The Springdale news., 1909-03-05

During the dog watches often every man aboard would be below, for at that period Captain SeHayef loved to take the wheel in person. thick cigar between his lips, the diHgs checked shirt wide open to expose his hairy chest to the breeze. In the twilight Of the forecastle We had some great sea lawyers talks-I say we, though took little part in them. Generally lay across my bunk smoking my pipe while Handy Solomon held forth. his speech punetuated by safly specuia tions from the nigger. with hesitatine deep sea wisdom from tie hairy Ihfae= kles or with y0aminegs bursts - fractured English from Perd0sa. Pug had nothing 10 offer, but watched from his pale green eyes. The light shifted and wavered from one to the other as the ship swayed, garments swung. the empty befths yawned caferneas. could imagine the foreeastle filled with the desperate men who had beaten of the 0yama. The story Is told that they had swept tue gunboat's decks with her own rapid fires turned ia.
 No one knew where ee were going nor why. The doctor puzzled them and the quantity Of his belongings
 ..It aiut pearls saft daniY Soin mon. You can kiss the book on that. for We alnt diver among + Il ain Chinks. for We are cruising s9H seH=- west. Likely it's trade trade down ih the islands
 We were all below. The captain himself had the wheel Discipline. while strict. Was not conventional
 "ContrabandIsta." mutfered the Mex ican, for dat he geey as double pay
 "We don't get her for nothing. agreed Thrackles Double pay and duff on Wednesday generally means get your head broke '
 No trade" said the nigger gloom fly.
 They turned To hlm with one accord.
 .Why notfs demanded PHh, break Ing his silence.
 No trade repeated tAe a#ssee.
 .Ain't you got reason. deetoff5 asked Handy Solomon
 No trade. insisted tHp uigger.
 An uneasy silence feHl IeaHH1 nat but observe that the etheHs he'd tAe niggers statements in respect nat due them IS mere opinions sagse qnently understood I little more of the reputation he possessed I1e MS believed b see things hidden as their phrase went
 Nobody said anything for some time Nobody stirred except that Handy Sol omon. his steel claw removed from Its socket, whittled and tested, screwed and turned, trying 10 fiX tue hook so that, in accordance with the ad7iee of Percy parr0W. il would tnru either way.
 What is t. then. daetor:a he asked softly Ut last
 Gold, said tAe nigssr shortly. Gold treasure"
 That's what I said at afsts cried Handy Solomon tfiumhhaatgy r was extraordinary. the uH4aestonaI4 and entire faith with which they accepted as gospel fact the nesHes dIeiam
 There followed much talk of tae aa ture of this treasure, whether t was to be sought or conveyed, bought >talen or rayished in fair fight No further soothsaying could they elicit feam tlt nigger They followed their own ideas. which led them nowhere SoHe eue 1t the foreeastle lamp They settled themselves Pulz read aloud
 This was the programme every day during the dog watch. Sometimes the watch on deck Nas absent, leaving only Handy Solomon. the nlgger and Pulz, but tue order of the day 2as not on that account varied They talked they 1t tie lamp. they read. Always the talk was of the treasure.
 AS to the reading. 1t was of the sort usual to seamen. cowboys. lumbermen and miners Thraekles had number of volumes Of very cheap love stories pulz had brought some extraordinary garish detective stories The others contributed sensational literature with paper covers adorned Independently By the usual ineongfaity Il fragment of The Marble Faune was included in the collection. The nigeer had his copy of "DuvaH on Alchemy" | haven't the slightest idea where he could have got 1t
 While Pulz read. Handy Solomon worked on the alteration of his claw. He could never get 1t to hold, and l remember as an undertone to Pulz's reading the rumble of strange. exas- perated oaths Whatever the even ings lecture. it always ended with the book on alchemy. These men had no nEE l.. things. They accepted it's speenlatlons and theories ct their face value. Ex- tremely laughabic were the discus slons that followed often wished the shade of old Duyail eenld be per mitted to see these, his last disciples, spelling out dimiy his teachings, mis- pronouneing his grave utteranees, but believing utterly.
 Dr. SchermeFhorn appeared on deck seldom. When he did. often his fingers held pen which he had forgotten to lay aside. I imagined him preoeeu- pied by some calculation of his own, but the forecastle, mere picturesquely, saw him as guarding constantly the heavy easket he had himself carried aboard He breathed the air, walked hriskly. turned with the German mili- tary precision at the end of his score of strides and re-enfered his cabin af the lapse Of the half hour. After he had gone, remained Percy Darrow leaning indolentls against the taffrail. his graceful figure swaying with the ships motion. smoking always the corn husk Mexican cigarettes which he .i .t.l 1.