The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-08-29
The Touch o. the Sea
DOWNRIGHT.

- NA4NA4AANA1-J@N UDc144Eu NllE DAl
CITY of HankOw. lying to her an
- chors in Manila bay, with pleasant
anuclpat1ons Of the novelty of being
ahoat without watch to stand. For
Two years he had been first officer of
an lnter-isiand transport, kept at full
nervous stretch day and night by the
responsibility Of guiding his ship
through the reef-strewn waterways of
the Philippines and picking up anchor
ages in uncharted bights and treacher-
Gus tide-swept roadsteads and handling
boats with men and cargo in the surf
on coral beaches. and all the number
less duties which fall TO an executive
who is navigator and watch officer, too.
He had wearied Of the life till it seemed
to him he had wearied of the sea as well,
and when the opportunity came to go
home in liner as one Of the elect who
need not know a sextant from a signal
ballard, he had seized on il.
And for a while he was not disap-
pointed. 1t was indeed pleasant to see
tie China coast at last as a traveller
sees it. lying irrespOnsibly in a deck
chair while the ship was manOeuVered
through the tOrtuOus entrance of Hong
Kong, and the long turn which leads to
the anchorage behind the green PENN
sula of AmOy-where the houses CLINT
so very white among the trees-and
sharing in the adventurous excitement
of his fellow passengers as they ex-
plored new cities in the lazy voyage up
the coast
But when the Hankow's stubby bow
spirit was once pointed fairly eastward
and pale rosy Fujiyama had faded into
the Darkness of the sky astern, and the
last wandering fishing junk had been
dropped below the horizon, GriersOn be-
gan to learn that an unattached sailor
aboard ship is the most superfluOus
creature imaginable. The Hankow's Of
Qcers, friendly as they were, were too
elusy with their duties-duties which all
at once began TO strike the exile as
rather desirable things-tO spare much
time to him. And the passengers, he
discovered, belonged to a world which
ne had almost forgotten, with interests
quite different from his. They expected
from him, so far as they expected any
thing, only marvellous yarns, and when
GriersOn, being both modest and tacti-
turn, failed to meet this demand, they
dropped him unceremoniOusly. He
seemed likely to pass many hours in
sOlitude-until little Miss Minturn dis
covered him, and, unlimited and unen-
cOuraged, made of it a solitude a deuX
She was soon occupying the larger
share Of Grierson's waking moments,
being present in his thoughts even
when she was absent in the flesh. Her
ready fTiendliness puzzled rather than
fattered him. In the eight years of his
life since he had left the schoolship he
had seen little of women, and like most
sailors he was wary of what he did
not understand. Why Miss Mintburn,
who was both pretty and popular,
should take the trouble to seek him out
in the lonely hooks he haunted and
spend hours questioning him on the
greater and lesser mysteries of seaman
ship, he could not make out, for there
seemed little in common between her
life, past or future, and the briny and
tarry problems she brought him for
solution. She was a slender girl in the
early rwenties, apparently, and until
this journey round the W0rld-WhiCh
had come to her through the rather OBJ
trusive generosity Of the Over-riCh un-
Gle and aunt who accompanied her. !
Grierson learned as one learns things
aboard ship-she had been a consistent |
landsWOman, with a nautical experience !
confined to the summer matters of the 1
New England coast John wondered, /
somewhat suspiCiOusly, what interest a I
girl like that could have in the stOwage, /
say, of a mixed cargo OF railroad iron /
and grain i'm bulk.
The logical explanation, that she /
asked out of pure eageTness to be in /
formed, did not strike him as logical /
for the information could be Of no pos /
sible use to her. And yet he was at a 1
loss for any other motive which seemed |
adequate So he held himself watch |
fully alOOf, and was more taCiturn than /
ever. But as she continued TO question /
him. quite undismayed by his reticenCe, /
he was obliged TO answer and one /
sided intimacy was created which 1
amused their fellow passengers vastly, /
all save the uncle and aunt of plethoric /
purse, who had, the aunt especially, |
vague designs on the future of their /
Door but highly attractive niece. To /
them. as to the other oulookeTs, this |
was particularly unblushlng case of /
the filtration which seems tnseparable
from life on shipbOard, and which must
he endured unless If threatens to go too !
far and follow its willing victims
ashore. Of a morning, before break
fast. Grierson was quite sure 10 be
lOunging in the bows, and Miss Minturn-
after a few strategic turns up and
down. was quite as sure to happen to
join him and begin a conversation
which lasted save for the interruptions
of neaItiues. till the deck lights were
dOused and the ship settled down for
the night. Generally there~is but one
theme which can bear the strain of
such continuous conversational hand
ling as that without becoming atten-
uated. and the HankOw's passengers,
especially the aunt thought they re-
membered what that theme was.
They would have been astOnished, and
a bit disappointed, perhaps, even the
aunt. could they have overheard the
talk which filled those long hours. 1t
was of a most impersonal kind, always
of the sea and ships, and it ranged over
many topics. The second forenoon out
Miss Minturn succeeded in boxing the
compass. against the sun, by quarter
points In the afternoon she learned the
lead of the running rigging at pinrails
and fferails. and next day went on
with unabated enthusiasm to the art of
lacking an imaginary ship, calling out
at last a triumphant "Mainsail haul"
which drew a CHEEKY supplement of
"Now she fills! Smartly handled Miss
Minturn," from smiling Mr. Sullivan on
the bridge. There was nothing to worry
the most watchful of childless aunts in
such very youthful pasumes as that.
Still later when she had known John
almost four days, she displayed a huge
interest in knots and spices which
compelled her half-unwilling mentor to
borrow a ropes end of the solemn Chi
nese boatsWain and go back to his own
early days on the gundeck Of the school