Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-26
SQUARED HIS UNIFORM

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'.There are. as the Turkish proverb has Il,
other ways of killing cat besides feeding
1t Grand Rapids breakfast food" said an
officer OF the navy. This. at any rate, was
the idea of Pete McSwing.
Pete was serving az a bo'sun's mate on
the cruiser to which was attached on the
mediterranean station. He was red-head
from the Cherry Hill region of Manhattan,
hard as flint, bow-legged and built like an
orang-outang, and as sober. self-respecting
sailorman as ever corked Off on the berth
deck and pounded his ear after the piping
OF knock-off. As man-o'-war's man Pete
was faultless in fact. except for his gam
bling propensity. An exceedingly keen gam
bier. McSwing. He could sit behind a pair
OF SevenS, with q years savings in the pot,
with the impassiveness Of a Russian ikon
or an oxidized Buddha, and get by with the
dun Just as often not. And he could
crouch behind four queens, pat, with equal
placidfty and control of his facial muscles.
Pete usually had the money Of the ships
company two days after payday.
He was pretty strong financially when
his enlistment expired and he was paid off
at Nice at the end of the Mediterranean
cruise. He had waived transportation, and
was going to return to New York on a
steamer from Genoa, to ship over again AT
the Brooklyn yard when he got ready and
had pushed his money in. He was about
5000 worth when he stepped over the side
ct Nice with his ditty bag and dunnage
Most OF that was money that had been in
the possession of various members of the
crew. for ard. for a brief time. It had drift
ed Pete's way in little games of chance
while the smoking lamp was aglow.
Pete, when he left the ship. bound for
Genoa to take the steamer for New York.
had one idea In mind: He was going to take
wallop at Monte Carlo game He had
heard lot about the Monte Carlo thing
ana II mad been appealing to his imagina-
s ,ion TOT good many years. He felt that
he'd probably never again be paid Off so
near Monaco with bundle on him. So he
made up his mind to have a peek at the
greatest Of all hazard banks and to try his
enough to him.
But when he arrived at the entrance to
what he called the Monte Carlo layout, Pete
was politely but firmly held up at the door,
lie was still wearing his bluejacket uni
form. Enlisted men Of armies or nayfes ara
not permitted to enter the Monte Carlo es-
Enlistment
The doorkeeper regretted the matter ex-
Struggling his shoulders but such was the
Underwriting and unbreakable rule. He
would that it were different, the doorkeeper
would, In order that monsieur might enter
himself milliards of francs-who knows?
But what could be done? Monsieur was
enlisted In the navy American, yes of
course: Very well! Then. plainly. it was
out OF the question for him to enter no?
amt enlisted nowheres now matey
Pete protested, mildly. I'm still sailing
under that rig, but I'm civilian proper at
the present stages of it, and answerin' no
calls whatsomever. Paid off yistiddy How
bout that Iettin' me in"
impossible, murmured the doorkeeper,
gravely. The other players had no means
OF showing that monsieur was not still con-
necteo, In an enlisted capacity. with the
navy American, since monsieur still wore
the uniform, and so long as monsieur made
his appearance in that automatically as
ne venerated the uniform of the navy Amer
lean. the doorkeeper protested, with a hand
over his heart-why. he could not
Oh said Pete then. it's me rig alone
that you're buckin' about, then messmate?
Well, I'll fix that o. K. and shipshape
enough
Peter McSwing swung about and went
down to Nice on an errand. The errand oc-
cupied several hours It was all Of O'Clock
at night when he returned to the gambling
establishment
Peter was in evening dress His trip to
Nice had been made for the purpose of
chartering the dress clothing The trousers
of the evening suit were fully half foot
too long for Pete's rather abrupt confor-
nation. and he had them turned up at the
bottoms to that extent. The sleeves OF the
coat were, similarly. Of vastly greater
length than called for by the reach of
back, of course. but he could take a wrink-
ling reef In the sleeves every half-minute or
so to keep his hands from being entirely
hidden from view. He had bought the dress
shirt at little off-side Nice shop 1t was
hand-embroidered in blue and pink silk
strands down the front, and was an aston
ishing work Of art In general. Carrying a
small-sized grip in his hand. Pete walked
into the gambling plant behind number
of others. and the doorkeeper didn't notice
him. his apparel being at least conventional,
If somewhat rakish and outre.
Pete followed the crowd and made his
carrying his small grip. which was partly
concealed beneath the rear folds Of his ex-
traordinarily ample evening coat. Arrived
at the table. he deposited the small grip on
the floor and began to play half-maximums
on his favorite sets Of numbers, after
watching the way the marble ran for a
while. Nobody at the table paid any partic-
ular attention to his comic makeup nor did
anybody notice his tremendous gnarled and
knotted hands. crowd around a Monte
Carlo roulette outfit doesn't notice anything
except the way the game is running.
Pete couldn't lose. There was no kind
of way that the game could go wrong for
him. When he began to haul down heaps
OF gold on his numbers the crowd began to
look at him and to laugh. McSwing didn't
mind the laughter. He knew that If he
idiot in that toggery all hands had a laugh
coming.
He played for just forty minutes. and
then he began to fell pretty warm and
thirsty. He had enough Of Monte Carlo,
anyhow. He was 1900 francs winner. He
tucked the gold into the big canvas bag that
he was carrying In the tail pocket of his
evening coat, picked up his grip. mopped
his forehead and made his way to one of
the retiring rooms.
Five minutes later he emerged from the
retiring room in his bo'sun's mates blue
jacket rig. He had easily effected the
change in the retiring room. His uniform
had been contained in the small grip that
he carried into the place with him. He had
restowed the evening clothes in the grip.
He staggered toward the door and con-
sternation instantly seized upon dozen or
so of attendants scattered about the great
room. They rushed over to Pete and de-
manded to know Of him how he had gained
admittance in that rig.
ION your way said Pete, scornfully to
them. sailed in troo an open hatch. like
a flliiloo bold. Me American blues wasn't
good enough to let me in, but they're good
enough to let me out and strong enough to