Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-01-30
CHAPTER XII.
THREE FOR TWENTY-SEvEN.

tTouDle
CHAPTER XII.
!, THREE FOR TwENTY-sEvEN.
|. "Now, my lads" said Kettle, ''you',
got to hump yourselves, or Well have Il
steamer swapping beneath us. It'll
touch and go anyway. Mr.. Cambel, you
have the deck all to yourself, after you Y
. done your job on the forehold, of cours
and you'd better jump lively after that {
once. Every gill of water tells now, an
it strikes me If we've very much more
the Mexican gulf on board the decks wi
blow up, and She 60 down like kentlede
, ballast"
Cambel darted through the doorway.
"And now, Mr.. Sullivan, understan
that, although still continue to rate a
skipper Of this craft, for the present Tn
going to work as fireman and coal trim
mer. You will be chief engineer, and In
the sum total Of your crew, and between
US we've got to do the work of sever
horses and one mule. Are the bilge pump
clears"
"Yes, sor."
And has she still good head O
steamp"
"She has. None's been blown off,
your hardware shop and start in work ~
wait bit, sor, said the donkeyman
''There's things here don't understand
Aren t the lives of us in heastly dangort
| Didn't them boats go off because the
steamer's sinking ~
'Do you relorted Kettle, CONSIDER
me one of those fancy sort Of maniac who
have no wish to survive the loss of "a ship:
/ foil 7 sbp,tII 81
eight times already If that had been my
lay. No, Mr.. Chief. Fair fights rigtt
enough and I'd stand up to Nick in that
and value my life at less than rice mat,
but at other times you bet I'm no fool to
chuck it away
But" said the donkeyman, what
gets mes this: If the blooming steamer
bottoms shot out, what's the fun in
messing with itf The Mexican gulf will
circulate through that hole longer than
our bilge pumps will rum
You tire me" said the little man.
"Who said she'd her bottom blown out2 I
tell you this steamer was sunk a few
plates below her usual trim-for reasons
and now we are going to pull her up
again. See here, new Mr.. Chief, take the
cinch from me and ask no more questions
and you'll get told no lies. It'll pay you.
If you do as you re bid aboard Of me,
you'll have sovereigns enough given you
TO work through the biggest spree that
was ever spread out In seaport town"
The big donkeyman approximately drew
the back of hand across his muzzle. "Ah,
captain, DEAR" he said coaxingly, I'D
just like to hear We mention figure"
Call 1t two e10 notes. -
Then, be Christopher, I'm yer man for
any piece of devilment in the calendar
Come along, captain, dear. IT'S melo-
dlous little man ye are, for all they say
against yea"
Meanwhile the steamer was becoming
more and more water logged with every
plunge and roll, and Patrick Cambel fear
cd that his dangerous strategem for driv-
Ing away the crew had been carried too
lar. 1t seemed to him impossible that they
could salvage her now True, she was
brought up to the wind by the after can
vas, and her rollings were not of such
'ickening strength, but the stern doomed
nigh in the wild night air, and the bows
unged deep into every successive sea that
oiled up from the stormy south, taking
he green water over the forecastle head
masses which secured anchors and
fihuidso W Vie udkSu iron.
The wash found its way below through
hat Jagged gap in the lower deck in crash
ng waterfalls, and every moment, too,
he opened valve beside her keel was
ushing in fresh gallons to her swapping
olds. Any larger sea which swept up
ow might well settle over her solidly and
aunch her with bursted decks onto the
ponges and the coral growths 100 fathoms
Glow.
Some men, in the face of such condi. ,
ons would have been amazed, helpless,
hysicaIly incapable in the presence Of {
lat solitude to making any necessary /
Tort, Tor 1t Is one thing to do desperate !
latter before the eyes of an applauding {
'owd and another when the devil below I
your only appreciative onlooker. 1t
onld have been beyond the capabilities :
Captain Kettle, for instance. Cambel, q
oWever, was the one man in the million L
whom the adventure was as meat and !
rink II he suooeeded, then the profit o
a. his. II he failed, death would be use. o
IL to him, and anyway there was the wild Q
lcitement Of the moment, which was a q
eal to be enjoyed, and one which moth =
q could snatch away.
1t was in this mood of mind that the
an on whose actions the very outer air l
,istence of the Port Edes depended left 6
8 fellows in the chartroom and raced {
rward to where the jagged lip of the /
rehold hatch yawned to the splashinR 9
inc. Without lantern, without SO much
q look before him, he lowered himself {
to the twisted battens below, with the r
san water raining on to him from above 1,
I'd muddy wavelets squirting up from {
low, and then when the steamer gave a v
avy soend and the more solid wash from 1,
low smote him heavily upon the thighs a
loosed his grip and dived like a stone Il
rough the trimming shaftway of the t,
tch. h
Seconds passed, minute two minutes, b
still he did not reappear. Three min fc
rs. Then the rounded outlines of some fo
ing black rolled to the surface and surg
about Imply with the swill of the tf
ter. al
For awhile 1t staid so; then, swung by b,
heavier pitch of the steamer, was washed
the back of stanchion, where it hung. b,
e stopping water beneath ebbed steadi- be
The valve in the steamers bottom ca
! been closed. d.
During a whole hour Patrick Cambel be
eed behind that iron pillar, a mere fl
,eless mass of flesh and clothes, and Gu