Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-10-07

T. risks.'
 ''Yes, he's reckless tonight. I'm pret- ty we'll used to young chaps with hot headed notions but the older grow the less like the captain who boasts in port that he never went half speed. Sooner or later he gets lesson Some times the engine-room pays for it. Most sy, I might say.''
 The younger resumed his rounds through the machinery, his light had on a bearing, swift touch on driving rod, a squint at an oil cups turn on a valve. The swcrving bedpiates, the laundering cylinders far above, the clacking pumps, the whirring shaft sang about him as he went. Suddenly the steady roar of the huge engines was dulied. The hard pressed thrust blocks ceased their shrill cry. The plunging piston rods slowed up. With sigh the engine-room took up the lower beat for half-speed. But the assistant had noticed one strange thing. He quickly joined his chief, and looked at the dial of the telegraph. It still pointed as 1t had for the last hour. The elder man answered his inquisitive glance with a low, T don't know what the deck means"
 Before another word was said, there came slow. sucking lift; the Amphion rolled over till the lanters dimmed. She recovered with surge, and as the chief engineer wrencheA fhe steam valve shut, the plates beneath their feet bulged up- ward. A moment of tense straining i'll the stilled machinery, and then, as if freed from some elastic bond, the steam CT leaped forward again. There was the sharp clang of door, and stoker pushed his sweaty face above the grat- tng with cry. But the old engineer threw the steam into the cylinders again, and the engines throbbed in response. ''The propellor's still there,' he cried, shutting off steam once more.
 The third assistant was gazing st the telegraph dial. The indicator had not moved With an oath he snatched g pair of nippers from the rack and thrust the claws up into the wires behind the face Then he turned in blazing tri- umph to his superior. He shan't put her over at half speed now" he shouted, "and then tell the inspectors that it was us that kept her driving.
 Before the words were well out of his mouth, jolt threw them to the plates, and as they scrambled up again the Amphion seem to crumple up under them Then with the screeching of riven plates and drawing rivets, the steamer settled on the reef A breaker flung itself in thunder against the side, l and the spray fell like rain through the skylight. The sharp clang of the gong filled the engine-room. That was the half-speed bell,n said the chief, dully, | in the lull that followed the rattling | boom His assistant, while the awak- ened engineers of the other watches ! peered curiously through the darkness with eyes still heavy from sleep, caught up a lantern that was still burning, and threw its beam on the dial of the tele- l graph. It still pointed to full speed l ahead. q knew he'd try 1t, and fooled hin!" he cried.
 Tn the turmoil that followed, while stoker and oiler and engineer fled from the water bubbling waist high, the chief gathered up his own log-book. and care I fully tore it up. The fragments he cast on the foamy brine that rose about his engines. T ain't going to fight unfair. 2 l he muttered.
 l On the bridge of the wrecked Amphion l she crew huddled cheerlessly. The slow I streaming seas that emerged from the l fog and night to wfndward broke heavily l on the submerged hull, and the spume I ran in rivers from mast and stanchion. sT had the engine-room telegraph at half speed" said the captain, whitefaced "and I've got it down in the log that we ] slowed down as soon as we got into the fog guesG that'll satisfy the inspectors that I've done all right, and we'd not ha l run out of our course unless the engine room had disobeyed orders and kept her I full speed"
 The third assistant pushed forward and stared at the captain with open mouth. Then he shook his fist, wildly .'That aint so" he bawled. T knew yer tricksl got witness down below! Ye don't lose mo my papers that way! Any body with two grains of sense 'ull know this old hooker couldn't pile up this l high on any half speed. I tell ye, ye don't lose me my papers!" He turned round tc his fellows of the enginee-room. What 1 does the telegraph down there read r
 he yelled.
 The old engineer, rubbing between his
 palms the omnipresent badge of his au- 1 thority, bit of cotton waste, gazed al l the pallid master of the wreck. and l shared his shame. With gesture, ht I silenced his ahrieking men, and bullied
 the third mate with his eyes. T was on I watch tonight with my assistant" he commenced, harshly T am responsible for this I've lost my engine-room log
 but 1t was my orders that kept her driv.
 ing. It was all my doings, and guess
 I'm old enough to stand by 1t. To hel
 with the rules of the road! Let's play
 this fair.
 .But--" began the third assistant witr
 cry.
 "Shut up!" believed his chief. l The yellow lanters on the tilted bridge
 f1ickered in the wind, but their unsteady
 flames were not more wavering thar
 the eyes of the captain. T put her ovel