The Huttig news., 1909-02-20
Copyright. by shortstory Pub.
By FRANK LILLE POLLOCK

l Noopyrlsht, py Shortstory Pub. Co.)
 A long iron steamer was slowly nos ing her way eastward through the sluggish waters of the Suez canal. She was apparently in the most astonish- ing state of disrepair and dilapidation i Once she had been painted black. but that was in the dim abyss of time; now her battered sides were of the natural and unashamed hue of the plates, diversified by broad blotches and bands of rust The bfasswork Of her ports was green, the funnel sagged rails and decks were greasy and ehipped. The dock loafers had jeered at her when she widowed into Port Said, and she had appeared in the maritime intelligence of Trieste a week previous as, Str. Ukarine, Trieste, L. Passaro, master. cleared for Zanzibar in ballast"
 Half a dozen Levantines were gambling on the decks forward a ruffianly Maltese in red cap held tho wheel, and a young man in a blue and white yachting costume, much weath- er-beaten and tanned, stood on the bridge just outside the wheel house. They had reached a point midway be tween Kantara and Lake Timsan when a dull report sounded heavily l from far down in the ships interior. There was disturbance and bub- bling of the water alongside, and strange and aerid odor drifted up the forward hatehway The young man in the duck trousers sprang to the wheel. snatched it from the startled Maltese, and with quick twirl of the spokes swung the vessels head round till she lay nearly athwart the canal.
 The object of this maneuyer was not apparent, but it seemed to have been intellectual. There was a sound of gurgling waters from below, and the ship lurched heavily to starboard A tremendous hissing and a gush of steam announced that the fires had been flooded, and moment later the black and half-nude staff of the en. gine-rooms precipitated themselves n deek. Alongside, the calm waters eemed to be rising with amazing ra- 1 9idty toward the rail, and in three minutes the keel touched bottom with a perceptible thump. The canal is 26 feet deep, and the water reached nearly to her lower deck. She lay scuarely across the fair-way, her awk- ward bulk completely blocking the deep-water channel The great gate between the two worlds was damned
 The Levantines jabbered and swore in a dozen dialects. but presently. at the command of the yachtsman, they launched one of the beats and rowe1 off in the direction of Ishmailia. The young man, thus abandoned, sat down in a deck chair, lighted a cigarette and gazed across the desert. As the retreating oar-splashes of the crew died out, the hot silence settled down unbroken.
 But for the gigantic ditch alongside. he might have fancied himself in the mid Sahara. The sandy and rocky l plain ran red and yellow to the ex- treme limit of vision. Far to the southeast Fl Guisr thrust a jagged black peak against the spotless hori- zon. The sun poured down fiercely.
 He YOuHS I1du Haul Jililt tO SlliohC many cigarettes, and to gaze to sa- tiety at the glaring monotony of land scape. But in about three hours whirring electric launch shot up, the launch of the canal patrol, and the officer clambered aboard. He was a smooth-shaven Englishman, wearing the uniform of the Canal Company. 1 CT IO cha sfINhn ar you? Don't you see you're blocking the eanal?"
 I'm sorry" said the man on board. Have a cigarette-they're Manilas Wy name is Davenport, and this is my private yacht, the Ukraine, of Trieste, as you can see by looking over the stern. if all the lettering hasn't been rubbed off"
 ''I say," repeated the Briton. star ing But this is no joke. you know How did you come to sink in this DO sition?"
 We just seemed to spring leak" :" aeturned Davenport, cheerfully. This yacht has been porous for some time. As for our peculiar position, that is l entlreiN the 1dull O1 lne lOOl WHO ndu hold of the wheel. He swung her round as she went down"
 "Ill bring diver to lock at the leak al once-at your expense" ]" said the Englishman. If she can be plugged and pumped out, very well We'll give you 24 hours. If she isn't afioat at the end of that time, we'll have to blow her up.'
 The official removed himself rapid 1 ly in the launch, but returned little before sunset with an Arab diver. who l removed his clothes and went under like a frog Davenport leaned over the rail and watched the operations | with considerable interest. After half an hours work. the Englishman came on board the Ukraine to report.
 'The diver says there is hole in her side big enough to drive a horse through" he said. Its a most ex- traordinary piece of business. must say. It would be absolutely impossible .o,os,. her cho lioc anl ot,a