The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-07-03
: Two StoWaWayS. ! :
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ByFrank J. Dwysr.

" b"Joi. r
1t was on August II, 1906, while
waiting on the wharf at Cape Town
for the launch to take me aboard the
White Star liner Medic-on which l
was passenger from Sydney, Aus
tralia, to London-that thin, wild
eyed man offered me branch of
South African silver leaves for
penny-one-third of the price asked
by the other vendors. | purchased
them, and he questioned me about
the Australian colonies, afterwards
relating the horrible experience that
he had undergone while a stowaway
on wool ship some few months be-
fore. I have added nothing to the
narrative. | may add that my wife
heard part of the story, and on re-
turning to the ship l told it to two
passengers, who can confirm
my statements. Unfortunately-hav
ing at the time no idea of writing the
story for publication did not as
certain the mans name or that of
the ship concerned.
There was changing of bells,
mingling of loud orders that came
from a dozen different sources, and
the ship moved. The screws revolved
slowly, as if lazy after their six
weeks idleness, and the black water
of Woolloomooloo Bay was thumped
into dirty foam.
The stowaway, packed tight be-
tween the bales of Riverina wool,
gave a sigh of relief.
"At last" he muttered; "another
few hours of that would have driven
me insane"
The greasy wool made the air thick
and heavy and the darkness ap-
palled him, but, wedged in the narrow
passage, he attempted dance of joy.
The suspense was over. The screw
churned merrily, and the ship
throbbed as if quivering with excite
ment.
The man forgot the darkness and
the stencil from the wool and hides
as he reviewed his position. Two
years of starvation and poverty had
been his lot. Two years of utter mis-
cry, with black days that he could
not bear to look back upon, and away
over there was London-calling, al
ways calling. Out there beyond the
harbor the lights of Piccadilly and
the Strand beckoned him home, and
the dull roar o. the big city buzzed
thr0upb HE brain yvbar ,,,o,,o,,, oo,,
cred up the horrors of yesterday and
took him back.
Now he was going home-going
home! The screw seemed to chant
the words as it whizzed round, and he
fattened himself out against the bales
to listen. How often had he thought
of this moment when lying awake
through long nights spent in dirty
dosshouses, or shiyering with cold in
open parks,
Every few minutes he calculated
the distance the ship had covered.
Now. they had passed the Gardens,
now Darling Point and Rose Bay,
and now-he laid his head on a bale
and wept-the ship had passed
through Sydney Heads, and he felt
the Pacific take the big, wool-laden
tramp to her bosom, and lift her up
and down as If to weigh the amount
of cotton she held between her paint
blistered sides.
He shut his eyes as il to blot out
his surroundings and, leaning back,
told himself cnce more that every
turn of the screw was carrying him
nearer home, where friends and re-
lations were waiting to receive him
the wanderer who had gone out to the
rim Of the world and had returned
again. In nine weeks he would be
there; nine weeks of suffering and
privation they would be, but nothing
to the two years of agony he had en-
dured. He lay in a dream Of bliss
listening to the creaking and groan-
ing of the big beams as they COM
plained of the swell, and then the
rolling of the boat lulled him to
sleep, and he slumbered deeply.
When he awoke the darkness dis
turbed him for moment, then he re-
membered where he was and hummed
a verse of an old school ditty. He
was at the end of little passageway
that separated the bales of fax and
wool. and he thought to stretch his
legs by moving up and down the
twelve-inch tracks. He slipped from
the edge of the bale on which be sat;
then he gave wild yal1 and enropg
back, for out of the darkness came a
warning hiss. Hardly daring to
breathe, he waited, until presently a
stray bar of light came down like a
thread of steel from above and fell
on the head of a snake curled up on
bale of fax directly in his path
The tiny, glittering eyes looked at
him menacingly for second; then
the light faded away and the man