The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-14

'Yonder comes Soupy, cir, = he exclaimed
EXCUSE me-, sir. I mean here comes Ad'
miral Blank. I'd "a knowed hin any
whore" and a few seconds later Soupy
the fat Admiral who had borne that nick
name in his MILDLY days, was shaking the Ole
man by the hand. q
Then for ten minutes young clerks and
messengers passing through that corridor
were startled to hear the immense roars OF
laughter that came from the corner Of the
hall where the two di9niHed Admirals had
the old peg leg held up.
Dye mind, sir was n Of the things the
old fiatfoot said to the fat Admiral, eth
time when, like all o. tn middies o. them
days. yer fust whit up ag'in tn saki at
Yokohama, an l had q cover We up with u
tarpaulin at tn landin' Z keep tn skipper
from seein' yer, am"
"Sh-shl" the fat Admiral broke in, hold
Ing up a warning hand. Some OF these
young Officers around here might hear you"
and then the fat Admiral vas poked in the
ribs by the tall Admiral, and the roars Of
two Of the highest men in the navy broke the
dignifed calm Of the corridor again.
But the OLD peg leg could not, OF course, be
shipped on account Of his missing leg, and
he went back to his comfortable home
In Iowa In a state Of keen disappointment.
About the same time another very old
nstfoot turned up at the Bureau Of Naviga-
ton, bent upon shipping FOR the affair in
Cuban waters at his old rate. that Of gum
ner's mate. or any old rate, so they would
let him ship. He came to Washington from
the prosperous duck ranch he was running
somew here in Delaware.
ThQr0 was NO ChanCo for him 10 shin for
the reason that his hearing had been badly
damaged by the explosion Of a big gun on
board his last ship. and he had been retired
for that reason. after more than Thirty
years service.
The first man he ran into at the bureau
OF navigation was a white haired Captain
with whom he had served two full cruises,
one on the Mediterranean and the other on
the Asiatic station, when the Captain wal
a MILDLY. The two had a great cugger-
muggering, which. however, was rendered
a bit difficult for the Captain for the reason
that he had to shout what he had to say
into the old ~shellback's ear trumpet.
When the old man for'ard told the Captain
that he wanted to ship for the fighting then
impending the Captain shouted into the
ear trumpet:
Why, confound it, Spike, you're so in
formally deaf that you wouldn't be able to
hear mess gear piped!"
AN l mind tn time, sir, " replied the old
timer quietly, his eyes twinkling, when
you couldn't hear meas gear yourself. That
was tn time, sir, when you an Tommy
O." naming another famous Cap
tain, got Z scrappin' that day in tn boiler
room o tn old Swatara-at Kobe, l think
that was-an' Tommy put y'r light out by
landin' on y'r eye, an l was chuckin' water
ON you Z fetch you aroun' when mess gear
was piped, an divvle a bit did We know
whether it was mess gear or pipe down or
all a abandon ship"
The captain chuckled over the recollec-
ton, n he made an effort to have his
old shipmate shipped in spite OF his in
trinity, but the thing couldn't be lone
and the shellback had to 90 back to his duck
farm in sore misery OF spirit because he
hadn't been allowed to ship.
While advertisement is, OF course, not
made Of the fact. it is pretty well known
that quite a considerable number OF de-
serters went back into the service when the
Spanish war began. These were seasoned
and crack men who had jumped ship in
advertently without really meaning to
desert-fellOws who had overstayed their
shore liberty and who found that their
ships had pulled out without them when
they came to.
They were, Of course, carried on the rolls
as deserters, but when they turned up and
announced their desire to serve in the
emergency a way was found to let them
in because they were sorely needed.