The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-06-14
The Plunderers:
By c. curllsFg avNg. :.
%$*4*%@Sy $685.


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~ p.etty saleE spsv =
al course sgch irl C4ass lei assa
pleEes the Elost GUte4SautNL rl
gTcspiag that have ster ptttetl
ion since the record brs1n- a.4G9
only natural. bnt ( ptsht pQat o.r ~
sea thar in GG.tste gesllls yeL ,
IL The worst box yet Your slNt
hasn't been upset In tAe Re- so r,
and X aiSg be tl8t IL ctrtall cp0t1tta
II The Mexican s0lf Will pi4Ce lp tha
wheels and SCI X running cn uta4g i-
andy. Grunable K you like, Aiv. SAeif.
but don't make yourself oat to be The
worst used man IN history. Pharaoh
hadn't half You opportunities.
Yes. yes" said Shelf. who didn't
relish this kind OF conversation but
we Will come 10 business. II YOU please. -"
Right you are. Let's finish floating
the swinGle.'
Mr.. Ca,nbel.@ exclaimed the other
p~assionatcly, will YOU never learn 70
moderate Your language? There are 4
hundred clerks within a hundred feet
OF you through that door, and some
times even walls can listen and repeat.
Besides l object altogether 10 your
ph~raseology. We engage in no such
things as swindies in the city. our
operations are all commercial enter
prise"
Very WELL" said cambel. Struggling
his shoulders, don't lets sQuabble
over il. You call your spade what you
like, only l reserve a right TO slap on a
palmer brand. We're built differently,
Mr.. Shelf. l prefer to be honest in my
dishonesty. nj now. as I've said. let's
get to business. You say the charter
OF this steamer of yours, the Port Edes,
has expired and she's back on your
hands. She's 1000 tons, built under
Lloyd's survey and classed 100 AL.
She's we'll engined and has just been
dr~ydocked. She'll insur for every six
pence of her value without comment,
and there's nothing more natural than
to send out your specie in such a
sound bottom. Remains to pick a suit
able complement"
I've got a master waiting here now
by appointment. His names Kettle. l
ave him to a certain extent under my
thumb, n l fancy he'll prove q reli-
able man. He was once in our firms
employment
owen Kettle. by any chance"
Mr.. Shelf referred to Il paper on his
writing table.
Captain Owen Kettle-yes. lie was
the man who lost the Doge Of Venice,
and since hen he's never had another
ship"
POOR d. y vsaias 5ss I l. know Y, Thu. That
1oc' VI "a 1ASC Il an DIV u
scandal. Owners filled up the board of
trade surveyor to the teeth with
champagne. or she'd never have been
passed 10 sea-. AS it was, she'd such
an unholy reputation that two crews
ran from her before they could get her
manned. She was as rotten as rust
and tumbled rivets could make her, and
to ea.@ her dividends out of Lloyds.
Kettle had been out of a job for some
time. He was a desperate man, with
a family depending on him. and he went
as skipper fully conscious of what was
expected of him. He did it like a man.
North sea gale, n by a marvellous
chance managed to save his ships COM
pany. AT the inquiry, of course, he
was made scrapegoat, and he didn't
to save his ticket. They sus-
pended his masters certificate for a
On the strength of that he APP
piled for maintenance, putting it on the
reasonable claims of service rendered.
Owners, being upright merchants and
men, naturally repudiated all
knowledge or liability; said he was a
matchmaking scoundrel as we'll as an
unskillful anna and threatened him
with al action for libel. Kettle. not
having a solitary proof to show, did
the only thing left for him to do, and
that was eat dirt or subside. But the
incident and the subsequent starvation
haven't tended to sweeten his temper.
Latterly he's been serving as mate on
a Pacific ship, and he was just a holy
terror with his men. He simply kept
alive by carrying his fist on a revolver
butt. There wasn't a nan who's SER
we'd with Red Kettle three weeks that
wouldn't have cheerfully swung for the
enjoyment Of numbering him
You appear to know a good deal
about this man."
When it suits my purpose" returned
Cambel dryly, II mostly contrive to
know something about anybody. How
ever, it's nc use discussing the poor
beggar any longer. What's amiss with
having him in here2'
Shelf touched one of the electric
buttons which studded the edge of his
table, and a clerk appeared, who went
away again and shortly returned. With
him was a shriveled up little man of
about 40, with a red head and a peaked
red beard, who made a stiff, nervous
salaam to Mr.. Theodore Shelf and then
turned to stare at Cambel with puck
cred amaZement.
Cambel nodded and laughed. Been
carrying any more pilgrims from Port
Said to the Morocco coast on iron
decks?" he said.
Kettle.
"Ah. ones IN fails at times. I
dare say also you forget a water famine
when the condenser broke down, and
a trifling ARRAY with knuckle busters
and other toys. II Il dash of cholera.
and nine dead bodies of Hadjis which
went overheard? Perhaps, too, you
don't remember Judging a clean bill of
health and Notwithstanding certain
officials of his Shereetian majesty?"
No" said Captain Kettle sourly, II
don't remember"
I'm going to forget it also. if you'll
prove yourself a sensible man and deal
anlicatly with Mr.. Shelf and myself.
I'm also going to forget that when you
We're shipping rice for Calcutta in 1882
you rented mnts you called your own to
the consignor ana made a tidy penny
out Of that, and ! shall similarly let
slip from my memary a tritling squeeze
of $500 which you made out of g
stevedore in New Orleans before YOU
let him QUO onr ship in the fall OF
1887"
You can't make anything out OF
those" sai Kettle. They're tie ordi-
--,-. 80, .~e tl, x,lN