Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-02-11

see his light now in one part of her,
now in the other. The men claimed
| he was scrubbing her teeth. ''Old
Scrubs they called him to his back,
| never Captain SeloYer.
HE has to clean up after his own
feet, he's SO dirty" sagely proffered
Handy Solomon. And this was true.
| The seaman's prophecy held good.
Seven weeks held us at that internal
| job-seven weeks of solid, grinding
work. The worst of it was that we
were kept at it so breathlessly, as
though. our very existence were to de-
pend ON the headlong rush of our la
Dor. And then we had fully half the
stores to put away again and tie 9th
er half to transport painfully over the
neck of land from the cove to the
beach.
So accustomed had | become to the
/ routine in which we were involved, so
habituated to anticipating the coming
day as exactly like the day that had
gone, that the completion of our job
caught ME quite by surprise. l had
thrown myself down by the fire pre-
pared for the same old half hour of
drowsy nicotine, to be followed by
the accustomed heavy sleep and the
usual early rising to toll. The evening
was warm. l half closed my eyes.
Handy Solomon was coming i'll last
Instead of dropping to his place he
straddled the fire, stretching his arms
over his head He let them fall with
n sharp exhalation:
Lay aloft lay aloft' the jolly bo's'n
| cried.
Blow high, blow low. what care We!
Look ahead look astern. look a-wind-
| ward, look alice
Down on the coast of the high Bar
| bare-e-e-'
The effect was electrical. We all
sprang to our feet and fell to talking
at once.
by God, were through cried Pull
I'D clean forgot it,
The niger piled on more wood.
We drew closer about the fire. All the
interests i'll life, so long held in the
background, leaped forward. eager for
recognition. We spoke of trivialities
almost for the first time since our land
l
plete good fellowship by the relief
Wonder how the old doctor is get
ting on?' ventured Thrackles after
awhile.
The devils preacher! / wonder?'
cried Handy Solomon.
Lets make 'em call" suggested
Pull.
Don't believe they'd appreciate the
compliment" | laughed. Better LET
them make first call. They're the
longer established" This was lost on
them, of course. But we all felt kindly
to one another that evening.
l carried the glow of 1t with me over
until the next morning and was there
fore somewhat dashed to meet Captain
Selover with clouded brows and an I'm.
certain manner. He quite ignored my
greeting.
"Eagen," he SQueaked, "can YOU
think of anything more to be done?"
1 Strengthened my back and laughed
Haven't you worked us hard
enough?" 1 inquired. Unless you
gid the cabins 1 don't see what else
there can be to do
Captain Selover stared me over.
"And you a naval man. he marvel.
ed. Don't you see that the only
thing that keeps this crew from get.
tin restless is keeping them busy
I've sweat more with my brain thar
you have with your back thinking W
things to do. l can't see anything
ahead, and then we'll have trouble
Oh, they're a sweet lotr'
I whistled, and my crest fell. Here
was new point of view and also q
:. new Captain Ezra. Where was the
confidence in the might of his two
: hands?
He seemed to read my thoughts and
went on.
l 81 don't feel sure here ON this cuss
!. ed land 1t amt like deck where q
! man has some show. They can scat
ter. They can hide. 1t amt right tc
! put man ashore alone with such 9
: crew. I'm doing my best, but it AIM
goin' to be good enough. l wish we
> were safe in Frisco harbor"-
He would have maundered on, but
: seized his arm and led him out OF
possible hearing of the men.
: "Here, buck upp' l said to him stern
: ly. There's nothing to be scared of
9 IL 1t comes to a row, there's three OF
us, and we've got guns. We coult
even sail the schooner at a pinch anC
leave them here. You've stood then
l off before"
+ Not ashore" protested Captain Sci
e over weakly.
"Weli. they don't know that. Don
let them see you've lost your nerv,
e this way He did not even vince q
the accusation. Put up front"