Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-19

uech. anu ground IFS Ieetn. Inen lie
looked up TO the bridge again.
'All right he growled. Come down"
CHAPTER VIII.
A Benefit Performance.
Hughie, having been relieved to slight
extent from sartorial humiliation. entered
upon his engine-room duties forthwith.
| The society in which he found himself
consisted of Mr.. Angus, the chief-en-
gineers, like gardeners. editors and cab
met ministers, are practically all Scots
men--Mr. Goble, the acting second (vice
| Mr.. Walsh, sick. and a motley gang of
understood, half mutinous. wholly vile
| sweepngs of humanity, in the form of
firemen. Mr.. Walsh was suffering from
an intermittent form of malaria contract
ed years ago in an up-river trip to the
pestilential regions round Saigon. Mr..
Angus. a hoary-headed and bottle-nosed
Dundonian, who could have charmed
scrap heap into activity, received Hughie
with native politeness, and paid him the
! compliment of working him uncommonly
| hard. He explained with perfect TRUTH
| that the only reason why he was not at
that moment driving Cunarder was a
habit Of his, viewed by certain owners
| with regrettable narrowness of vision, of
| 'takin' a drap, whiles.'' The concluding
adverb Hughie correctly estimated to
mean whenever I can get anything to
i drink"
| Il Gamma see what for they should be
sac particular ABBOTT it," unused Mr.. Angus
in recountfng the circumstance. for l
haundle her jist as weel drunk as sober.
However. here 1 am, and there's an end
OF. Aiblins it's jist weel. l could rim
the engines O. ony Cunarder af1oat, but 1
ken fine there's not half a dozen men In
their hale fleet could knock eight knots
DOT o. the auld Orinoco. There's a kin
o. divinity ABBOTT it. 1 doct. A mans pit
whaur he's maist wantit."
! John Alexander Goble, the acting sec
ond. proved to be man Of greater depth
and more surprises than his superior. He
it was who had thrown the list shoes to
Hughie before the battle with Mr.. Gates.
| which showed that he was at heart a
sportsman; he had taken the first op-
portunity Of asking for the return of the
| same. which showed that he was a
Scotsman: but he had found Hughie a
better pair Of shoes in their stead, to-
gether with some garments more suitable
than the blue jumper and the orange and
! red pyjama trousers which showed that
he was good Samartan-and man who
is sportsman and a Scot and a good
Samaritan all rolled into one is an addi-
| ton to the society OF any engine room.
| His face wore an expression Of chas-
| tened gloom; and If washed and set
ashore in his native Caledonia. he would
probably have received a unanimous in
vitation to come and glover over the plate
in the doorway of the nearest Wee Free
conventicle. His speech was slow and
unctuous: one could imagine him under
happier circumstances conducting family
worship. and pausing to elucidate in APP
proved fashion some specially obvious
passage in the evenings portion thus:
| From the expression, a MIGHTY man o
valour,' we may gather that the subject
of this reference WAS person OF consid-
cradle stature and undOubted physical
| courage"
He was habitually and painfully sober.
for reasons which Hughie learned from
him at a period when they had more
n nj hu-' g st10 af.fa
He was ignorant of the first principles of
mechanics. but could be trusted to keep
the Orinoco's propeller shaft revolving at
a steady seventy-two to the minute: and
ne had gentle. compelling way with re-
fractory firemen which made for sweet
reasonableness and general harmony be-
low stairs. what time Mr.. Angus was re-
Towering from one Of those sudden and
usually conceded with the forgetfulness
Of the steward to lock up the cabin
whisky bottle.
Hughie berthed in the foc'sle. and was
Regarded by the Dagoes, Dutchmen. ct hoe
genus omne. with mingled admiration for
the manner in which he had settled Mr..
Gates. and mystified surprise that man
capable of such feat should be content
to live on his own rations and sleep in
his allotted bunk. without desiring 20
make researches into the respective sue
culence and comfort of his neighbors'
On the whole Hughe found his life
and grunted her way across the New
foundland Banks: and he experienced no
tpang when the Apulia, spouting smoke
from her four tunnels and carrying his
luggage in one of her StatrOomS, swept
past them on the rim of the southern
horizon on their third day out. He was
accustomed to rough quarters. and any
new experience of things they are was
of interest to him. Moreover, he possess
ed the priceless possession of cast-iron
digestion: and a man so blessed can at
ford to snap his fingers at most of the
sundry and manifold changes of this
| world
Capt Kingdom and Mr. Gates for the
time being held him severely aloof The
taciturn Mr.. Dingle conveyed to him. by
means OF surprisingly ingenious code
vided he. Hughie-or' Brown. as he was
usually called-waS content to go his way
without hunting for trouble, he. Mr.. Dim
gle. was content to 20 his without en-
deavOring to supply it. Altogether there
seemed to be no reason for doubling that
the Orinoco, provided she did not open up
and sink like a basket en- route would
ultimately reach the port of Bordeaux,
bringing her Sheaves, in the form of
Hughie and some unspeakable ciaret,
with her.
But there is more than one way of
making money out of the shipping trade
taffrail behind the wheehouse at the
stern. 1t was O'Clock, and the darkness
was intensified by a heavy mist. There
was almost no wind and the Orinoco
like draught horse which feels the
wheels Of its equipage upon a tram line
slid gratefully up and down the lazy
lrollers with the nearest approach to COM
fort that she had experienced that voyage
Hughie was idly watching the phos-
tphorescent wake Of the propeller, wonder
ling whether Capt. Kingdom had orders
to land him in France in his shirt and
trousers or throw him overheard before
they got there. when a figure rose up
out Of the darkness beside him. 1t was
the easy-going Mr.. Allerton.
(To be continued tomorrow