The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-05-06
TAKING A CHANCE
BY j. c. PLUMM Err.

We We're standing, or rather, sitting
and Longing out the dogwatch on the
| Nova Scotian bark Petrol. 1t was one
Of those periods which fits into the
| hard cherries life of the seaman
like piece of mosaic. A period when
the faithful trade winds fill the sails
until they seem modelled out of mar
BILE and when one Iced not lay hand
on the braces once in Sc hours.
When Jim Bennett spat his quid
over the rail we composed ourselves
for yarn for Jim, in his fifty years of
life, brine-pickled and whisky-soaked
life, had seen much.
Il came ashore in Charleston from
limejuicer once he began, and
set about getting rid of my money as
fast as | could. found a plenty to
help me spend it and one day | stood
in Murphy's boarding house without
enough to buy drink and was won
dering when that red-nosed Irish.
man would kick me out on the street.
1t was between cotton seasons and
there were no square riggers In port,
while the coasters had their crews all
engaged for the round passage. |
couldn't get a ship for love or money.
Il was standing with my hands in
my pockets and my back to the bar
for | hated to see the stuff going
down other peoples throats when |
hadn't the price of half a glass. A
man came in from the street and
looked at him out of the tail of my
eye and then stared back at the
street. He was surely neither a sea
faring man nor shipping master
and | felt little interest in anybody
else The man looked around the
room and came over to where | was
standing.
Want ship, my lad?' he said.
Il told him | did, and bloomin' bad,
too.
Well he says, / can give you
berth on a steam yacht Twenty
five dollars a month, only quarter
masters work to do and going to a
warm climate
He needn't have said all that. I'd
have taken job as cook on a mud
scow right then, so says I'd go.
Then he treated and, boys, never
seen man drink like that fellow In
my life. He had everybody in the
place drunk from Murphy down when
we started for the wharves. don't
know whether | walked or went In
balloon, but when | woke up the next
morning and crawled on deck with
hornets nest buzzing In my head we
were outside Of Charleston harbor and
steaming south. The steamer was
about five hundred tons, sharp built
in the bows and looked good for
speed but nothing like yacht.
What sort of a bloomin' yacht is
this anyway says | to the first man
| met on the forecastle.
Yacht nothing. says he. | s'pose
you thought you were to take care
OF some meelonare ON a voyage for
his health to the West Indees. Yer
on bloody filibuster. lad, carrying
guns to them lousy patriots that's
fightin' for liberty and free garlic in
Cuba.
Well, says l, kind of rocky like,
what's the difference whether you're
carryin cotton to bloody Liverpool
spinner or guns to Cuban PATRIOTS
Just this, says the man, coolly;
If you miss the patriot the Span /,
iards II twist your neck for you
However, it's all the same to q
sailor whether his neck is twisted by
a rope or is broken by a fall from |
aloft.
I'VE steamed south at good rate
and SO far no one forward knew as
to where we intended trying for a
landing, but when we found that the |
course laid would bring us around !
Cape Maysi we knew the south coast |
was our destination. We cleared the !
cape all right without sighting a Span
ish vessel, and then steered south.
east. After day and half good |
steaming we checked speed and be-
gan to loaf, the news coming forward
by some leak or another that we
would land our guns at point agreed |
upon between Sagua and Gaibarien.
Up to this time had not felt I'M
easy about getting my neck twisted
l felt sure the skipper'd get on the
blind side of the gunboats and land
his cargo. He looked like a man
who'd do most anything he set him.
self to do, but now he began to pour
rum into his skin In a way that made
us all dubious. All that day while
we were hanging about ready to make
q try for the land he was a drinking
like a fish, and by night he was drunk
all over.
1t was dark night and no mis-
take The sky was covered with
clouds although there was no rain
and we had not light visible aboard
Making sharp turn we stood In for
the land. l passed the skipper as he
came from the cabin on his way to the
bridge and he smelt like a newly.
tapped rum barrel. When there's tick.