The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-10-09
CHAPTER XI-Continued.

went to bed.
At twelve was awakened from a
sound sleep by tremendous banging
at the door. another suspicious case,
sergeant" l asked, as l opened the
door and recognized the official.
"No; it's you l want this time"
"Me?" replied, with an assumption
of surprise.
eyes; have you not heard that you
are to go to quarantine? Thought you
had been told. The boat has been
waiting, loaded with people, for the
last hour for you.
Remembering the advice of my
friend the reporter, | made him put
his hand on my shoulder, and so make
it an arrest in the eyes of the law.
Then | collected my clothes, tobacco
and books, got some whiskey for the
sergeant, and started for Woolloomoo-
loo, where the steam launch was await
ing me.
"Good-by," said the sergeant as /
stepped on board. "I'm sorry for you,
but 'tisn't my fault"
"Good-by, sergeant. shall survive
it; if l don't, well, we may meet in
some other world where politicians are
not devils till they die"
you'll find room in the bow"
growled the captain, in voice indicat-
ing that his temper had not been i'm
pr we'd by the delay.
After good deal Of trouble l sue
ceeded in picking my way through the
i: j
ity with which the deck was covered.
In the bow l found another medical
man, one DR.. Moore, who, because he
had seen the man Cox fourteen days
since, was included in the idiotic order
of the cabinet.
The Prince was a steam launch of
about fifteen tons, become by age slow
and almost unseaworthy. There was
no cabin beyond kind OF rat hole,
in which the stocking was done, so that
the passengers, patients, and "sus-
poets" Ii. e., men, women and chill
dren who had been taken from houses
in which genuine cases were found)
were mixed up indiscriminately on the
deck and IN the "stern sheets" behind.
The crew consisted OF a captain and
stoker. / don't know what their pow
ers of navigation may have been, but If
they at all correspondent with their
capacity for swearing, there was little
risk of our being wrecked, although
the night was dark and the weather
dirty.
The vessel once under way, l had an
opportunity of inspecting the cargo.
And now, if for the next page or two
had the pen of Dante and the addition
al help of Dore's pencil, might hope
to give you some idea of a scene that in
my hands defes all attempts at ade-
quate description. The like of it has
never been seen before in any civilized
country, and will never be seen again.
1t was the outcome of official madness,
brought on by the frenzied clamor OF
public insane with fright.
The lurching of the launch had
awakened DR.. Moore from reverie.
Turning round he recognized me, and
without any preliminary formalities OF
the hand shaking order, forthwith de-
luged me with groans and complaints.
The golden salve that was six months
later laid on very thick by a repentant
government did great deal toward
restoring it, but at that time his lot
was an exceedingly hard one.
Dragged from a warm bed and the
comforts of a luxurious home, forced
to leave and neglect practice that
had cost in its building up years OF
effort, and given no opportunity of
finding a substitute, or even OF col
lecting sufficient linen for a week g
wear, he had been hurried, as he said,
"'on board this dreadful vessel as
though he were a criminal of the woi st
order, and huddled up with these nor
rible cases OF smallpox, so that he must
catch it." From this moment he lost
and never iegained, so long as | knew
him, not only his self-command, but
that fearlessness OF disease that is the
heritage OF all medical men. Later on,
when given charge of the hospital in
closure, lie would hatten his nose
against the window, and so, reering
through the dirty glass from the out
side, treat his cases. But he must be
dealt with tenderly, for his rawlings
were certainly not those of a sane man.
With tears streaming down his
cheeks, he would dwell on his wife's
loneliness and her weeping when they
parted, and in the same breath, and
with even more pathos, deplore the
stupid gettulness that had made him
leave his nail brush and hand glass on
the washstand at home. Then he
would dry his tears and grow defiant
"How dared the government touch him