Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-05-29
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BY MARTHA B[IddNGER
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MARTHA BELLdNGER
NNHNGW IN NE 6aAaS-AGeRHI cozeGhy
or promise of reward could persuad

the ships men into supplying his
need. He received consignments Of
food; short rations they would be, he
judged, for an a~ble-bodied seaman.
But inactivity and confinement to the
~fo'casle soon worked havoc with his
physique. so that appetite, and even
desire Of life itself, temporarily dis
appeared In the gloom of seasickness.
In spite Of difficulties, Jim tried to
find out something about the boat.
The seamen were one 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
bruise 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 vas an un-
lucky n by all the signs and omens
known to the seamen's horoscope.
The sullenness of the men was ap-
parent, and was not caused by the en-
forced presence of a stranger among
them. In fact, their bad temper be-
came so conspicuous that Jim began
to believe that 1t might have some
thing to do with the mysterious &C
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 n by one. He grimly reflected
that a man without clothes a scarce.
ly be a hero, whatever his spirit. Not
since the days Of Olympus was there
any record of mar 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
were a prisoner in the fo'cas'1e Of the
Jeanne Dare.
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 wrtnkling Of brows he
evolved a sentence, though he had ia
wait some hours before there was g
favorable chance to put 1t to use. Al
last his time came, with the arrival
of his former friend. the sailor.
90 avay-voo cashay mon money
belt?" he inquired with much conf
dence, and with pure Yankee accent.
The sailor answered with a shruG
and a 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 ht
must give him the benefit of thu
doubt. As the sailor intimated, Jim
himself, was open to suspicion, ant
couldn't afford to be too Jealous IL
eliminating others. He fell to think
ing again, and attacked the mex
Frenchman that came into the 70
castle with the following:
"Kond j'aytay malade don ma tate
kee a pree nor money-belt?"
1t was the ships cook this time, an,
he turned and stared at Jimmy a
though he had seen a ghost. whel
he found tongue he uttered a volum
of opinion and abuse which Jimm,
knew by instinct was not fit to b
translated, and then he fed up tn
ladder.
On the fourth day, toward evening
James had a visitor. All day the zach
had been pitching and rolling, and b
afternoon she was laboring in the vic
lence of a storm and was listing badly
James was a fearless seaman, but
: crossed his mind more than once tina
if he we're captain, and II there wer
a port within reach, he would put int
1t before midnight. But he could tel
} nothing of the ships course. H
turned the subject over In his mind a
he lay on his bunk in that peculia
state halfway between sickness an
r health, when the body Is relaxed by
r purely accidental illness and the min
e is abnormally alert. He wished II
e tensely for a bath, a shave, and a ia
s complement Of clothes. He longed ais
t to go up the hatchway for a breath
g air, and was considering the possib,
ity Of doing this later, with a blank,
r and darkness for a shield, when he b
g came conscious of a pair of neat,
g trousered legs descending the ladde
G 1t was quite a different performant
from the catlike climbing up ar
down Of the sailors.
y Jimmy watched In the dim light u