The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-04-18


Smith drenched and dismal, looked at
me with sardonic grin.
"a modern Yankee tar, he sneefed
He don want to do il because il would be
dangerous. ! wonder II one Of Ioness
bullies ever told his commanding officer
that.
! wanted very much to punch Smith 4
head. Such a remark about man Who had
just saved his life, and that in manner
nothing less than heroic, was uncalled for
Besides, my amateur seamanship made me
aware that the boys reference to danger
had to do with the ship and not himself
meaning that to open the gunport in such
a sea would flood the forward compartments
to dangerous extent. The mere fact that
ina stressful time the captain had asked bis
opinion on such matter should have been
sufficient evidence to any one that the lad
was valuable hand said nothing how
ever, knowing Smith too we'll, and being
already engrossed in the bit Of hard sea
manship' that the captain had summoned
us to witness,
"The ships bow-chaser, six-inch rife,
mounted on the center Of the high forecastle
had been dismounted by the combined
strain Of the extreme rcl and the heavy
Gseas-over.% Adrift in the sickening pitch
'and wallow, the huge length Of steel, weigh
ing many tons, was humping and caroming
erratically about the deck, with probable
potential killing capacity surprising hum
dred guns of the same caliber on the field Of
battle. The antics of this inanimate devil
has nothing to do with my story, however.
except that the highly difficult and danger
Gus task Of securing it served further to
bring into notice the manly qualities Of our
boy-faced sailor.
" He ii was who FIRST succeeded in Iassoing
the destructive tube; and while it was held
in temporary leash by stayline, he and
another seaman went out to adjust the
heavy chains and hawsers with which il was
10 be lashed down to the stump Of the
broken mount. But at the next quick roll
OF the ship, the stayline parted and the gun
came back from Elba to resume its mad
career. n @~
" Wilson that was the Sailor saved
himself by leaping in air as the gun passed
beneath him, as children skip the rope.
But the other man was caught and broken
against the port rail. When the following
roll carried the gun back, he simply doubled
up and slid backward, between the chains
OF the rail, into the maelstrom under the
vessels foreleet. No attempt whatever
was made to pick him UP. / don't even
think the incident was remarked upon by
anybody at the time-they were too busy
| am telling you this, Margie, Just on ac-
count Of seeing that salor-boy this morn
ing
The group Of seamen, who at the snap
ping Of the rope had scattered like flock
Of frightened gulls, went back doggedly
to their job, until finally the recalcitrant
rife, securely tied down. was impotently
tuggng at its letters like trusscd animal
BY the next morning the blow had
moderated appreciably. But the sea was
still portentous waste Of moving noun
taius, and the spaces above it blurred
world Of spume and spray and whistling
hends Sometime before noon, Smith aud
essayed the great adventure again, We
had successfully negotiated the maindeck
ladder and were stepping from the poop to
the f6r-~l-aft foolbndge, when my atten-
tion was attracted by the novel spectacle
OF the lookout man in the crow nest on the
forward mast. In a near approach to
nudity for in that equatorial climate one
can live in the water quite as comfortably
as in the air, SO far as temperature is con
ceraed he stood with his arms behind him,
twined abou a Jacob ladder, against the
mast He was pcrched at dizzy height,
and at each roll Of the ship he described an
arc of about seventy degrees against the
gray inhnity Of spindrift ahead plucked
Smith BY the arm and pointed to the aerial
watchman
Some Of your Yankee tars can at least
be picturesque ! shouted IN his ear =
smiths face lacked the least hint Of
romanticism. liked the man do vet
but i aggravated me almost beyond endur-
ance TO sec the way he scowIed at that human
Of the storm.
Its wonder he don't refuse 70 stay
there on account Of it being dangerous, he
howled back at me.
Under his veneer ot false reserve. Smith
has many lovable qualities, but at that
instant hated him all over and under the
crust. ~
While we were yet gazing upward, the
figure aloft came to life. It.
the man gave loud outcry, SO loud that
it reached ever US, family, above the roar Of
wind and waters He loosed his hold on
The jac0h's ladder, seized shapeiess some
thing, that hung over the life rail, surround
ing his circular little porch, and himself
clambered upon the, to us, invisible rail.
There standing erect, he poised swaying an
instant only, and then, while We stood trans
fixed At least was he jumped outward,