The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-08-16

| directors only allowed me a dozen
hands including the cook. who was I'M
| der contract TO fight as we'll as stew"
"A dozen handsi" I echoed incredu-
lousy.
THE rest was dummies" growled
Uncle Jonah, mechanical dummies, my
boy, made In Germany" he added
cynically, like the war Office field
guns
81 can't see how you can construct a
| fighting dummy" / objected. else our
war Office would have adopted the pa
| tent"
These didn't fight" said Uncle
| Jonah They was only meant TO
brighten the passengers of the mails we
stopped Ever seen the CUTS Of a
Waterbury watch?r
| / nodded.
We'll, these dummies were worked on
much the same lines. Their inards was
chock- block with long steel springs,
James, and the wigs and boards made
'em look as fierce as II they was fed on
raw beef. Some of 'em could do the cut
lass exercise, others used to walk up
and down the deck on rails, and one used
to lean over the fore-c'le rail and spit
as natural as life. The works was 1ttei
to go for two hours; after that you had
to wind EN- up afresh.
I'VE had thirty of them German dunn
mics. continued Uncle Jonah. 'and il
you'd seen 'em half a cable away you'd
have taken your davy they was as 'uman
as any other pirates / believed in the
beggars myself. James, that's where
made my bloomin' error"
wrung his hand in silent sympathy
and resumed my notes.
IN bad weather" continued Uncle
Jonah. we had to keep tarpaulin COW
ers over 'em. unless we sighted a prize,
and when We got into the tropics some
of the faces. which was made of compo,
began to melt"
THAT was awkward" / commented.
mo, we carried few spare faces and
shifted the old 'uns. There's many a
human mand be glad TO ave his face
shifted the same. and wimmen, TOO. for
the matter of that. I knew a gal once
in Liverpool whose face-weH, never
mind about that he broke off; win
men amt likely TO trouble me any more
in this world. Take my advice. James,
and steer clear of females. They cost
man a lot more than they're worth, and
if one could only make female dummy
TO cook and sew on buttons
But my uncle's views on women were
not original.
Gently but firmly l resisted his di-
erosion, for our time was short and
facts meant money.
THE burst-up came about in this
way" Uncle Jonah resumed. Wed
taken one good prize in the Atlantic
and sent all hands comfortably TO he
bottom, when the agent sent me a code
message saying as how the Cape mail,
with di'monds and gold aboard, would
be off Madeira on certain date he
mentioned 1 managed TO fill UP with
coal from an old barque. which gave
US the DEVILS own trouble TO sink after
we'd done with her. and then steamed
south in good time to look after the
i Rhodes Castle. She was timed 10 leave
Madeira In the forenoon, and / wanted
to overhaul her in daylight. so as to let
the crew and passengers take stock OF
our dummies. These mails carry a lot
of people, you know. and one had to
put em in a blue funk. else they'd have
shown fight.
"She was well I'D to time and we
sighted her about six bells q p. M in
the afternoon watch. coming along AT
sixteen knots through a sea as smooth
as a duck pond. AS luck would have
it, there wasn't so much as a sailing
ship within twenty miles. and I made
almost sure OF them di'monds and the
gold.
Between you and me. James,
meant to retire from business if We
pulled il off. and l shouldn't have been
over particular about settling up with
the syndicate"
This confession OF dishonesty panied
me. but i let 1t pass. To reprove a
pirate for swindling his employers
, seemed on the whole inconsistent.
I'VE slowed down. continued Uncle
Jonah, impressively. wound up all the
dummies and stood by TO give her a
: couple OF rounds from our Al gun. The
|. chap who bossed that gun had been a
navy man and he could hit a funnel
He got ten quid a week from the syn
dictate and he said it made nice little
addition to his service pension of eight
: cen pence a day.
when the Rhodes Castle closed with
, in about five cables | gave the word
: and ran UP the black flag The navy
: man let rip and the foremost tanner
went over Like candle in hot room
The second shot carried away the chart
, house and part of the bridge, and then
, the captain stopped the engines
Now you must bear in mind we oTiy
, had twelve hands besides the German
dummies and the mail boat carried
, big crew without reckoning the pas
sengers We could have sunk her In
, half an hour. but il was no good doing
that till I'd got the stuff out of her.
MY plan was this: l left the mate
and the navy man in charge of the Fail
con and took the other mate along with
me in the boat TO overhaul the mail