The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-12-20
v MARTHA BEIaEINGER.
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the ships men into supplying his
need. lie received oonsignments OF
food; short rations they would be, he
! judged, for an able-bodled seaman.
But inactivity and confinement 10 the
focas'le soon worked havoc with his
physique. so that appetite, and even
desire OF life itself, temporarily dis,
appeared In the gloom OF seasielness.
In spite OF difficulties. Jim tried to
/ find out something about the boat
The seamen were none too friendly;
but by patching up his almost forgot
ten French and by signs, he learned
something. His sudden failure OF
strength in the water had been due to
a blow from a floating spar. as a
brulse on his forehead testified; "the
old man." whom Jim supposed to be
the captain, was a hard master; Mon
sieur Chatelard was owner, or at least
temporary proprietor, OF the yacht;
and the present voyage was an un-
lucky one by all the signs and omens
known 10 the seamen's horoscope.
The sullenness Of the men was ap-
parent, and was not caused by the en-
forced presence Of stranger among
them. In fact, their bad temper be-
came so conspicuous that Jim began
to believe that II might have some.
thing to do with the mysterious ac-
tons Of the man on shore. He pom
dered the situation deeply; he evolved
many foolish schemes to compass his
own enlightenment. and dismissed
them one by one lie grimly reflected
that man without clothes can scarce
ly be a hero, whatever his spirit Not
since the days of Olympus was there
any record Of man or god being re-
ceived into any society whatever
without his sartorial shell, thought
Jimmy But in spite of his discomfort,
he was glad he was there. The in.
tuition that had led him since that
memorable Sunday afternoon was
strong within him still. and he never
questioned its authority. He believed
his turn would come, even though he
we're prisoner in the fo'cas1e OF the
jeanne D'Arc
AS the violence OF his sickness
passed, Jim began to cast about for
some means Of helping himself. Grad
ually he was able to dive into the for
gotten shadows of his French learn
ing. BY much wrinkling OF brows he
evolved a sentence, though he had to
wait some hours before there was a
favorable chance to put 1t to use At |
last his time came, with the arrival |
of his former friend. the sailor.
100 avay-yoo cashay mon money |
belt?" he inquired with much conf |
dence, and with pure Yankee accent.
The sailor answered with a shrug |
anc spreading Of empty hands.
PAS de mOney-belt, pas de panta-
lon, pas de toUs! Dam queer Amayri-
cain!"
Jim was not convinced of the sail
or's innocence, but perceived that he
must give him the benefit of the
doubt AS the sailor intimated. jim,
himself, was open TO suspicion, and
afford to ba too jealous in
others. He fell to think
ng again, and attacked the next
Frenchman that came into the fo'-
,as1e with the following:
"Kond Jaytay malade don ma tate,
zee a pree mon money-belt?"
It was the ships cook this time, and
lie turned and stared at Jimmy as
hough he had seen a ghost When
lie found tongue he uttered a volume
# opinion and abuse which Jimmy
new by instinct was not fit to be ,
and then he fed up the
adder.
On the fourth day, toward evening, {
ames had a visitor. All day the yacht !
ad been pitching and rolling, and by I
fternoon she was laboring in the vio-
ence of storm and was listing badly. '
James was a fearless seaman, but it n
rossed his mind more than once that a
he were captain, and if there were c
port within reach, he would put into r
before midnight. But he could tell C
othing Of the ships course. He q
irned the subject over in his mind as
e lay on his bunk in that peculiar b
ate halfway between sickness and
ealth, when the body is relaxed by a c
1rely accidental illness and the mind n
abnormally alert. He wished in II
nsely for bath, shave, and a fair O
implement of clothes. He longed also n
go up the hatchway for a breath of v
r, and was considering the possibf- a
Y of doing this later, with a blanket
Id darkness for a shield, when he be- NJ
me conscious of pair of neatly Il
ousered legs descending the ladder
was quite a different performance y,
ON the catlike climbing up and nj
wn of the sailors. rs
Jimmy watched in the dim light un- NJ