Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-01-23

chan? Ell him up on the same again VI
try pilli There's ten sorts OF pills IN
that ohest beauties some OF them. You
should have tried him on those little Sill
yer oosted chaps marked G. They're reg
ular twisters."
well, you see he was twisted enough
already, poor devil, and II 1t hadn't Deeh
for tho donkeyman holding him he'd nave
been overheard through the ash chute TO
be rid of his misery. So, as 1t was, gave
him tumbler full Of raw whisky, and
that seemed gradually to unite him again
out Of his knots"
The captain snorted. You re greener
than thought, Mr.. Cambel. If we'd been
going ON, you'd have had half the crew
sick on your hands for dose OF that KIND.
They're bad enough after our sour doc
tors physic, but for tumbler OF liquor
and spell Of idleness an old sailor would
have an ear and three toes cut OF any day.
However," he added, rising stifhy to MS
feet and stretching, 1.-THE chief and the
donkeyman' III see he doesn't malinger lor
long. They are none OF them sweet on DO
ing another mans work, that gang.
Heigh hol See that line OF surf we're
bringing over the lee quarter"
The Tortugass"
1.-THE Dry Tortugas. There's YANKEE
convict station on one OF them
Don't mention It,"
Kettle grinned I'VE shall have made
enough westing soon, and then our course
will be pretty nearly due north, so as to
dodge the gulf stream as much as possible,
and" he added in lower tone, to get
the ship as near as may be to your chan
mel into Florida before we jettison the
crew."
1--WE shall run into the ship tracks from
all the northern gulf ports to Europe"
II know, and we must take our chance
Of not being spotted. For western SEA
there's a regular string Of traffic trailing
down to the Dry Tortugas. There you
are for one. Look at that old wind jam
mer."
He jerked with his thumb toward
green painted wooden italian bark which
was squattering past less than quar-
ter Of mile away right athwart the
last rays Of the windy sunset. She was
driving merrily homeward, sending her
bows into 1t till the seas creamed against
her catheads and darkening her jibs with
brine up more than half their height. she
was methodically reducing sail, and
dozen many hued picturesque tatterde-
nations were aloft on the foretopgallant
yard hammoring the struggling canvas In
to the gaskets.
1.-THE cowardly Dagos," said Kettle.
"That's always their way Snug down 10
topsails as soon as 1t gets dark. even II
there's only a catspaw blowing By
James, with a breeze like this I'd be car
rying royals on that old tub. And yet,
he went on, with his beard in the heel OF
tumbling waters, land yet they say there
used to be poetry In a craft of that sort,
while there was never and never will be
with steamer. suppose the reason is
that a poet has to be man who knows
nothing whatever about what he writes
upon. I know that some chaps who string
verse nowadays have been on steamboat
and smelled the smells Of her and seen her
lines and watched the men who do the
work, and yet they make no poetry about
( IL. But Of the old crew who wrote about
moaning harbor bars, and fair white PIN
IONS and lusty wooden walls, and trusty
hearts of oak, why, they knew no more
about the thing than London bobby does
OF angels. And that, suppose, was why
their stuff Is called poetry and the lubberly
old wind TANNERS poetical. You give me
n smart steamboat, Mr.. Cambel. There's
all the romance on her an old sailorman's
got any use for and he understands It,
too, even If he can't put 1t down on pa
per"
II believe you're right, said Cambel
thoughtfully, and some day new Dana
or new Michael Scott will come ashore
from the upper bridge or from an electric
lighted forecastle, or forced draft engine
room, and show it to us plainly, whereup-
on we shall swear that we saw 1t for our
selves all along. But he went on, with
sudden frown, for the present let that
lrft. You and have enough to think OF
In our own immediate present without
speculating over possible prophet which
is to arise.
I'VE have, but so much must be ar
ranged by the chance of the moment that
don't see we can do much good by talk
ing it over now. All arrangements that
can be made ahead, l fancy, we've got
fixed up already. BY the way l suppose
you are sure that your explosion in the
forehold won't be too big. 1t would be an
awkward DO for us If the old ships bottom
was really blown out in sober earnest"
The sun had gone entirely out alto
gether, and the young moon was sailing
high amid scurrying cloud banks In the
white and shifting light Patrick Cambel' S
face looked pale and anxious.
You're sure Kettle repeated, lit
won't be a case of the engineer being
hoisted with his own thingammy"
No, I'm not sure, and that's what
bothers me- You see one couldn't quite
get an expert to measure out the precise
necessary dose, and I've had to guess at it,
daren't undercharge my bomb. If our
explosion was fjzzle and the crew didn't
get scared and run, why, then they d take
her up to New Orleans whether we liked
it or not, and she'd be examined. Then
that intake valve couldn't be missed, and
it couldn't be explained away. Man, as
you know, the things as big as sluice
gate"
"All the bilge pumps in the gulf of
Mexico couldn't make Roadway against
that valve once it was fairly opened. It's
the quickest and cleverest way of scut-
Ting a steamboat 1 ever heard of or read
about. But l don't quite see how the
valve is going to be turned"
"You leave that to me-"
J "You seem used to the game" said
Kettle, with half sneer.
mo, I'm not" returned the other
quickly. 1--WE never had my fingers in
anything SO ugly or so dirty before, and
because don't want to have the expert
!, ence over again I'm going to make this
: turn to big profit or get killed in the
J trying. I'm tired and sick of this wild
bucketing life. A woman drove me to it,
but believe il had the means to settle
down in comfort now I could forget all
about her and wake up other new inter-