The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-22

this mist. Shut her down"
The slowing engines eased their vi
brations, and the side wash rolled
less noisly. There was a strange still
ness over the sea. The silence grew
as the Roadway subsidized.
The captain listened intently He
felt something.
There is always that strange some
thing that a seaman feels in the pres
ence of great danger when awake. 1t
has never been explained But all
good-really good-masters have felt
it; can tell you of it if they will. It
is uncanny, but it is as true as gospel.
The second officer had felt it in the
air, felt it in his nerves. He felt-ice.
It was danger.
Smith stood there watching the haze
that seemed to deepen rather than
dispense as the morning grew. The
men turned out and the hose was
started, the decks were sluiced down,
and the gang with the squeegees fol-
lowed. Two bells struck-five o'clock.
Smith strained his gaze straight into
the haze ahead He fixed and refixed
his glasses--a pair of powerful lenses
of fifteen lines. He had bought them
for fifty dollars, and always kept them
near him while on watch.
A man came up the bridge steps.
Shall send up your coffee, sir?"
he asked
Eyes, send it up" said Smith, in a
whisper. He was listening.
Something sounded out there in the
haze. 1t was a strange, vibrating
sound, a sort of whispering murmur
soft and low, like the far-away notes
of a harp. Then it ceased. Smith
looked at the captain who stood with
in the pilot-house window gazing down
at the men at work on the deck be-
low. The noise of the rushing water
from the hose and their low tones
seemed to annoy him. They wore
rubber boots, and their footsteps
We're silent; but he gruffly ordered the
bos'n to make them Shut up
Better slow her down, sir-there' S
ice somewhere about here" said the
second mate anXiously. He was think
ing of the thousand and more souls
below and the millions in cargo
values.
who's running this ship-me or
you?" snarled Brownson savagely.
It was an unnecessary remark, Who'll.
ly uncalled for. Smith flushed under
his tan and pGllor. He had seldom
been spoken to like that He would
have to stand it; but he would hunt
a new ship as soon as he came ashore
again. 1t Yves bad enough to be treat
ed like boy; but to be talked to that
way before the men made it impos-
sible, absolutely impossible. 1t meant
the end of discipline at once. A man
would retail it, more would repeat it,
nd-then-Smith turned away from
the bridge rail in utter disgust. He
was furious.
"Blast the ship" he muttered eG
he turned away and gazed aft. His
interest was over, entirely over. He
would not have heard a gun fired at
that moment, so furious was the pas
sion at the unmerited insolence from
his commander.
And then, as if to give insult to
injury, Brownson called down the
tube:
Full speed ahead-give her all
she'll do-Tm tired of loafing around
here all the morning." Then he rang
up the telegraph, and the sudden vi
brations told of q giant let loose be-
low.
The Admiral started ahead slowly
She was a giant liner, a ship of eight
hundred feet in length. 1t took some
moments to get Roadway upon that
vast hull. But she started, and in a
few minutes the snoring of the bow
wave told of a tearing speed. She was
doing twenty-five and half knots an
hour, or more than twenty-five miles
the speed of train of cars.
= The under steward came up the
bridge steps with the coffee. Smith
took his cup and drank it greedily
almost savagely He was much hurt
His feelings were roughed up to the
limit. Yet he had not even answered
the captain back. He took his place
at the bridge rail and gazed straight
ahead into the gray mist He saw
nothing, felt nothing, but the pair
of his insult.
Let him run the ship to hell and
back" he said to himself
There was a puff of co der air thar
usual. A chill as of death itself cam'
floating over the silent ocean. A MAJ
on lookout stood staring straight int
the mist ahead, and then sang out
Something right ahead, sir" h,
valIad In a yiooo tbot .oorriaJ Eli