Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-07-27

VlouSly the effort did not meet with I'M
qualified success. As any one with less
dogged wooden pluck might have
known. it is impossible for one man TO
fire twelve furnace steamer. wheel
himself coal for the bunker and act as
engineer and greaser when required,
however great be the initial supply OF
brute force with which God has en-
dowed him. Every time he wiped the
wet from his eyes and looked at the
steam gauge IT had climbed doyvn since
the time before, and however furiously
he might heaVo new fuel onto the
caking Clinkers that jumping index
would continue its downward crawl.
The oiled rumbllng OF the engines
slowed and grew more sluggish. and
then the ponderous cranks took to stop
ping on a turn as though to gain
strength for the next round But this
aid not go on for long. The donkey
man felt a gentle heave of the foot
plates beneath him ana then heel
which was not recovered. BE gor,"
said he, the bloody old tramp's TUX the
ground at last. Thanks be-"
He pitched his shovel through a dull
glowing furnace door and turned TO
where the little captain was living on
the polished footplates, holding "A yell
low tlaring slush lamp before him to
sec through the sitting dusty gloom.
CUNT" he commented. The old man
lbO>N HltAAg SANhs 4 al Nldllt llti UP III
the ashlift"
This he did and took his commanding
officer into the main cabin. where the
air was bright and baking, and the
mosquitoes were biting like dogs Then,
throwing back the lid OF the medicine
chest, which stood beside the door in
10 the COmpanionWay, he Eazed aDpre-
ciativoly at the rows Of bottles un-
stopped one or two and shifted at their
contents and then slammed uown the
lid again as a thought struck him.
No he said. Red Kettle wouldn't
give me physic last time l thought I'd
like dose, an onw I'll see how he
faT"ics getting around on nothing. Fair
plas joOl. III Just report 10 the
pilot an then turn in
The pilot however when the don
keyman had wearily hauled himself on
TO the upper bridge and stood by his
side, proved 20 be SO dead asleep that
no amount Of shouting or shaking
would wake him. Even the files did
not make him vince
'SOr wake. or ven be suntrook II
ye'rc not that already. Rouse, sor. l
can't lug yc below, an | can't rig an
awning. I'm too tired TO speak again,
but il yez stay there yen fry like
rasher and be ate by flies. There's a
whopping skeeter in each Of yer eye
holes this minute, an q kind of locust
browsing on the end of yer snout.
Listen. I'm knoclin wild a boot toe on
yer ribs. Well. man. If ye won't listen
to reason, its Just leaviu yez ] am to
stew i'm yer own juice"
The donkeyman climbed heavily back
down the ladder and went with weary
steps aft along the bridge deck toward
his own place But at the break of the
deck he paused. spread his grimy,
shiny elbows on the rail and INDUCED in
a thin, small whistle
Nov, here we have come. as the
skipper remarked, up. an unbeknown
drain 10 which mans improvements
have not been INTRODUCED, and there's
callers turning up already. That was
the nose OF a Raf taups'l squintin be-
tween those tree tops down stream a
minute ago, or I'm a Dago. Dye know,
Mr. Sullivan, chief of the Port Edes
I'm beglnnin 10 think ye'd have got
better value if yed gone cruisin of by
an large wild the other boys In the life
boats. Thrue, there's the twenty E1
notes TO dhraw, an a daisy OF a spree to
have II yez can set anywhere to have
it, but we've worked that wage out al
ready, an il rather seems as though
there's more laboriousness to follow"
He yawned enormously. "'Tisnt Of
ten I'd say no TO a bit of a scrinrrage,
but theatricals are not to my taste Just
now at all. Too much overtime ruins
the sense OF humor" He yawned
again and blinked his eyes drearily.
''Yc must turn in now, Mr. Sullivan, or
yell fall down here an be ate alive
by the skceters an other wild beasts of
the forruSt, and If the explorers who
are underneath that white gantaupsl
want 10 come aboard here an make
trouble, so far as you're concerned,
they'll be let"
And with that the donkeyInan stag
gered away TO his room beneath the
poop. sat over the edge Of his bunk and
was snoring melodiously before his
head and his heels were on the blanket.
Meanwhile a mile lower down small
centerboard sloop was turning to wind
ward up the river but making little
headway against the current A negro
stood in her foresCuttle. with his elbows
ON the deck. Two others sprawled on
either side Of him. a white man lay
spread eagled on the top of the coach
roof Of the cabin. and another stood ir
the cockpit steering.
(Continued Next veekl