Arizona republican., 1902-01-17
REVERIES OF A FIREMAN
He Dreamed Things Were So, but
 Awoke to Find His Mistake.

A member of the Phoenix fire de- partment submits the following as q true description of dream he had which promised much. but failed to pan out anything. Comparing notes with his fellow hremen he found SO many of them had had the same dream that he decided to ask for it's pubiica- ton. as follows:
 Returning from d fire the other night. thoroughly drenched and utterly exhausted. I hastily undressed and re- tired. hoping to secure some rest be fore daylight For some time I tossed restlessly on my couch unable to sleep till ! had overcome the excitement caused by the run to the fire. l could not help remembering that many ia miliaT faces were absent that night, and I wondered if it was possible that we had lost some of our best members.
 Thinking over these matters I fell into a troubled sleep and dreamed that l was being transported through space and 1 found my self soaring over the ocean. A large ship was sailing be-
 meath me. and she was being driven before furious gale upon rocSy coast. and it seemed to me that noth- ing could possibly save her unless the wind should suddenly change or the storm should abate. l drew near and was mortified to read in clear letters on her side the name of the snip, The Phoenix Fire Department" Noticing an excited crowd Of sailors on the for
 ward deck I hovercd over them and saw that they had five men securely tied and lying on the deck. As I ap
 preached l heard the captain say to one. that appeared to be the spokesman of the sailors: What is your verdict ?'' and the man replied: Guilty as charged" The captain without mo ments hesitation. replied: Do with them as you please. and withdrew to the quarter deck. I followed him quick ly. and as soon as he had reached his station. I approached him and asked him what these men had dore that they should be turned over to the scant Tne-cies of the sailors and he said that they had been found guilt of treason against the Phoenix Fire Department. He went on to explain that at the last port at which the ship had touched these five men had smusgled q pet octopus aboard the vessel. although warned that it was contrary to all the rules and regulation and all prece- dents of the department. That noth- ing had been done with them at the time, as the octopus was small and ap- parentIy harmless, but that lately it had started to growing rapidly, and if it kept on. would soon be large and strong enough to swallow up the en- tire crew. He also said that it was now in the hold securely tied with chains. and that the sailors all firmly believed that it had been the cause of all their troubles. and that if it had not been for these men. they would not noW be in the dangerous position that they were. Turning toward the forward deck. I saw that the sailors had secured a large plank and that one end of it was now projecting over the rail. the five sailors were on their feet. surrounded by others with drawn cutlasses, and as I looked I saw one of the prisoners forced to step upon the plank. He was q large, heavy set man, and the initial B was plainly printed on his back I asked the cap tain what that meant. and he said that his name was 'Braggadocio. and that he was the bully of the forccastle. The next was a small thin fellow with a troubled look in his eyes. and on his back was the letter Nj What does that stand fcr?' I asked the captain.