Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-10

could write your name on the chair backs
| Yes, that bothered me, but what bothered
me worse was to see slim, queer-shaped
| pottle standin on end on the table right
under my nose, an half full O. some brown
| 1sh stuff. Now, what business had a bottle
to be end up after jogging half round the
w WHY ss an rocked by heaven only knows
! 1t was, too. We don't have the like of II
nowadays, an rore's the pity 1t got broke
An What business had the liquor lyin' in If
all them years an never dryin' unp That
| wonder. " Oh siiiah
IT was creepy thing to come on all of q
SUDDEN. an IN such ghost of a craft. but
| there was more besides it. By the hottie
was a tin platter, bright enough. so hriebt
va say a cloth had wiped 1t the dav he
lore an on the platter was a lump O. shin,s
b bl1Su' II was ike nothin' in the way of
nara tuck l ever saw, but ships bread #
| was an no mistake. I tell You that sta o.
! gered me- The bottle maybe was fixed
| somehow. an the platter maybe was fixed:
hard " tnc,, " a15 lump o, crusty, slippy
the hulk drftin', driftin' through who
| Knows Whot rastle an tumble of seas?
.oi don't know that Clark or Brady
took notice, reckon they were huntin,
| after the heaps O. clothes Irish had seen
through the port. an when l saw them
peerin' an stretchin' their necks I omit
snlverin' an followed their wake Nor
| were the bundles far to seek Three o.
them there We're, all the length but twice
the glrth o common man, so that when
| Clark said Ice for the fourth time.
| guess ne was about right: You can bet it
knows how to freeze south of so degrees,
They were punched in heap by the
! cuddy door, an must have had three suits
apiece on them. an with great heavy
| could see thick bar across it. the ends
fallin' into sockets beyond the posts. as
| II 10 stand against hard pressure
For pears an such vermin, says Clark,
| was all that was left O. the ships crew.
| an SO good people was scarce The rest
was in Kingdom Come
| II reckon he was about right, but T
aldn answer l was tryin' to puzzle 1t out
| for myself, an the way they lay told a
! tale. They were all head-on to the door:
/ they were all fiat on their faces with their
| arms stretched out, all their fingers clawin'
/ at the moor. That meant they were making
| a bolt for the open when somethin' dropne1
| them in their tracks, dropped them s11d-
den an dropped them sure. Just So but
! what? What? That's what I asked nv
| self, an maybe the answer was that one
/ held what looked like a crumple O. paper
| In his hand-whitey yellow 1t was; an on
| the floor foot or two from their big
| boots, was mash O. bluey gray stuff.
! That there stuck in the frame was the
| biggest mossel left, the rest was stamped
| into grit. They had no hats on; maybe
they'd rolled off when they tumbled, an
] their hair was longer than was common,
| even for the old-time sailorman; but
| their ears peeped through the wisps, an
| the shape O. them. an the shape O. their
hands, was as plump an good as if they
| were havin' more than a dogs snooze
| till the bo'sun whistled I said as much
| to Clark
| 'Bosun?' says he; I guess Davy Jones
was the last bo'sun that piped them to
| quarters. Tell you what, Towson; see
| that bluey grit there, an what's in the
| chaps hand? I'll lay a dollar they picked
| up somethin' in the ice that scared them
to death. an it was in that smashed grit!
| Maybe he was right In my own be-
! lief the thing had been some kind of hol-
/ low case, with more In 1t than what that
| hand gripped. Some kind of gas, maybe,
| or fluid that turned to gas an in the turn
| in'-but, there, it's all guesswork.
When it comes to bettin',' says Brady.
I'll bet I'm goin' below. an as the door s
| battened here's my road!
| Leaning forward he gripped the iron bar
| with his left hand, an caught grab O. the
| edge O. the skylight with his right to hoist
| himself up But as his fingers closed in
wards over the ledge he flung himself back
| with yell.
| Holy Mary! What's that?
! Then he stood starin', his great mouth
| wide open an droppin' at the corners.
! Twas all one as II he'd seen ghost
'Shucks! says Clark, did We never face