Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-06-14
The Plunderers
BY c.. :. cUTLIFFE HYNE.
BY c. J. cUTLIFFE HYNE.

| vi NoulS sc SdSli man lllh liS Wv IL SIIl
ployes the most unreasonable and
grasping that have ever uttered opin-
ion since the record began. That's
only natural, but ! might point out tC
you that In definite results you aren't
In the worst box yet. Your charioi
hasn't been upset in the Red sea SO far
and 1t may be that a certain operation
iE the Mexican gulf will piece up the
wheels and set Ii running on triumph
antly. Grumble II you like, Mr.. Shelf
but don make yourself out to be the
worst used man In history. Pharaoh
hadn't half your opportunities
Yes, yes" said Shelf, who didn't
relish this kind OF conversation, but
we will come to business, If please
Right you are. Let's finish floating
the swindle."
Mr.. Cambel," exclaimed the other
~passionately, will you never learn to
moderate your language? There are a
hundred clerks within a hundred feet
OF you through that door, and some
times eve walls can listen n repeat.
Besides l object altogether to your
phraseology. We engage in no such
things as swindles In the city. Our
operations are all commercial enter
prise"
Very we'll" said Cambel, struggling
his shoulders, don't let's squabble
over 1T. You all your spade what you
like, only | reserve a right to slap on a
palmer brand. We're built differently,
Mr.. Shelf. / prefer to be honest in my
dishonesty. And now, as I've said, let's
get to business. You say the charter
of his 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
drydocked. She'll insure 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. /
ave him to a certain extent under my
thumb, and l fancy he'll prove a reli-
able nan He was onCe in our firms
employment
owen Kettle, by any chance?"
Mr.. Shelf referred to a paper on his
writing table.
Captain owen Kettle-yes. He was
the man who lost the Doge of Venice,
and since then he's never had another
ship"
Poor wretch-yes, l know. That
DOge OF Venice case was an awful
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
n was sent to sea as a coffin ship
to earn 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.
He let the Doge Of Venice founder in a
North sea gale, and by a marvellous
chance managed to save his ships COM
pany. AT the inquiry, of course, he
was made ~sCrapegoat, and he didn't
contrive to save his ticket. They sus-
pended his masters certificate for a
year. On the strength of that he APP
piled for maintenance, putting it on the
reasonable claims of service rendered.
owners, being upright merchants and
sensible men, naturally repudiated all
knowledge or liability; said he was a
Matchmaking sCoundrel as well as an
unskillful eama and threatened him
with an 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 man who's ser
we'd with Red Kettle three weeks that
wouldn't nave c~heerfully swung for the
enjoyment of numbering him"
You appear to know a good deal
about his man"
when it suits my purpose" returned
Cambel dryly, Il mostly contrive To
know something about anybody. How
ever, it's no use discussing the poor
beggar any longer. What's amiss with
having him in here?
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.
II never did that" snapped Captain
Kettle.
"Ah, ones memory fails at times.
dare say also you forget a water famine
when the condenser broke down, and
a trihing ARRAY with knuckle busters
and other toys, and a dash of cholera.
and nine dead bodies OF Hadjls which
went overheard? Perhaps, too, you
don't remember Judging a clean bill OF
health and Notwithstanding certain
officials OF his Shereefian majesty?'
No" said Captain Kettle sourly, ~
don't remember"
I'm going to forget II also, If you'll
prove yourself a sensible man and deal
amicahly with Mi. Shelf n myself
I'm also going to forget that when you
were shipping rice for Calcutta in 1SS:
you rented mats you called your own tc
the consignor and made a tidy penny
out of that, and / Shall similarly LEI
slip from my memory a triting squeeze
of $500 which you made out of 6
stevedore in New Orleans before yol
let him touch your ship in the fall OF
1857"
You can't make anything out O
those" said Kettle. They're the ordi-
nary customs of the trade"
ship masters perquisites for which
owners pay. Exactly. 1 know skipper.
consider these tribes TO be their Lawful
right, but a cour of law might b,
ignorant enough to set them down a:
robbery
Il should like to know where've yo,
got all these things from" Captain
Kettle demanded, facing Cambel Will
his lean, scraggy neck thrust fort
nearly a foot from its stepping. .
should like to know. too, how your.
here? I'd a fancy you were dead"