The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-13

the vessel, with quiet pride.
 1T should say she is about as per- feet as she could be- said Ronald. You've got tremendous lot of can vas, Vane.'
 "Yes," assented Vane rather dryly. "I like going fast; and I very much question whether there is anything of her tonnage to beat her. She is new. as you see. I had her built last year."
 ''She must have cost a pile of money" Ronald remarked.
 "She did," said vane; "but it won't be thrown away. How do you like the captain" he inquired quickly.
 Seems very nice chap, and parti- cularly all there," replied Ronald.
 .'He is," said Vane emphatically. I've known Shanks for some time, and I chose him specially for this trip" He hesitated before the word. ''He is first-rate navigator, and a most reliable man; hard as nails and firm as the Eddystone The sort of man you can depend upon when any trouble is around. He's had a rough ish time, and had a hard struggle for it, and, as he says, this present job is on velvet. Oh, yes, you can de- pend on Shanks every time and all the time. We've left the moorings: now you'll see how manageable she is"
 Ronald and Vane stood and watch ed the men at their work. In per- feet order, without noise or furry. the schooner floated from her moor. ings with the grace and ease of a swan on a pond; so beautifully did she move, so exquisite picture did she make in nautical eyes, that the sailors on the other vessels crowded to the decks to watch her, and they raised a cheer. Vane's face flushed with pride for an instant, but the next he drowned and looked almost dispieased and annoyed.
 Don't care for all this fuss," he said under his breath. Lets go be- low" "As they passed the galley, Vane stopped and looked in. Smithers had already donned his cooks attire, and was busy frying eggs and bacon and preparing the other constituents of the saloon breakfast. "A cabin-boy stood beside him. gaping up at MT. Smithers with -saucer-hke eyes, and listening with mixture of awe and amazement to the new cook, who was informing him, with all the nautical phrases he could think of, that he had been cook on board Lord Nell sons ship, the Victory, and that he expected Tom, the cabin-boy to wit, to do his duty, alluding, in an airy fashion, to the fact that he-Smith- ers-had considered it his duty to throw the last cabin-boy he had had to deal with overheard, and into that park of the Pacific Ocean which is most rich in sharks.
 .I was fond of that boy, Tom," he was saying, as Vane and Ronald stopped at the door of the galley 'sas sorry to part with him as if he'd been my own son; but dooty is dooty, and so I lad to do it. The last I saw of i'm, a shark lad got old of one leg, while another lad caught old of the other. It was what you might call a sad sight and I 'oped I might never SC the like again. So now we understand each other, Tom. Always do your dooty, as the man said to the p'liceman as come to his mother in-law in charge"
 "Your man seems rather an oddity.'' 9 said vane, as he and Ronald passed on.
 "Yes," agreed Ronald laughing; "but, in his way. you will find him as reliable as Captain Shanks. I'll go bail for him."
 Ronald had plenty of leisure dur. ing the day in which to admire the the tide and sped into the Channel. It was delightful to feel himself on board ship again, to know that the
 course of his life, for some little time at any rate, was marked out for him; :; that there would be no more loafing about the Docks, seeking the employ
 ment which had always seemed to evade him. He had plenty of time for these and other reflections; For
 Vane, though he could not be said to avoid Ronald, kept pretty much to himself, sometimes shut up in tho cabin studying some papers, at others pacing the deck or leaning against | the deck combing, gazing seawards | with a thoughtful expression, as if he had something on his mind. Ronald had not, of course, forgot ten Vane's reticence on the preceding evening in regard to the destination of the Hawk; but the matter did not l trouble Ronald; and he was too de- | lighted with his present condition to be curious-as a matter of fact, he l did not care where they were going. I Gro Be ContinuedJ |
 SPAIN ORDERS DIRIGIBLE. l Paris, March 13.-Spain has order |