may
have suggested the abduction; the all.
luction could in no way satisfy their
hunger. But this did not occur to them
Guilty fear possessed their souls, ex.
,luding other thoughts, even of their
Empty stomachs.
With the rooster snugly imprisoned
,nder starboard jacks arm, they tum-
oled over the Alma's rail and down the
'orecastle stairs, unheeding the TRADE
II reproach launched at them by Cap.
'ain Tom. Here a hurried confab re.
'ulted in the raising Of the trapdoor
md the unceremonious bundlng of the
nearly choked fowl into the inky dark.
less of the fore nank 0no ,ro+ogtir,,