Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-08-01

the steamers wake wet the %alligators
In their basking places behind the saw
grass, and the reek from her smoke
stacks scared the silt legged water
fowl afish In the shadows. She cOasted
round q bayou of black water walled
in by stern ranks of cypress trees. She
cut across another with graceful leaved
ragged cabbage palms spouting
out from above. And then she swung
again where the river forked and
steamed down a straight. answering
water lane which led to the very heart
OF the Everglades.
But the pace was slowing now, slow
ing indeed till the steamer would hard
ly steer against the current. which eve
n anon gripped her by the head or
the tail and carried her with sullen
sheerings dead onto mangrove cluster
or tree clad bluff, and the reason was
that the head of steam was failing.
Captain Owen Kettle. like more Chris
tian men have don before. ignored his
own previous preachings when the APP
plication came In n proved only hu-
mar soon after he had taken up the
role of fireman. Driven half lunati by
the heat of the work, he kept dipping
his lips in the water bucket n drink
ing heavy drafts. AS a consequence
that unpoetical complaint-cramp in
the stomach-overtook him at last and
tied him into those ungainly knots OF
torture which he had so frequently OBJ
served upon scientifically in others.
But as there was none at hand to adj
minister the heroic remedy of chloro-
dyne cum rhubarb cum laudanum cum
pill and give him something else to
think. about in the original kind of
knots he remained.
The donkeyman, with a hearty Bel
fast curSS, tried to do double work, but
as he had been laboring quite to the
top of his strength for many hours pre-
viously the effort did not meet with UNI
qualified success. AS any one with less
logged wooden pluck might have
known. 1t Is impossible for one mar to
fire a twelve furnace steamer, wheel
himself coal for the bunker and act as
engineer and greaser when required,
however great be the initial supply of
brute force with which God has en-
dowed him: Every time he wiped the
wet from his eyes and looked at the
steam gauge 1t had climbed down since
the time before, II however %furiously
he might heave new fuel onto the
cak!ng clinkers that jumping index
would continue it's downward crawl.
The oiled rumbling of the engines
slowed and grew more sluggish, and
then the ponderous cranks took to stop
ping on i turn as though to gain
strength for the next round. But this
did not go on for long. The Donkey
man felt a gentle heave of the foot
plates beneath him and then a heel
which was not recovered. BE gor,"
fasd he, the bloody old tramp's TUX the
ground at last. Thanks be-"
He pitched his shovel through a dull
glowing furnace door and turned to
where the little captain was lying on
the polished footplates, holding a yell
low faring slush lamp before him to
see through the sitting dusty gloom.
CUM" he commented. "The old man
vol pretty sick. I'll crane him up in
the ashlift."
This he did and took his commanding
officer into the main cabin, where the
air was bright and baking, and the
mosquitoes We're biting like dogs. Then.
throwing back the lid of the medicine
chest. which stood beside the door in
to the companionway, he gazed appye-
ciatively at the rows of bottles. un-
stopped one or two M shifted at their
contents and then slammed down the
lid again as a thought struck him.
NO" he said. Red Kettle wouldn't
give me physic last time 1 thought I'd
like a dose. an onw I'll see how he
fancies getting around on nothing. Fair
plays a jool. i'll Just report to the
pilot an then urn In"
The pilot" however. when the don.
keyman had YEARLY hauled himself on.
to the upper bridge and stood by his
Side, proved to be SO dead asleep that
no amount Of shouting or shaking
would wake him. Even he flies did
not make him vince.
"Sor, wake. or yen be suntrook, If
yere not that already. Rouse, sor. I
can't lug We below, an I can rig an
awning. I'm too tired to speak again,
put If yez stay there yell fry like a
rasher and be ate by flies. There's a
whopping skeeter In each Of yer eye
holes this minute, an a kind Of locust
browsing on the end of yer snout.
Listen. I'm knockin wild a boot toe on
yer ribs. Well, man, If We won't listen
to reason. it's just leavin yez I am to
stew In yer own juice"
The donkeyman climbed heavily back
down the ladder and went with weary
steps aft along the bridge deck toward
his w place. But at the break Of the
deck he paused. spread his grimy.
Shiny elbows on the rail and ndulged in
a thin. small whistle.
NOW, here we have come, as the
skipper remarked. up an unbeknown
1rain TO which mans improvements
nave not been INTRODUCED, and there's
callers turning up already. That was
the nose OF a gaff-taupsl squintin be-
tween those tree tops down stream a
minute ago, or I'm a Dago. Dye know,
MIR. Sullivan. chief OF the Port Edes.
III peSlnnln TO think ye'd nave got
better value If ye'd gone cruisin off by
an large Wild the other boys in the life
boats. Thrue. there's the twenty Ell
notes to dhraw. an a daisy Of a spree to
nave II yez can get anywhere to have
1t. but we've worked that wage ont al
ready. an It rather seems as Though
there's more l~aboriousness to follow"
He yawned GENEROUSLY. "'Tisr't Of
ten I'd say no to a bit of a scrimmaRe.
u theatricals are not to my taste Just
now at all. Too much overtime ruins
the n of humor.'' He yawned
again and blinked his eyes drearily.
Y u turn in now, Mr.. Sullivan. or
yell fall down here an be ate alive
by the skeeters an other wild beasts of
the forrust. n II the explorers who
are underneath that white gafftaupsl