Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-03-01
THE CoMMoDoRE's PEDoMETER.

A Trick by Which He Was Made to
Lose Confidence In the Contriv-
ance.
A good story illustrative of the
character Of old Admiral Stephen B.
Luce, whose work on seamanship Is
now a textbook in the navy, was told
by the officers who served under him
on the South Pacific station. The ad-
miral, then a commodore, had as his
flagship the old corvette Quinnebaug.
On the qaurterdeck was very COM
Portable lounging place formed by a
pile Of spars, cushioned by coils Of
running gear, and the junior officers
formed the habit Of sitting there dur
ing the monotonous night hours, in
stead Of pacing up and down the
quarterback, as the regulations re-
quire. The old commodore had his
suspicious, but he was not convinced
and preferred to suffer an infraction
Of the rules rather than run the risk
of accusing his officers unjustly.
But one day, when the ship was in
Callao a Yankee pedler, who had
somehow drifted into the tropics, came
on board and sold to the commodore
pedometer, guaranteed to record au-
tomatically the distance Travelled by
a pedestrian up to 200 miles. That
night, when the ensign Of the first d.
vision was about to go on watch the
commodore summoned him to the cab
in and said:
"Mr. -, wish you to carry this
little package with you during your en-
tire watch and then pass 1t on to your
relief. Instruct him to do likewise,
and then hand it to me at quarters to-
morrow morning"
The young man saluted, went on
deck, sat down on the coils Of rope and
smoked for awhile. Then he took a
walk for a few minutes and finished
out his four-hour watch on the
lounge" The junior Of the second
division did the same, and the third
division man, who was on deck from
till 8 in the morning, did no more
walking than he had to.
After quarters the orderly summon
ed these young men to the cabin,
where. the commodore sat, holding the
pedometer in his hand.
gentleman" said he, II find by this
little instrument that you three have
traversed little less than two miles
in IL hours on deck. How do you ac-
count for that?
The three faces fell like a thermom-
eter in a blizzard, and the boys re-
mained silent while the old gentleman
proceeded to read the regulations re-
garding the duties Of officers Of the
deck, particularly emphasizing that
part which relates to walking, and af-
terward added an extempore riot act
of his own composition.
But" he continued, II am not will
ing to convict you on the evidence Of
one trial Of a catch-penny mechanical
contrivance. If you have loafed, stop
it; but carry this instrument again to-
night"
The trio held a council Of war. 1t
was the second division mans first
watch that night, and as he took the
deck he called one Of the apprentice
boys.
William" he said, "you have some
extra duty against you. Take this III
tie box and shake 1t as hard as you
can for two hours and then return 1t
to me-"
Then the junior sat down and rested
till the box was returned to him.
The next morning the same three
officers were called to the cabin, and
as before found the commodore seat
ed at the table with the pedometer in
his hand.
gentlemen" he said, II have done
you an injustice on the testimony OF a
mere machine. Yesterday this thing
registered a little less than two miles,
while this morning it shows that you
walked in 12 hours 130 miles, which Is
a manifest impossibility. The thing Is
absolutely worthless" and the COM
modore threw the machine out of the
cabin port into the sea.
He never knew the facts Of the case
until the end Of that cruise, and then
the first division officer told him. But
the commodore had just been confirm
ed as rear admiral and laughed hear
tily at the joke.-Youth's Companion.
PoE's ARMY RECoRD.-Edgar Allan
Poe, author and poet, according to the
records of the war department, en-
H., Ia States