Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-11-16
DAILY SHORT STORY
When Shorty's Chance Came
Copyright. 1903. by c. B. Lewis.l

rOnC StfeeL tney knew shorty ~ diS-
gins. His given name was John, but
as he was a trihe less than five feet
high he was always called Shorty.
There was only one thing to console
Shorty in his struggles to keep dun
garee suit of clothes on his back and
prevent hunger from gnawing at his
vitals. He couldn't sing, play the fid-
die or dance a hOrnpipe, but he could
sneeze. The fame of Shorty's sneeZe
extended clear down to the Battery and
up to the Brooklyn bridge. 1t had
been heard up Wall street as far as
Exchange place. 1t was a sneeZe pc
culiarly his own, and no one could rob
him of it or produce a successful imita
ton. That sneeZe didn't come under
the head of 'promptness and dispatch"
1t was all of ten minutes from the time
his nose began to tickle until the ex-
plosion came. Explosion was the term
for it. When the sneeze finally came
it lifted Shorty's cap off his head, rent
new holes in his shoes and started the
cobblestones in the street from their
sandy foundations.
One day Shorty picked UP a bit of
news and was at once interested. No
one could remember when he had been
interested in anything before. The
Cubans had suddenly braced up and
sailed into the Spaniards with new
vigor, and the junta had raised a large
sum of money in the States to send
over a cargo of war material. Shorty
learned what craft would take the car
go and her date of sailing, and it came
about that he was included in the crew,
though the mate bestowed a kick upon
him is an IN. CT almost before the
ropes were clear of the Snubbing posts.
The craft went south to make a start
from u Florida port, and in due time
the munitions were on the rolling deep.
History is silent as to why the mate
got Down on Shorty and worked up
his old iron on him. Perhaps it was on
account of the size of his feet or the
squint of his eyes. Steamship mates
are rather eccentric in their likes and
dislikes. No matter what the basis,
Shorty was selected as the man to be
bounced about, and bounced he was.
The filibuster craft was delayed at sea
by accident, and again she was chased
off the Cuban coast by Spanish gun
boat, and the mate had five or six days
in which to make it plain to Shorty
that he was not beloved.
The steamer at length headed III for
the appointed rendezvous, but when
ten miles off the shore two things hap
pened. a gunboat was sighted bearing
down on her, and darkness had scarce
ly come when thick fog settled down
with it. Shorty wasn't to blame for
either the gunboat or the fog, but the
mate swore that he was and gave him
some more of the same old tonic
No living man had ever heard Shorty
O'Higgins utter threats Of vengeance;
no one had ever known of his striking
back. Had the fish dealers of Fulton
market been told that he thirsted for
revenge after that last bouncing about
they would have stood amazed. Never
theless, such was the case. Yes, the
worm had turned at last, and if the
mate had been a mind reader he would
have FASTENED to take off his cap and
apologize.
The filibuster had reefs to look out
for and an intricate channel to thread.
AS the fog came down she had to
grope. A little later she came to a
standstill. The Spaniard came up to
within half a mile of her and began to
play her search light. No good. Then
she crept forward, fathom by fathom,
with her crew at the guns.
The order had been flights OUT and
no talking aboard the filibuster. Ev-
erything that could creak and groan
was dashed fast, and such men as were
forced to move about removed their
shoes. The pail was so thick that a
man standing amidships could not see
stem or stern. The hare crouched in
her form while the hound hunted to
and fro. Presently, as the ocean was
as quiet as a graveyard, Shorty found
himself beside the mate. The mate
wasn't thinking Of bouncing anybody
Just then, but Shorty was reviewing
the past. He reviewed for five min
utes and then whispered in the mates
ear:
"AIr. Davis, I'm goin' to sneeZe."
eff you do, I'll throttle your replied
the mate as he turned on him.
mir. Davis. I'm goin' to sneeze. and
you can get ready to go to the bottom
Of the sea and be hanged to your
The mate had heard of ''the Shorty
sneeze," and even as he reached out to
grasp the originator and sole proprietor
by the throat and choke him into a
state of limpness he turned pale and
his heart pounded his ribs. He failed
TO get TO Shorty's neck in time. The
sneeze came, and it was a sneeze that
would have set 500 pedestrians along
Front street wondering what tug had
exploded her boilers. They could have
heard it aboard the gunbOat had she
been four times as far away. There
was q prompt hail in reply, and then,
as the filibuster captain ripped out an
oath and the mate drew his leg back
for kick, the Spaniard let go with his
port battery and three big shells crash
ed into the steamer A minute later
she was a sinking wreck and taking
half of her thirty-six men to the bot
tom of the sea with her.
Next day at noon Shorty O'digginS