The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-02-23

fore he came tumbling down the com
panionway.
Captain" he cried. Captain, we've
been deserted! Every man jack of the
crew has skipped ashore in the star
board boat. And can you guess why?'
They must have seen US discover
those dummies!" exclaimed Breck.
Worse than that. See this!"
Barstow handed out a great chip OF
flake Of porcelain, glazed, and in ap
pearance similar to the pieces of the
broken shell, but much larger.
Capt. Breck," said Barstow, "this
whole boats built of china She's
nothing but a skin of baked clay riv.
eted to an iron frame l found this
chip on the floor of the hreroom. One
Of the coolies had faxed it off the
side Of the bunker while trimming
coal The crew are all from another
part Of the province, and didn't see
the boat till she was ready for sea,
and as soon as they found out that
there was nothing but crockery shell
between them and the bottom OF the
sea they jumped ship!"
"A ship Of porcelain? Impossiblel"
exclaimed Breck, as he followed Bar
stow on deck, where they leaned over
the side and scraped away bit Of
paint. Underneath was earthenware.
They went below and tested spot after
spot. Everywhere it was the same.
The framework was of Steel but In
stead Of the steel plates that should
compose the skin of the vessel there
were slabs of coarse china-not the
costly kind used in the manufacture Of
vases, but tougher sort-riveted with
copper to the frame and ribs.
The whole Of the viceroy's scheme
revealed itself in a rush. Steel, the
proper raw material for shell making
and boat building, could only be Inn
ported at a cost that would have left
the viceroy but moderate profit His
internal ingenuity, starting with the
dummy SHE'LL had evolved this plan of
building cheap boats that would be de-
stroyed with the evidence of his guilt,
on encountering a heavy sea or an
enemy's shell. The boat-builder was
safe. The torpedo boats had left him
in good condition after he had re-
ceived his pay-and what became Of
them was no concern of his. Breck's
flesh crept as he thought of the prob
able fate of the three boats the ad-
miral had mentioned as having been
lost after leaving Wah Foo.
The two officers talked over the sit
uation, and agreed that, while they
would have liked to go to war in
charge of genuine torpedo boat, |
there was little satisfaction in fight
ing the battles of nation of people /
like the viceroy in china bowl.
Il know what would be the result |
Of a complaint to the Chinese govern
ment" said Barstow. "The viceroy
has every official palm oiled, all the
way to Peking, and in spite of all the
could do for us, we'd lose our
and probably our heads,
we complained Wed best drive
his ballyhoo on the rocks .and give
up to the co nmander of that
lap gunboat outside"
So, packing their k dts, they tum-
lied into the remain ing small boat,
5arstow started the ngines and Breck
wung the vessels stem around to
where the shore liz le showed black
gainst the stars and laBhed the helm
hen he jumped int the port boat
With his companion and showed off.
Next morning the Japanese gunboat
licked them up, and to her COM
lander a fine yol ing fellow, they
lade a clean breaf It of the whole af-
air As they decl Ared that they had