Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-07-19
CHAPTER XII.

THREE FOR TWENTY-SEVEN.
Now, my lads" said Kettle, you've
got to hump yourselves. or we'll have
the steamer swapping beneath us. Itll
be touch n go anyway. Mr.. Cambel.
you'll have the deck all to yourself, al
ter you've done your job on the fore
hold, OF course, n you'd better jump
lively after that at once. Every gill OF
water tells now, and II strikes me II
we've very much more of the Mexican
gulf On board the decks will blow up
and she'll go down like kentledge bal
last"
Cambel darted through the doorway.
And now. Mr.. Sullivan, understand
that, although / still continue to rate
as skipper OF this craft, for the present
I'm going to work as fireman n coal
trimmer. You will be chief engineer,
and I'm the sum total of our crew..
and between us we've got to do the
work of seven horses n n mule.
Are the bilge pumps clear?'
Yes. sor.'
And has she still a good head of
steam?"
she has. None's been blown off,"
Then pick up your feet and let's go
to your hardware shop and start in
work"
WAIT a bit. sor," said the donkey
a There's things here i don't I'M
dersetand. Aren't the lives of us in
beastly danger? Didn't them boats go
off becaUse the steamers sinking?"
do you" retorted Kettle. consider
me one of those fancy sort Of maniac
who rave no wish to survive the loss
Of a ship? / tell you I should nave been
drowned eight times already If that
had been my lay. No, Mr., Chief. Fair
fights right enough. n I'd stand up
to Nick In that and value my life al
less than a rice mat, but at other times
you bet I'm no fool to chuck 1t away"
But" said the d~onkeyman, what
gets mes this: If the blooming steam
er's bottoms shot out, what's the fun in
will circulate through that hole longer
than our bilge pumps will run"
You tire me-" said the little man.
Who said she'd her bottom blown out?
/ tell you this steamer vas n a few
plates below her usual trim-for rea-
sons-and now we are going to pull her
UP again. See here, new Mr.. Chief.
take the cinch from me and ask no
more questions, n you'll get told nc
lies. It'll pay you. If-you do as you're
bid abroad Of me, you'll have sover-
eigns enough given you to work
through the biggest spree that was
ever spread out in a seaport town."
The big donkeyman appreciatively
drew the back of a hand across his
iHuZzlS. All, captain, uedr, he Sdlu
coaXingly. I'D just like to heal We
mention a figure"
Call 1t two ETC notes."
Then, be Christopher, I'm yer man
for any piece of devilment in the cal
endar. Come along, captain. dear. 'Tis
a melodious little man we are, for all
they say against yez."
Meanwhile the steamer was becom-
ing more and more water logged with
aEprN n1unCa and roll an6 pafvtnk
Cambel feared that his dangerous
strategem for driving away the crew
had been carried too far. 1t seemed to
him impossible that they could salvage
her now. True, she was brought up to
the wind by the after canvas, and her
rollings were not of such sickening
strength, but the stern doomed high In
the wild night air, and the bows lunged
deep into every successive sea that
rolled up from the stormy south, TAX
ing the green water over the forecastle
head in masses which secured anchors
and windlass to the naked iron.
The wash found it's way below
through that Jagged gap in the lower
deck in crashing waterfalls, and every
moment, too, the opened valve beside
her keel vas gushing in fresh gallons
to her swapping holds. Any larger sea
which swept up now might we'll settle
over her solidly and launch her with
bursted decks onto the PONCE and
the coral growths 100 fathoms below.
Some men, in the face of such condi-
tions, would have been amazed, help
less, physically incapable in the pres
ence of that solitude to making any
necessary effort, for ii is one thing to
do a desperate matter before the eyes
Of an applauding crowd and another
when the devil below is your only APP
preciative onlooker. 1t would have
been beyond the capabilities of Cap
tain Kettle, for instance. Cambel, how
ever, was the one man in the million
70 whom the adventure was as meat
and drink. If he succeeded, then the
profit was his. If he failed, death
would be useful to him, and anyway
there vas the wild excitement of the
moment, which was a meal to be en-
joyed, and one which nothing could
snatch away.
Continued Next Weekly