Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-09-28
The Daily Story
81, the Siwash-By John H. Walsh.
Copyrighted. 1914. by Associated Literary Bursa.

which Is short for Siwash-a Siwash
being a Puget sound Indian.
81 Is a Siwash all right, and, though
| he's only four years old and he's a hall
breed, he looks like old Chief Seattle.
| And he treats me as an equal-and he
| gets away with It, too-though I'm
sixty-nine. That shows character.
! And Sis had experienced
Take Just this collision experience.
| That won't come to anybody else for
ten thousand years, and here 81 has
had 1t before he's four.
why, 1 have had enough adventures
| myself, for I've been ship keeper on
the q. S. s. Stalwart here at the Sierra
navy yard for fifteen and three-quarter
years. But ST has me sewed up for
plenty on adventure. though I could
tell yarns of my own.
But first I'm setting it down about
81, his ma and the collision of the
Humahuma and the Stalwart. I'll tell
about myself when I've got leisure.
However, / do want to say in pass
ing, while i think OF it, that ship
keeping Is the most exacting work
there is. You have to know the name
Of your ship, and to remember what
day is pay day. and when to come of
watch, and when to go on, and / tell
you it takes brains to keep all those
things straight in your mind
Then once in a year they complicate
things by putting your ship in a dry
dock or by changing her anchorage q
little, and you have to change your
habits, which is hard. And it's be-
cause it is such exacting work as I've
described that they always keep re-
sponsible men like Us old soldiers on
such jobs.
OF course it's a strain, and suppose
1 could not have held the Job so long
If didn't have iron nerves.
You see, know myself that 1 have
iron nerves, because General Thomas
told me so when he saw me eating
bareback in trench during the Chick
amauga skirmish. And I've needed
my iron nerves in ship keeping, but
lot of people don't understand why.
For example, there is a gentleman
in Sheraton who digs clans with
shovel and peddles them with wheel
barrow, and he said once he thought
he'd try ship keeping for rest
/ laughed at him, and then 1 warned
him he couldn't stand it, which was
true too. However. I'm writing about
81, and I'll write about digging CLAIMS
when I have time for 1t, for I'm as
good a clam digger as there is on
Puget sound, which is saying a lot,
for all the smartest men out here were
IL
Sis ma used to have an awfully hard
time making living. and from time to
time I've helped her little at it, for
I've had $500 per day right along, and
I'm q bachelor and don't need all that
money for myself.
So yesterday, which was pay day, I
gave her SIS, and said, Take 81 to
Seattle and see the sights" And she
did it.
At least she put on her pink waist
and her green shawl, and she hauled 81
down to the boat by one arm, his feet
dragging all the way.
After that 1 loafed around until even
ing, when I went to the Stalwart and
relieved old man Keller.
After he'd left the ship I walked |
around and inspected things, as 1 al |
ways do, and decided, as I've decided |
every day for ten years, that the Stall |
wart is still mighty fine ship.
Pretty soon 1 moved around a little, |
and when I got aft and was looking |
over the rail under the stern light l |
could see young smelts in the still, oily |
water. and they looked like shreds cut |
out with q knife from a silver bar. |
And, oh, how solemn and still it was!
You could hear a gasoline boat two
miles away humping, missing strokes,
stopping and then humping again, and
you could hear oarlocks sQueaking |
their course across the bay.
At first 1t was clear overhead, and
could see the stars and the lights at
the navy yard, and 1 could hear the
sentries hail people in loud, important
voices. And then the lights faded and
blfnked out, one by one, and I knew
fog was shutting in on us. And the
sounds seemed sort of mufied by the
fog.
I went forward then to the ships
bell under the bridge, and once min
ute by watch I'd ring rapidly. and
Bill Paterson on the Boston
would ring, and afterward we'd bear
Bixby on the Concord.
Well. kept on ringing the bell. At
first there weren't any steamer wills.
Ties sounding, but after a time I COM
menced to hear dull, thrilling ooo-h,
oo-h, from far away down the Mar
rows.
I knew at once that this was the late
boat from the city. the Humahuma.
md that she, was navigating by
echoes. as they always do in fogs on
his sound.
And then got feeling that 81 and
lis ma would be on the boat, so I
'ang the bell faster and faster. for I
iidn't want the Humahuma to go col
iding with the Stalwart and smashing
81 and me up.
But the Humahuma's whistle got
ouder and louder until II sounded al
most on top of us.