Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-07-20

THREE FOR TWENTY-SFVEN.
"kuw, my lads said Kettle you've
l9r 20 hump yourselves or well have
the steamer s7vamping beneath us. Ith
he torrrh and 20 anyway MIR. CalnSei,
You'll have the deck all 70 yourself af-
ter you've done your job on the fore
hold OF coarse and you'd better jump
lively frr- that at once. Every gill OF
wctcr tells now. and II strikes me II
we've very much more Of the Mexican
guh IN board the decks viii blow up,
snd she'll 60 down ike kentledge bal
last"
Cnmbel darted through the doorway.
And now Mr. sullivan. understand
that, although I suil continue to rate
rs skipper Of this craft for the present
| I'm cOing 10 work rs fireman and coal
trimmer. You VIII be chief engineer,
and I'm the sum total uc your crew,
and between US we've got to 90 the
work or seven horses and one mule.
are the hilge pumps clear?'
Yes sur'
And has she sulI good head Of
| S,can7"
she has. None'a been blown of
Then pick UP your feet and let's go
/ 20 your hardware shop and start IN
( work"
Wait a nit sor. said the donkey
man. There's things here ! don't uu-
/ dorsetaud. Aren't the lives Of US in
/ bea.tly danger? Didnt them boats go
/ off ttCaU~e the steamers sinking
/ ''Do YOU" retorted Kettle, consider
/ HnC one of those fancy sort of maniac
! vino have no wish 10 survive the loss
/ of a ship ! ten YOU ! should have been
/ drowned eight times already If that
! had been my lay No Mr.. Chief Fair
/ fights right enough, and I'd stand up
| TO Nick i'm that and value my life at
! lers than rice mat but at other times
/ you bet I'm no fool 10 chuck il away
] But" said the doukeyman, what
4 gets mes this II the blooming steam
/ er's bottoms shot out, what's the fun in
messing with it, The Mexican gulf
/ VIII circulate through that hole longer
/ than our bilge pumps VIII run
You tire me- Said the little man.
I Who said she'd her bottom blown~out?
! ! tell you this steamer was sunk a few
plates below her usual trim--for rea-
| sOns-and now We are going 90 pull her
up again. See here new Mr. Chief,
| take the cinCh from me and ask no
/ moro questions and youll get told no
/ lies. tn pay YOU. If you do as you're
! bid abroad uf me, you'll have sover-
! elgns enough given you 20 work
/ through the biggCst spree that was
| ever spread out in a seaport town"
The big donkeyman appreCiatively
drew the back of a hand across his
| muzzle. "Ah, captain. dear" he said
| coaNinaly. I'd just like to hear ye
/ mention figure"
Call Il two go rotes"
Then bc Christopher, I'm yer man
I for any piece of devilment in the cal
/ endar. Come along, captain, dear. 'Tis
/ q mcloGious little man ye are for all
/ they say against yez."
| Meanwhile the steamer was becom-
/ ing more and more water logged with
/ every plunge and roll, and Patrick
] q N3,r4 l.
/ 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
! ruliinES We're not Of such siCkening
strength but the stern loOmed high in
/ the wild night air, and the bows lunged
! deep into every successive sea that
! rolled UP from the stormy south. TAX
1 ing the green water over the fOrecastle
! head In masses which secured anchors
| and windlass to the naked iron.
The wash found its way below
/ through that tagged gap in the lower
! deck in crashing waterfalls, and every
! moment, too, the opened valve beside
! her keel was gushing in fresh gallons
! 10 her TWamping holds Any larger sea
which swept up now might well settle
] over her sOlidly and launch her with
! bursted decks onto the sponges 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 ap-
/ preciative onlooker. II would have
I been beyond the capabilities Of Can
tain Kettle, for Instance. CambeI. how
ever was the one man in the million
/ to whom the adventure was as meat
end drink. If he succeeded. then the
/ profit was his. II he failed, death
would be useful TO him. and anyway
! there was the wild excitement OF the
moment, which was a meal To be en-
! joyed and one which nothing could
snatch away.