Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-05
(CHAPTER v (Continued).


From the safe harborage Of the
Rheims stuffy saloon in Southampton
water, she wrote the friendliest pos.
sible letter breaking off her engage
ment and when this had been sent
ashore by the pilot, set herself to study
the manners and customs Of that un-
known animal, the German merchant
seaman.
For week Miss Chesterman found
her new associates interesting. She
marveled three times daily at the
amount of knife-blade they could
swallow at meals without cutting
themselves; their martial bear
ing, their bows, and their taste
for sentiment were all frankly
amusing; but at the end or
that week these things grew stale, and
a general feeling Of fastidious disgust
filled her to the brim. CHOSE unfor-
tunates who have met the German
mariner at home on the high seas will
be able to supply the details.)
There were moments when she
thought she might have done worse
than close with the offer SO recently
rejected. And she was tn this frame
of mind when she encountered Ro-
nance in the largest capitals Gas she
believed) for the first time in ner
life. in the person Of Mr.. Owen ket-
tie. "..s
You are to imagine her leaning over
the poop rail of the Rhein and watch
ing the battered life-boat that she her
self had sighted, being callously left
astern to perish in the desert Of the
sea- Any man or woman living. IT
would seem, would have been thrilled
by the sight Of that little ships officer
sitting there undaunted among his
lean. scarecrow crew with nothing
else in sight but blue sky, blue Sar-
gasso sea, and orange-yellow weed.
It had been a shock to her to find
that the engineer took the whole as
a matter of ordinary German routine.
German ship-owners were In business
to make dividends, not to waste time
over saving the lives Of competitors"
was the view that Mr.. McTodd took.
And then she had turned her eloquence
on the Scot, and had seen that acid
Northerner thaw out and deliberately
risk the safety of the ship to do her
pleasure.
Romance. She drew deep breaths as
she thought of it. These were deeper
wa,ers than those she had known be-
fore, and as for the men that traf-
licked In them-well, at any rate they
were men.
And then she had seen this Mr.. Ket-
tie, with nothing much else besides
his bare hands and his personality,
take possession Of big, well-found,
strongly steamer, and carry
her off to do his pleasure in the teeth
of all opposition. The man was some
thing quite new to her, something full
to the brim with primeval vigor. No
wonder she fell in love with him.
The coaling went on with noise and
dust, and orderly speed. The steamers
rolled crisscross, but the Rheims en-
gines kept the lines taut and the
lunches of coal bags went hopping
merrily across from lower masthead
to lower masthead to the boundless
amazement of the flying-fish. It is q
nice operation, this coaling at sea, and
none of the crew of the Norman
Towers had ever witnessed it before.
They were interested at first, and
heartily sick of it before it was
finished, but 1t was astonishing to note
that no one complained Of tiredness.
When Mr.. Kettle returned on board
they were one and all sunk in slough
of lethargy, and the process of waking
up under his hard driving was pain
full to many Of them. But the small
mate was perfectly callous to their in
clinations toward laziness, and even
that chartered idler, the carpenter.
was seen to carry out an order on the
run when Mr.. Kettles trim shoe toe
threatened him from the rear.
But at last the hungry bunkers were
stored with sufficient fuel to steam
the Norman Towers back to Liverpool
and crisp orders were given to knock
off and unrig the transporter.
In the meanwhile fires had been
lighted under the cold boilers, and
smoke trickled from the rusty stack.
The escort Of sea-gulls recognized the
omens and rose mewing from the
water, ready to fly on with labored
wing to that spot in mid-ocean where
the gulls from the Azores would take
over the watch. The Norman Towers
boat returned from the Rhein, bring
luS uGT EcOplc, VI lu6AA6 dlSO, hS WI
Kettle noted with queer thrill, Miss
Violet Chesterman.
Tentatively he had offered the lady
an alternative to the discomforts Of
the German boat and Gas we have
seen) had ordered state-room for her
in case she came. But it was not till
she had seen him bring back energy
and discipline to his old crew that she
made up her mind to take the step
which (as she was we'll aware) would
probabl cut her off from her own
caste for the remainder of her life.
The German officers and crew still
remained battened down in their own
Number One hold, and the sole re-
naming occupant Of the Rheims outer
decks was the Scots engineer. Him,
Mr.. Kettle, the mate, hailed.
"You, there, Mr.. McTodd? Won't
you come back in our boat? Captain
Farnish would be very pleased to give
you passage back to Liverpool"
II thank We. But I'll stay where I've
signed on"
''But, man, they'll eat you when you
let them out of that hold"
"Man," bawled the Scot, wagging a
fore-finper across the dark