The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-08

an English Saxon, is what Gas half par
 eno I shall make it my business to find
 out"
 But when Vic Morris argued he liked to
 be sure of his premises. And he remem- ! bered that he knew no more of this in- | truder than that he asserted his name
 to be Bryan, and that Vida was his
 daughter-which might have no more se- | cure basis than the previous legend that
 he had finished a wholesale massacre,
 and with cleaning up the place after l wards.
 Still, Vic did not put this into words.
 He knew that 1t could not be many min i utes before old Dick F'innan would be ! coming along through the gates of Glebe l End and that in all likelihood Vida would
 be with him. Then everything would be | explained.
 1 Meanwhile the man in possession went
 on calmly washing up. He even turned 1 and rated Vic Morris for his idleness.
 He was, according to him, "a great hullSing lout, no better than a constabu-
 lary, standing there first on wan anvil
 top of a boot and then on another, doin' nothing at all, at all for the privilege of 1 breathing Gods airi'
 If ye was on wan O His Majesty s | lighthouses now, we'd learn you different,
 that we wud. Why, in Dicks tme-but I it's no use wasting good Solomon on the 1 likes O you. Catch hold of a dish-clout i and dry for your lifen
 1 And a drying towel came towards the | engineer with a damp whoosh that sent
 up his cricket-trained hand to catch it as l if he had been fielding point" l So, when Vida pushed the door open
 and entered with her marketing basket on 1 her arm, she was astonished to find two | men hard at work with their backs to-
 ward her. They were finishing up the
 dinner dishes and a Hibernian voice of
 astonishing power was criticising the 1 work of the brevet scullerymaid with
 more. frankness than compliment.
 "If ye cleaned refiectors no better than ] this. me son." he said. holding up q
 salad bowl on which remained some oily , streaks, tits ashore ye wud go by the l next boat-an sthop there. Iris easy l seen ye have been trained in a school for
 young ladies. Now there's my daughter
 Vida
 And the next moment, with a cry of | Billy! Billy!' her arms were about his neck, the basket having been dropped on
 the settle with small care for the fragil- | ity of the contents, while, with the re- 1 jected salad-bowl in his hands, turning it | about as in conjuring trick, Vic Mor- ris watched the scene open-mouthed. l Afterwards, when Dick Finnan came in 1 and had taken his supper, the cover being laid for one dor Vida had been all the | afternoon at Rose Nunsby's), Dick light | ed his pipe. holding his head near the 1 open fireplace so that the "reek would draw" as he remarked For Vida did not | favor the smell of tobacco in her house. 1 Then, being pressed with questions. Mr. 1 William Bryan began his remarks by di- | vulging to the astonished company how | that he had resolved to stop smoking. | ''Ye see," he said,s .reiefs are so un-
 certain on them island lights that I wud
 rather bedout altogether. of my own ac-
 cord, than run the risk being put to l it, whether I will or whether I won't l Besides 'tis more manly. It fairly puts 1 a premium on cadgng to see other men's s
 tobacco pouches bulging all over the table
 and to feel yours, flat and empty, in your l pocketp'
 l This subject having been exhausted, | MT. Bryan proceeded to give his late chief the most alarmingly technical informa- l ton about the workings of the Skerry | Light, the shortcomings of his late mate, l Tom Arrowsmith, the misfts of the new | spare electric plant. and how one fell l night (both regular and relief fail- l ing) they had to turn the lantern by | hand-lhow the syren would only splutter | and cough, and how they muttered pray CTS, indiscriminately to the Virgin. the | Saints and the God of all poor sailors out cast on stormy seas, that if evil befell, the | weight of it should not come upon these l two toiling watchers. Protestant and 1 Catholic, but upon the engineers and storekeepers, the contractors and supply | clerks, who had done last months pro- | viding for the Skerry Light. From Arrowsmith cursed them," said | Billy Bryan, with gusto "and when Tom | was finished saying his piece in the style | of General Booth (for he wears that uni- | form when ashore), I took it up with as | much as I could reminder of Father Dim I his upon the altar steps in the ovid | chapel at Roscommon. And if there is a | fair division O pains and penalties when the last indent sheets are filled out above | there's a power av Northern Light an | Thrinity House men that will be down | with something worse than the stummick- l achev'
 l But nothing struck your rock?" said | Vida, anxiously.
 No, the morning came, as it always will, honey, if only ye wait long enough. | And it was a clane-swept sea that lay l about us. So then we reversed engines and did some thanksgving-g down on 1 our knees to do it, and Tom Arrowsmith | clear forgot to miscall the Pope for a whole day. and I promised to contribute | to the Army's Self Denial Fund | 50, chuckled old DICK, between | puffs. that was the meaning of your | giving up smoking. l thought there was | something behind that yarn about the to- l bacco running outl''
 l Billy looked ashamed and at once at l tempted to change the subject. l He looked across at Vic. and with a 1 twinkle in his eye, he said, Him an me | nearly began our acquaintance with a | dooel but I vanquished him and set him | to wipe crockery. Though I must say | he's no great hand with the drying | towel!"
 | Whereupon Dick F'innan explained that l Mir Morris was the underground engin- ger of the Incubus pits. and the best hand | at telling when the men were near 'the | stuff'' that ever had been seen in Kirk | town.
 "Ah, well!" said Billy, "praise the pigs. l there's a job for every man if only he can find it. Even Tom Arrowsmith. the stupidest man that ever shinned up a l lighthouse ladder. has his good points. He can blow his nose equal te any magis- trate on the bench-like the Skerry fog horn. but more solemn like.' Vic was