Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-28


piaors just then. / was chiefly IN need at
that moment of a proper place wherein TO
be real sick for little while. BY the time
l returned from the other side OF the road
All or my shipmates, haIf-dressed as Il for
a fire cali aboard ship were on, on the lit
tie lawn In earnest confab with Peter Lee.
They'd all been rocked In their beds and
one OF them had been rocked out OF his.
" Oh just a little shake-up-iittle rum
bling OF the crust. that's ALL Peter Lee
was explaining to them. Not a particle
OF danger. Might as well turn In again ron
boys House In built to withstand a hum
dred times worse work than this
Then ! noticed that most OF my shin
mates were sick. as / had been. and this
was curious part OF the business Most
OF US had been in the toughest seas known
without having a symptom Of seaslcknexs
and here we were all but turned inside out
by about thirty seconds of a violent cross
earth 1 call II a cross-earth because Il
was more like vicious cross-sea than any
thing ever want to see on dry land.
None OF US slept under the Volcano
House roof that night. We'd all heard the
tlmoers creak and groan during the con-
vaieion. and all of Peter Lees mild assur-
ances that the house had been especially
built to copper the efforts Of eartacuakes
TO toss 1t down went whtstling through the
happened to be the only guests of the Vol
cano House at tho time. We shook the
blankets loose from the other coverings on
our beds. wrapped ourselves In them, and
And right after the very early break
fast the next morning we got the driver
or our coach to make ready for a quick
departure. and then We gathered around
feter Lee and thanked him cordially for
his hospitality and the good care he had
taken OF US. adding. however that he was
perfectly welcome to his commodious al
Unanimously situated hotel. and that, 50 far
as we were concerned. II could always re-
main his, In fee simple. and without mort
cages or other membranes. Then we
climbed Into the coach and had ourselves
driven away from there. down hill at a
gaiiop all the way to Hlo and I am
bound to own that II took a whole lot of
sah and swipes and other Indigenous bot
tieo gear. on the way down. to get US
screwed up to the real chatty pitch IN
which we had made the upward tourney.
When the Water Was Shaken.
Next time 1 felt that G-strins pizzicaa
thing was In the harbor of AcapuIco.
mexico. and l was on board ship at the
time. We were anchored about a hundred
yards from thes'dobe water front of Aca-
p'iico. One red-hot night in February
the temperature had been 40 in the sun
that day. was standing at the starboard
gangway, half an hour after ppe-down
having pipe and buzz with the marine
corporal on guard. when the cruiscr-she
was or the gunboat class-began to execute
quick. jerky, fore-and-aft pitch and fall
away movement that made us grab at the
hammock MEETINGS to keep our feet The
TWO men awake on the main deck. most OF
the ships company that ordinarily swung
their hammocks below being corked or on
deck on account OF the heat and were
sound asleep. For an instant the sea
soldier and / figured that the magazines
were going to explode, and that we had
felt the preliminary shock of the explosion
below. But no explosion following our
next thought was that some OF the aux
HAIRY machinery had gone wrong The
dynamo and the air and circulating pump
and It seemed at first as II they might
have got to racing while those OF the
black gang below in charge of that gear.
slept on watch. But We dismissed all of
about ten seconds after our ship began to
rock on the dead calm and CLASSY waters
OF the harbor. great shrieking from the
shore.
It's old Atlas dropped his PACKAGE
the sea soldier yapped at me then. which
is a way men OF the sea have OF abiding
to earthquakes. and then l knew that IL
was one of those uncanny disturbances
away beneath the realm OF Davy Jones
that was doing the heaving. The bowling
of men and the shrieking of women on the
shore Increased as the agitation became
more pronounced. The pitching and rock
ing of the ship lasted nearly full minute.
and by that time all hands on board were
wide awake on their feet, standing by Tor
whatever might follow. We had a lot of
Dagoes and Greeks and such like In that
ships company, and 1 never saw so many
rosaries pulled out of bosom fronts IN my
life. The whole bunch that we'd shipped
on our Mediterranean cruise fell TO bead
counting and to crossing themselves and
pulling their scapulars out in plain view.
But the rest of the ships company was
cool enough-it takes the commoner FOLK
of the Latin species to show the deadhest
kind of fear when anything supernatural
like an earthquake swings along. BY TINS
IT. tna lin of
'dobe beach front was like the breaking
loose of a menagerie, and there was an
occasional thud from the same directioh
that told Of something falling down
Damage Done on Shore.
"The steam-cutter was swinging at the
eangway, waiting to make her last trip,
ashore to pull some officers on beach leave
back to the ship, and when my head man.
the chief engineerI was engineers yeoman
came on deck and told the onicer or the
deck that he was going ashore In the cutter
to look after some engineers stores thas
were heaped up on one OF the Acapulco
docks I asked to go along with him IN inc
cutter, and went. ar= ....e
ut hadn't been such a bad earthquake.
Acapulco had suffered much worse in her
day for that's an old, old town, founded
not 80 long after this hemisphere oiscoV-
ery-but It looked pretty bad to me. One
side or t'other wooden warehouses were all
a-wabble, piers were warped and twisted,
big 'dobe churches were out OF plump. ana
the whole picturesque place had the look as
IL a bunch OF drunken giants had slammed
along and kicked 1t. just for fun, as boy
trudging along a road will kick at an ant
HILL The poor folks were kneeling In the
roads calling upon God and the Madonna
and the angels to behold them with favor
ana postpone the hour OF greater wrath,
and. altogether. 1t wasn't just the kind OF
a business that sailorman inclined to
careless way of living cared to stand ana
look at for a long time at stretch
'T didn't look at 1t very long. for our
skipper who knew a lot about earthquakes
quickly summoned the steam cutter back TO
the ship and very soon our mudhook was
up and we were steaming out of Acapulco
harbor for the open sea. The skipper DION
mean to get caught by any tidal wave as
long as he had the coal to make steam
we stood out to sea for half day, put the
tidal wave didn't make its appearance that
time. and then we went back TO the maroon
and did our share toward Strengthening
things out ashore. -.
IT don't want to be shown any more
about these globe-quiyerings: I've neen up