The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-11-18

They stepped aside for me as supers
do for a hot-tempered star.
AS time went on my new role
pleased me more and more. My bread
was never stolen at the table now and
the language with which l was adj
dressed by my fellows was shorn of
casual profanity. In an effort to live
up to the part / became silent and
gazed at the men narrowly as though
contemplating further crime, and was
particularly pleased to see that, of all
the cattlemen, Scouse, who had made
so free with me the night before, now
seemed most overawed. Never did
mans manners change more suddenly
than his to me. Clearly he dreaded
his enforced association with muir
derer upon the long night watch.
Though the sea was clam and there
was consequently little work to do, he
kept inventing errands to get himself
out of my way, while Jerry, who didn't
seem to be at all afraid of me, told
me in his soft brogue tales strange
and amusing of lumber camps in Can
ada. When Scouse came back l al
ways welcomed him with a leading
question, such as whether he had
brought much money with him, where
upon he would go shuffling off again
like crab.
When at 4 a. m. I retired to the hay
the little Irishman came with me as
before, but Scouse did not Mumbling
an explanation about it's being too cold
he withdrew to the safer if less sani-
tary quarters of the cattlemen. ! slept
until eleven, when was once more
called before the captain. found him
seated in his cabin the walls of
which were decorated with the photo
graphs of ships on which he had
sailed.
He allowed me to stand under his
somber gaze for minutes ere he spoke.
Lad" he began at last, "the
Screeptures tell us that there is sal
walton for them that repent Likewise
a BURNING hell hotter than a thou
sand stokeholes, for them that won't.
Come, now, confess that We creeminal-
ly murdered this man Peters!"
My repetition of the facts with arg1-
ments and explanation, ratified against
the surface of his super-British mind
like a fusillade of peas against Gibral-
tar
Somewhere-probably from sea tales
i had got the impression that the
loss of man at sea was regarded by
ships officers as a mere occurrence.
Had Peters not gone overheard
might have still retained that notion.
The great power vested in the cap
tain of British ship as revealed in
the obnoxious articles is not without
a balancing responsibility. Each mem
Der of the crew must be accounted
for on reaching port. To lose man,
even in the performance of hazardous
duties at night and in rough weather,
is a matter of the utmost gravity,
while to lose one under a fair mid
and is likely to involve investigator,
delay, expense and reprimand. Cap
tain Evans had hitherto enjoyed the
record of never having lost a man.
The implication that the food and
smell aboard his ship were bad
enough to make a man jump over.
board distressed him deeply 1t was
more the loss of Peters body than
that of my soul, l think, that most
concerned him.
The captain closed our interview
with a curt command that set down
my version of the case in the ships
log. This task, which l attacked at
once, proved pleasanter than hosting
bales of hay. Seated in a comfortable
chair before the chartroom table, | de
termined to endow my writing with a
style that would reflect credit on my
alma mater OF course it would take
longer, but the cushion in the chair
was soft.
Beginning with an original Peters
at the time of the Norman Conquest
and the Domesday Book, l ran on
through stormy family history sprin
killed. with admirals and privateers
Even Shadrac Peters, who came over