The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-03


from his chair. picked one from a
match safe on my desk. lighted his
cigar, and resumed his seat again. I
! have found it wisest to let him have
MS own way in times like these. If I
interrupt the flow of his talk il may
/ stop for the day. ard I lose the best
part OF the enjoyment Of having him
Pretty decent chaps, them English
men"-puff-p Uff-the volume Of smoke
was all right once more "One Mon
day morning I raj out of the Navy
Yard dock within sight Of the wreck
had been layin' up over Sunday to get
4 out Of the way OF a nOrther when
luffed a little too soon. and bang went
my bOwspTit and scTaped off about
three feet Of red paint from the end
Of the dock. One of the watChmen was
on the stringpieCe, and saw the whole
thing. Come ashore he says, and go
no paint off this dock with my permis-
sion
Wei. I waited four hours for his
nibs. When he come to his Office quar-
tiers he was bout up to my arms. red
IS a can buoy. and white hair stiCkin'
UP straight as a shOebrush on lis head.
He looked cross enough 70 bite a ten
penny nail in two.
q Ran into the dock, did ye-ran in
to Her Majesty's dock. and We had
room enough to turn a fleet in Do you
think We paint these docks for the fun
of havin' you Iubbers scrape it off?
You'll pay for paintin' it over, sir
that's what you'll do, or III libel your
boat, and send a file of marines down
and tic her up and away he went up
the dock to his office again.
I'm in a fix The boys stood around
and heard every word, and [ tell We il
warn't no joke As to money. there
warn't q SO bill in the crew. I'd spent
every cent I could rake and Scrape to
fit the Screaner out, and the boys were
WOrkln' on shares, and nobody was TO
get any money until the last stone
that big twenty-One ton felIer-was
board the brig Then I could go to
the agents in Hamilton and draw two
thirds OF my contract. That twenty-one
ton chunk, I forgot to EEL We, I had
picked up the day before, and It was
then aboard the Screamer. and he was
on bur way down TO Hamilton, where
the brig lay, when her nose scraped off
the admiTaI's paint
1T did look kind o nasty for Us, and
no mistake. One day more. and we'd
a been through and had our money
d" CO Up and see him. said the watch
man. He gifts cool sometimes as sud
den as he gifts hot So Bill Nevins,
my enginee VINO was WOTkin' the
h'ister, and I went up. he old teller
was sittin' on the piazza in big rattan
chair.
" Come aboard he holieTed, soOn's
he see Bill and me a-standin' in the
garden path with our hats of, lOokin'
like two jailbirds about to be sentenced
Wen, we got up Oh the porch, and he
looked US all over. and said;
q" Have you got that money with
yOu?' NO I said, I haven't and I
ups and tells him just how we was
fixed, and how we had worked, and
how short we was of grub and clothes
and money. and then I said, an now
I come to tell We that ! hit the dock
fair and square, and it was all my
fault, and that I'll pay whatever you
say is right when I put this stone
board and get my pay
He looked me all over-I tell you !
was pretty ragged; nothin' but a shirt
and pants on, and they was almighty
tore up, especially where most every
bodv wants to be cOvered-and Bill was
no better. Wed bout used up our
cIo'es so that sail needles nor nOthin
else wouldn't a-dOne US no good, and
we had no time nor no spare cash to
go ashore and get others
While I was attacking the old fell
IeTys ewes was a-borin' into miue-theu
he roared our, No, sir: you WON'T
you won't pay one id shillin', sir
You'll go back to your work, and Il
there's anything you want in the way
Of grub or supplies send here for it
and you shall have it. Good day I
tell We he was a rum one"
Was that the last time you saw
him - I asked.
Not much. When we got 1Ongside
the brig the next day, her cap'n see
that tWenty-One-tOn stone settin' UP on
the deck of the Screamer, lookin' like
big white church, aid he got SO
scared he went ashore and started
yarn that we couldn't lift that stone
sixteen feet in the air, and over her
rail and down into the hold, and that
we'd smash his brig, and il got to the
admiraTs ears and down come two
English engineers in cork helmets and
white jackets and gold buttons, spic
an span as if they'd stepped out Of the
chart-rOOm Of a yacht. One was a
colonel and the other was a major.
They were both just back from India
as natty-lOOkin' chaps as you ever saw
And clear stuff all the way through
you could tell that before they opened
their mouths.
Il was on the deck of the Screamer,
Overhaulin' the fall, surrounded by
most of the crew, gettin' ready to hist
the stone, when I first saw them. They
and the cap'u were away UP above me
Ieanin' over the rail, looking at the
stone church that some of the boys was
putin the chains round. Bill Nevins
was down in the fo'c's'le. FIRM up
with the safety-valve set at 125 pounds
He had half a key o Tosin and a can o.
kerosene to help out with in case We