The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-22
ORPHAN CROCODILES ARRIVE.
CREELS ATLANTIC SWEPT THEIR
MOTHER OVERHEARD.
she was Chasing a Gentle Member Of the
Chinese Crew OF the AthOll Up the Ris-
gjns-Can 4 Crocodile C1imb?-Maybe
Not, bul Tiis One Knew Things,

ls@ ~ - ~ StNss ~
Not, buI This One Knew Things.
mo B.,tiAh steamship Atholl, which
aided for this port from Yokohama a week
before Christmas. got to her pier at Tomp-
k,usyulc, Staten Island, on Tuesday. She
was bruised ard battered from the hammer
ing of great waves and when she nestled up
aoairst the pier the engines seemed to quit
Nth a sort of sigh OF relief.
First Office Murray. bossing the Lascars
who we're Juggling of cargo yesterday,
heard a pigIike squeal Of rage from some
where in the forecastle. He grabbed a
slant eyed sailcrman by the slack of his
trousers and whirled him around.
you, Wong Heel" shouted Murray, get
down there and let Mr., Ching Kan Won
uuicratarh from mo that il he so much as
winks at those poor motherless little oroco-
dies 'hcrc'll be n more chink in the bosom
Of Corft.cius, Savvy? Git"
Wong Hee slid forward, his black eyes
rDinting, hut never a shade OF expression on
US yellow face. The squealing in the fore
castle stopped. 1t was succeeded by noises
like the gentle beating, of large tin pans, a
sing song whine or two and nothing more.
In his cabin, pouring some of the stun
lldl I!lubc ulS COuIlliy hiONH W
Glasgow, Mr.. Murray said:
Would ye like a glance at the log, now?
II tells the story in a manner Of speakin',
hut it doesn't do justice by half, and yet
its a regular comic opera kind OF a log,
such as no real sailor is keen to exheebit.
The adventures Of the Atholl were there
set forth plainly, with nc attempt at imegi-
native narrative. There were records of
taking in and discharging cargo, a men
ton here and there of a three foot
crocodile named Lena, entries of
latitude and longitude, and event
ually, in a casual sort OF way, the chronicle
of the gale which hit the Atholl in the Allan
tic and the strange adventure which befell
Boatswain Ching Kan Won with a crocodile.
NO said Murray, refeotivety, lit doesn't
seem TO do the whole thing Justice and
he told tho tale as he saw it.
The Atnoll sailed on December 10 from
Yokohama with a crew Of thirty-seven
Cinnamon and a bunch of Lascars in the
stoke hole. The Atholl is a Lieth boat
and all the officers except Capt. Charles
Kemp are Scotch. She had a general
cargo and she loafed down the coast Of
China, putting in at Shanghai, where she
spent Christmas; then to Hong Kong for
more cargo. After that she put out for
Manila, got around in time to the coast
of southern India and touched at Cochin
on the Malabar coast. Cochin is where
the trouble began for Ching Kan Won and
his thirty-six compatriots.
There was a Scotch doctor at Cochin
who had reared tenderly from babyhood
q crocodile which he named Lena. Lena
had become a little too large and turbulent
for the doctor, and 80, when the Atholl
anne in, he made a present of her with
two eggs she was mothering to the chief
engineer, Day, whom he had known back
IN Leith. lena came aboard in a crate
which held a shallow tank and vas covered
with a tarpaulin. Ching didn't know
what was in that crate until the Atholl
put to sea again, and he dropped onto the
box one hot night to burn a pill Of opium.
There was a queer rasping noise and Ching
lore away from the crate with his teeth
rafting in fright. He came back with
two or three more scared Cinnamon, gin
gerly lifted the tarpaulin and Jaw an angry
lady crocodile with a full set Of teeth.
From that day Lena's life was in danger.
The chief engineer regarded Lena as the
apple of his eye and ~speculated as to when
the eggs would hatch. He didn't know
Nllt ~ CdStlt DNOl WIN q pcCh tlhuc
by the Cinnamon against his pet until a
cabin boy told him that Ching had been
seen hanging around the crate with a long
knife, waiting fora chance to rip Lena open.
Day was hot and investigated. He found
that the forecastle did not regard Lena as a
geological specimen at all, but as an ugly
and very evil spirit which would assuredly
bring misfortune on the ship.
The cabin boy said the Cinnamon had
fed poison to Lena by the pint but she
shoot her, but they we're waiting for a
chance to slit up her tummy and smash the
eggs. Day went into the forecastle and
demonstrated with Ching and such Others
as happened to be handy. Ching grinned
an oily grin and looked as innocent
as he could, which wasn't much, Day
gruntea and had the crate watched night
and day, threatening to cut the queue of
any Chinaman thu; monkeyed Whereabouts.
1t was on February IL that the Athcil
mercury jumped to 1907 degrees and stayed
there for forty-cight hours. Then Lena
became n mother.
The two eggs which she had achieved
durir.g her frivolous. girlhood at Cochin
became two diamond eyed gray shouted
little crocodiles. which made queer little
noises. The intense heat had hurried
things a bit. Ching and his friends took
the news with Oriental impassiveness but
with a strained look in their eyes. That
I'!EIll TWO Ol NDtlH WtIt hlChed away ITOH
tic crate, where they had gone with long
stickB to finish Iena's ba bies. 1t was a
touch and 30 from then on as to whether
he slippery Cinnamon could be kept away
from that crate. Lena herself seemed TO
know that the yellow men wished her no
good, and whenever one Of them came near
size would throw her tail around and give
II husky hiss like n big snakes. Day
threatened to turn her loose in the fore
castle il Ching didn't leave her alone, and
the threat seemed TO do some good.
The Atholl vent through the Suez Canal
and stopped at Algiers. Out went the ship
through Gibraltar and headed across the
Atlantic. This end came in latitude 81 de-
grees % minutes inc longitude 6s de-
grees A minutes, on March Is. That
night the Atholl ran into a sea blizzard. The
mercury dropped to 10 degrees above zero.
Tremendous waves smote the steamer and
hammered her until she groaned. The
wave knocked the chocks from under the
lifcboats, twisted the steam piping
smashed the guards and raised Old Ned gen
orally.
At midnight, when the storm was at its
worst, First Officer Murray heard a scream.
1t seemed to come from the rigging forward.
he made his way there and saw Ching
90 %