Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-02

a
U1LN lightship wallowin' out there in the fog
sIHWz five miles from nowhere? Wy, the ole
AIkL|G barge's jest fixed up for the navy engi-
r5 W. neers to use for experiments with under
NSR10U water signals an such"
Captain Casco of Ships Bottom Life
Saving Station broke off to stare Indignantly at little
Johnny Degnan, who stood fumblng the blue slip the
station wireless operator had just handed hlm,-hls
orders from the Inspector OF the Barnegat Bay District
to report aboard the Sea Shoals floating light,
there to remain until further orders.
Orders is orders, an dutys duty, Jem,' Deg
nan began Course she's hooker; but"
Little Welsh, g1nfirer and iconoclast of the life
crew, interrupted scoffingy, "But Johnny KEEP
company with tough luck so long he's scared he II
be lonesome if it changes. That's why he amt
kickin about bein' mated up with Black
Tom Murden out yonder Twas bad enough
to make lightship keeper out O Murden when
they fired Carlin couple o days ago; but to
mate him up with Jack o Lantern here" 4
Little Welsh pulled up short, and Casco and
his mates gazed uncOmortably about the mess
room of the little white painted life station, mid
way on the worst wrecking beach of the Atlantic
Coast facing the huge rollers surging inshore over
the treacherous reefs of the Gridiron of Barnegat
DEGNAN'S i'll luck-Jack O. Lantern Degnan
- Ships Bottom had ncknamed the little
Government steepleack, charged with the high
up repairs of lighthouse and lightship lamps, and
the Government wireless that dotted the Barnegat coast
was traditional on the beach. How he had managed
to hold down his job during his brief and laundering
in the Barnegat Bay district was puzzle to
the burly surfmen. And with
Why, it was when Degnan overhaulng the
Beachy Head lighthouse that the thousand-pound
@whrligig weights that furnish the rotary power for
the lamps away, turning the light from flash to
a fixed and nearly running the Seneca revenue cutter
ashore -Degnan it was trying out Ships Bottoms new
when the battery feed balled up, strandng the
big storm fighter sea-and Degnan again. had tuned
up the department wireless till the halfcrazed operator
receiving messages from the British Isles, Bor
neo, or anywhere except headquarters and the short
line navy circuit. Those merely samples.
Nevertheless, the brawny coastguards treated him
with tolerant frendliness Jack o Lanterns SO
blamed misfort nit" Even the Inspector seemed sorry
for him; for Degnan was only officially reprmanded
and transferred less desirable job-where the
unklnd Nemesis promptly followed him. up coast and
down
Only once did the record vary, few days before
when fierce wndblasts, driving lnshore, wrenched the
Harvey Cedars lighthouse tearing the circular staircase
loose from its holdings, leaving great, yawning gaps
Dgnan with the deness OF his trade scaled the tower
in pair of linemans spurs the half gale and clad
only shirt and trousers kept the lamps going through
out the bitter night, until the fallen staircase inside
could be repaired thereby probably saving more than
treacherous reefs of the Ships Graveyard, and Incl
dentally earning him the brotherhood of the Beach.
1t the heels of the Harvey Cedars feat that
the "Kidnappin Order" had come, setting the of
Ships Bottom in revolt. Apart from its apparent njus
tce, they of bad blood between little Deg
and f1ashy Tom Murden reputed master and owner
of the fast power schooner Annie Belle, and of the
cause-a very pretty with blue eyes and firta
tlous ways, over in Barnegat village by name Miss
Annabel Mallory.
more fascinating to any woman than mere physical
comeliness Ships Bottom however, hoped it
more; for to a they distrusted Tom Murden, for
all his spendthr1ft ways and uneasly conscious
that the latter viewed the dnannered little steeple
jack obstacle to be removed from the path of his
lovemaking.
IF you wasn't eternal stubborn bout keepin it
quiet how them Harvey Cedars chumps let their
ladder flop, I'd quick wise up headquarters twast fair
to hold to that order after what you done' the ndig
nant keeper of Ships Bottom prOWled