The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1915-02-22

~ learned by the hunters. and be-
came the cause of a deal of grum-
Dling on their part. IL seemed
that Johansen, in his sleep, lived
over each night the events of the
day. His incessant talking and
shouting and believing of orders
had been too much for Wolf Lar
sen, who had accordingly foisted
the nuisance upon his hunters.
After sleepless night, ] arose
weak and In agony, to hobble
through my second day on the
Ghost Thomas Bugridge routed
ME out at half-past five, much In
the Fashion that Bill Sykes must
have routed out his dog; hut MIR.
Mugridge's brutality to me was
paid back in kind and with inter-
est. The unnecessary noise he
made, Il had lain wide-eyed the
whole night, must have awak-
ened one of the hunters; for a
heavy shoe whlZzed through the
semi-darkness, and Mr.. Mugridge,
with a sharp howl of pain. humbly
begged everybody's pardon. Later
on, in the galley. | noticed that
his ear was bruised and swollen.
IL never went entirely back to it's
normal shape, and was called a
"cauliflower ear" by the sailors.
The day was filled with miser-
able variety. | had taken my
dried clothes down from the gal
ley the night before, and the first
thing | did was to exchange the
cook 5 garments for them. ! look
ed for my purse. In addition to
some small change. land have
a good memory for such things) !,
1t had contained one hundred and
eighty-five dollars in gold and
paper. The purse found, but
is euntents. with the exception of
the small silver, had been alb
stracted. spoke to the cook
about 1t, when | went on deck to
take mp my duties In the galley,
and though | had looked forward
to a surly answer, | had not ex-
pected the belligerent harangue
that received.
Look ere, imp" he began, a
malicious light in his eyes and a
snarl in his throat; dye want
yer nose punched? II you think
I'm a thief, just keep 1t to yerself,
or you II find 'ow bloody well mis-
tyken you are. Strike me blind
II this aynt gratitude for yer.
Ere you come. pore miserable
specimen of 'uman scum, an |
tykes yer into my galley an treats
yer 'ansom, an this Is wot | get
for it. Mex time you can go to
ELL, say |, an I've a good mind
to give you what-for anyw'y."
So saying. he put up his fists
and started for me. To my shame
be 1t, | covered away from the
blow and ran out of the galley
door. What else was l to do?
Force, nothing but force, obtained
on this brute-ship. Moral sua-
sion was a thing unknown. Pic
ture 1t to yourself: q man of ordi-
nary stature, slender Of build, and
with weak, undeveloped muscles,
who has lived a peaceful, placid
life, and is unused to violence of
any sort-what could such a man
possibly do? There was no more
reason that | should stand and
face these human beasts than that
| should stand and face an infuri-
ated bull.
I thnttnht 70 NJ
feeling the need for vindication
and desiring to be at peace with
my conscience. But this vindica-
tion did not satisfy. Nor to this
day can | permit my manhood to
look back upon those events and
feel entirely exonerated. The
situation was something that real
ly exceeded rational formulas for
conduct and demanded more than
the cold conclusions of reason.
When viewed in the light of for
NAL logic, there is not one thing
of which to be ashamed; but new
ertheless a shame rises within me
at the recollection, and in the
pride of my manhood | feel that
my manhood has in unaccountablel
ways been smirched and sullied.
All of which is neither here nor
there. The speed with which !
ran from the galley caused excru-
ciating pain in my knee, and /
sank down helplessly at the break
of the poop. But the Cockney had
not pursued me.
Look at i'm run! Look at i'm
rum" / could hear him crying.
AN with a gyme leg at that!
Come on back, you pore little
mamma S darling. l won't 1T yer;
no, | won't
/ came back and went on with
my work; and here the episode
ended for the time, though further
developments were yet to take
place. l set the breakfast-table
in the cabin, and at seven o'clock
waited on the hunters and Off
GERS. The storm had evidently
broken during the night, though
a huge sea was still running and a
stiff wind blowing. Sail had been
made in the early watches, SO that
the Ghost was racing along under
everything except the two top
sails and the flying lib. These
three sails, l gathered from the
CONVERSATION, were to be set i'm
mediately after breakfast. l
learned, also, that Wolf Larsen
was anxious to make the most of
the storm, which was driving him
to the southwest into that portion
of the sea where he expected to