Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-06

cry turned back, In evident defiance of the
mates orders, and were but too obviously
prepared to take the side of the passenger
In any fight which might occur between
him and the unpopular man who mad,
through the captains Illness fallen into
the supreme command of the ship.
Parton stood waiting for him, notW1th-
standing the evidently friendly intentions of
the sailors, and there was in his face that
iron look which made the mate COVER be-
fore. 1t made him cover again, and with
muttered oath he slouched out of the cabin,
the two sailors who were standing in the
companionway entrance retreatng before
him. After he had reached the deck Par
ton could hear him cursng the men and
giving various bullying orders.
For a moment Parton stood quietly listen
ing to him. and then went to the captain
berth. rendered anxious by the strange
change which he saw had occurred in the
appearance of the old man.
There were still mutterings but they were
no longer confined to the words of the queer
oath which he had substituted for more
offensive swearing in order to please his
wife. In fact the noises which now came
from his lips were not words at all, but
mere incoherent, unconnected, almost mar
ticulate sounds.
But Parton scarcely felt that the change
was for the worse, for there was unmistak-
ably CLEAN of real intelligence in the eyes
of the PROSTATE seaman. His skin, too,
which had been CHASTITY white, glowed as
with a fever and the hands now moved
spasmodically and with an uncanny rapid
ity
There seemed to be something desperate
in their continual struggles to open and
shut quickly.
Their movement was so strange and so
great a change was indicated in it that for
a moment Parton kept his eyes fixed upon
them, scarcely glancing at the captains
face, and paying small attention to the tor
rent, slow moving, but ceaseless, of uncon-
nected words which dubbed from between
his lips. From these words it was apparent
| Dot bot fI,A oil
dwelling in It's enfeebled state. on the fact
that he had violated the insurance regula-
tons, and had among his cargo the in
voice of explosive. For over and over again
came the words:
"Amidships, Amidships. Amidships!' And
then, even with the three iterations came
the word Humber. Humber! Humber! At
first Parton did not conceive the Idea that
there could be an intelligent intention in
these words, but then he remembered that
the explosive which the captain had told
him about was slowed amidships and that
its name was humberite.
| He wondered vaguely II death was i'm
pending for the old man, and it, as SO
many people declare is often the case with
| dying people, he was thinking OF the fact
/ that he was carrying 1T without the knowl-
! edge of the underwriters in violation Of his
/ insurance agreement, with possible remorse
Parton smiled graVely he considered
| this possibility. He wondered If there was
no greater sin on the soul of the old sailor
| were as clean.
| He listened idly to the other babbled
! words that followed. not dreaming that
| there had come In the condition of the
| patient a change which would permit him
| TO express intelligent ideas, no matter how
| crudely.
But there was an expression of such anx-
| iety and look so much like the old intelli-
| gence of the face there on the countenance
| of the PROSTATE man that when he caught
| one of the words which followed Parton
| started and paled with a sudden thought of
| peril.
| The word was Fire." and It was pro-
| nounced and repronounced with that
! strange monotony of repetition which had
! been one of the characteristics of the cap
| tain's mental disease from the first.
| If Parton had studied medicine in any of
| the modern schools he would have known
| that the old man at this moment show
| ing unmistakable symptoms of new and
not unfavorable stage of the disease which
! had stricken him down. He would have
| known that his trouble from the start had
| been caused by lesion. or bursting of q
| capillary, near the center of speech, and
| this change from the repetition of the pure
| ~ meaningless words of his queer oath to
| other words which might possibly have
! some meaning might indicate that the re-
sulting blood clot was being absorbed by
ideas intellgently was returning to the old
man.
| He would also have known another thing
| which surely would have increased his pity
and sympathy for the sturdy old mariner q
| hundred times-that very likely during the
entire time that he had been lying there
| PROSTATE and apparently witless he Nigh,
very well have been able to think and rea-
SON as clearly as he ever cou1A and been de-