Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-10

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lady he should % rule stick to her,
whether, in tho words OF the bible.
she turns out better than he expected
or worse than he dared to hope.
But her ladyship's the limit, and II
poor Sir George chooses to take him.
self and his purse out Of her reach.
I'd be the last to blame him. Oh, my
word, here he is! do hope he hasn't
card us talking"
Sir George Chesterman, as Mr.. Ket-
tie saw him then. was burly. up
standing. tired.looking man Of five-and-
forty. He wore baggy, weather-beaten
country clothes, and had face
Drowned and lined by the wind and the
sun. He had retriever and a fat
spaniel at his heels, and the easy man.
ner Of a man accustomed every day to
meet all grades OF the population.
"Well, Miss Dubbs, here am;
prompt to the hour you see. And so
you've managed to bring your nautical
friend I'M to the scratch?" He nodded
pleasantly. "You two haven't wasted
much time either"
"Yes, this is Captain Kettle, Sir
George" ...
Then suppose we sit down and see
what we can arrange. understand
that you've let the sea look after itself
for the last year or so. Captain. and
taken turn at civil engineering?"
GIVE been on the railroad works as
timekeeper, sir. a very subordinate po-
sition, for Just Ave months. met
with a little misfortune. sir. at sea.
which I'd rather not explain unless
h,,k -
to do with my own professional com.
potency, and my ticket was not dealt
with, and indeed no inquiry was held
that ever heard about. There are
my certificates, sir, II you care to look
at them" &s@ w..
"Well take them as read for the
present. I'm afraid must speak in
rather a guarded wav for the time be-
ing. You see, i don't know you, and,
for that matter. you don't know me.
Indeed, to begin with. may as we'll
tell you that this is no ordinary hum
drum trip that I've got in mind. It
will be a case Of sailing from here; IN
a small steamboat with sealed orders;
and from professional point of, view
I don't see that 1T can possibly lead
up to much in the way Of, promotion
after the job is DONE" > -. ''.' -
THAT doesn't sound very encourag-
ing. sir. You see. I'm young. and ]
don't want to get any marks on my
ticket" y. -" t~''s
You'd be fool if yon did. More
over. here's another. point; the bust
ness ANYWAY will be risky. and very
possibly will be highly dangerous"
Mr.. Kettle squared his shoulders.
you needn't bring that into the &C.
count. sir" he snapped. AS l. never
suffered from nervousness as mate.
It isn't likely should begin to shake
at the knees il you're kind enough to
promote me to. be skipper. In fact
he added with little sigh, when
troubles come along, it's mostly like
meat and drink to me-"
Sir George laughed rather hardly.
~ should have thought that under ex-
listing circumstances you wouldnt
want too much excitement TO season
your everyday meal. You ought TO
banker after q humdrun1. steady-going
job with the maximum Of screw and
the minimum Of risk
II know should sir, know |
should. But I can't help the way I'm
built. however much I may regret it.
Is the business g1ln-running?
II hadn't thought of that. though we
might add 1T as side issue. No. IN
on4 word. CAPTAIN. It's salvage. The
story's a bit Of an unlikely one, though
I've gathered it happens with regular
ity at least twice or thrice A year A
steamer was coming home from for
eign port, and cargo shifted. AS a
rofrt of fact, she was load"d with cop
rer matte-copper concentrates. II yo''
like it better-worth some thirty-five
pounds ton. and she'd four thousand
three hundred tons dead weight OF IT
on board. II YOU work that out. you
get into big figures in pounds sterling.
some hundred fifty thousand, Ave
hundred pounds said Miss Dubbs
who nv reason OF her exacting profes
sion was OF necessity lightning cal
c,,lator.
"Good. And then you must add on
ANYTHING between twenty and sixty
Thousand pounds for, the steamer. &C
cording to tho condition in which one
fnds her. Well. Captain. she's been
reported total loss, and Lloyds have
maid on her as such. The whole tale
1S Ou1I0 unOCTSLdHudulo. i&iAA WV
| "Quite. A breeze came on--a breeze
abeam, and the old man daren't put hel
nose on to it because the chief told
him that II she raced badly. either her
engines would tie themselves up IN
knots. or else she'd drop her propeller
overheard. SO he kept her plugging
along her course. and she rolled SO
badly that presently the cargo began
to shift. That gave her list to lee
ward. and every sea that hit her on the
tail side sent more cargo sagging over
and the list got worse. The cargo be-
ing the copner ore You speak about. sir
thew probably got hands below to do a
bit Of trimming. and when she rolled
men got thrown down to leeward, and
the heavy Jumps fell In cascades down
on TOP Of them till .most OF them were
crushed into kind Of pink beef jelly,
and the rest cleared out on deck. and!
neither guns nor belaying-pins could
drive them below again.
'rYou seem to know the symptoms.
CAPTAIN" -,
"You see, sir, Il was shipmaster with
:. .ht|tod cargo myseH once, Coal II