Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-12-26

ksNGasn34D make good for about one liberty"
5fJ so next evening, as the GOLFERS with
their spidery hoists came alongside, and
Ensign Rai1c stood over the libcrty-book
on the tripod by the port gangway. Joe
emerged upon the quarterback, redolent of saltwater
soap and aiming for the beach. His lanyard had a
holystoned bleach, and the letters Of his hat shone like
actual gold. oh, he's one of our gentlemen ~Aat-feet,"
Raile had told a visiting Briton at Singapore. whom
Joe had guided about the ship and inspired to ask who
that "bloomin', well-set-up, intelligent Jack" was.
ratch them a, county fairs nowadays Raile had ex-
planned. and this one is wiser to the harbor lines and
politics of Cape Town and Calcutta than any Of his Of
fcers." Bit Just now Joe was a plain ordinary seaman,
del lting whether to hire a bicycle or saddlc-horsc
Fl IN which to see the torn. Anyhow, he would. as
usual, shun all pool parlors, bar conferences with
strangers upon the mingled perquisites and humniations
OF Service lie. and t. halls, for Joe was instructive
+ an anchorite. cursed with a pitiful ignorance of
women I'D all the ecstasies and quich.auds of the sex.
He s~llouldered a confident way among the unbiased
men seeking shore leave, for he had rated special
frst-class on the whole cruise. No overtimcs, no re-
ports whatever. marred his record. so that Raile, who
commanded ]oe's division, checked of the name of
Terry, J., O.. s., with a smile, as he reminded the less
SANITY throng 1--WE coal ship at seven o'clock to-
morrow morning. And the patrol from the Haiua
Jugs any Of YOU on shore found late in getting to duty
at your whips
II PdidSOU Sdiuteu, plunBcO uOWH III SdnSWdy,
and seized the last seat vacant in the sailing-launct.
But when the dock was in sight. Joe drew a small
Volume from his blouse. A Guide to Sydney its
silvered lettering allowed. He had just received it by
mail from his father, who taught in the high school
AT home tip York State. But instead of opening the
book, Joe gazed upward at the early setting Tune
sun, and reflected that the geological Gardens and the
Museum would surely be closed by the time he could
reach either OF them. And then a sudden impulse
Eripped him. He Strengthened bolt upright, and a guilty
flush dyed his oval, high-cheeked features. RE slipped
the book oversize, and dropped it into the cutters
wake.
It was high time he renowned this rocky trick OF
visiting points of popular interest. His division were
lightning to think that he was a prig, despite his
I0iddleweight victories in the Saturday night mills on
the iocastlc. He would like to make a night Of it.
and for the first time in his life regretted that tenn
perance and anchoritisll principles were so grained into
his nature Too long he had respected the official plot
OF -Four years Of education by the cities OF the world,
aboard one of Uncle Sans battlehoats, grub free and
poc~ket-money to boot on the terms OF which the senior
Terry had condoned his enlistment. abetted by the
microscope man from the Buffalo recruiting office, who
had allured him with Yankee Tars at a Mexican Bull
Fight" in the Y. M. c. A. Hall.
At the dock Joe let the blue-bloused boatful sweep
past him over the string piece, as he slid behind a
stack of wool bales. There he turned over the flaps
Of his collar to hide the stars on them, and drawing
the steel gro,nn,et from his hat, dropped It compressed
like a watch-spring into his blouse. Thus he found
t'nself a lone passenger upon the next Pitt Street
tram.
A show! At last he was in a white-mars country,
where you could understand an actors lingo. A show
offered a compromise between the puritan past and
ar abandoned future. He had resolved to hunt up
theatres, when the car hove 10 to let aboard a slim
young cit" in a striped brown suit ad with sharp.
black eyes. He sat opposite Joe, and fixed him with a
stare which slowly waxed expcctant. He was skeleton
thin and deeply tanned, as if Injured to the lonely life
o. seas or d~eserts-and that keen face beneath its
broad felt hat did suddenly appear familiar.
"Joe-Farmer Terry, as live the man exploded.
"Rut 7 see he don't remember me- he added, at the
plzzled blink which Joe returned.
ooh, maybe ! do Joe hazarded. What's the game?
7 sec you amt British nor Haustralian And if you're
q Yank, you're likely one OF them that wouldn't be lie,
back TO Gods country, No offence, but I've noticed
that the farther a mans from home, the more and
friendlier countryrnen he has
But the other broke into a laugh. "Stil, I have
your name piped, Joc'' he said. Reckon that out
in the name Of the old Cumberland"
Toes lips parted, as il he had sighted the city
sblaze through the car window. The training ship
at Newport was a name TO conjurc by.
"You bright-work Niger Auten. you" Joe cried,
you tell me how this heather country got you"
And Joe settled back to hear the exile tell OF
his two years in the Australian bush, his depths and
heights as prospector, railway guard, sheep-rancher,
since buying his discharge from a gunboat in the
Philippines and casting in his lot with the antip-
,dts.
And ] stayed in the outfit rejected Joe. mo
yombat daft nor d~ecp-lcad drifting on my record.
-, J