The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-21

one in the play. in fact"
What play" said a
..,,co from the bottom Of the long
,,air under the bulwarks.
oThc Red Lamp"
"Oh."
corversation ceased and there was
an INDUSTRIOUS sucking Of cheroots for
,be space Of half ar hour before the
oonnary adjourned to the card room.
I, was decidedly a night for sleeping
On dock-warm as the Red Sea and
more mo.s; than Bengal. Cnfortu-
.,,s,v every square foot of the deck
-oouod Il, be occupied by earlier
,omcrs. and in despair I removed my
.o,f to the extreme ~fo'c'sle. where the
,,chor chains churn rust dyed water
from the hawse holes and the lascars
,.,,k lhou, with s~lushpots.
The ,hrob OF the engines reached
Ibis part Of the world as a muff'ed
,-o,.b.rr which might be easily mis-
AIKEN for the snoring Of the ships
,v Occasionally one Of the fowls in
lao coops walked and cheeped dis
,nal'y as she thought Of to-morrow's
.r,rees In the saloon, but otherwise
a, was very. very still. for the hou-
vas . in the morning, when the crew
= A ship are not disposed to be lively.
vore came to bear me company save
The bosun's pet kittens, and they
.,era lmpo..te. From where | lay ]
.ou,d look over the whole length Of
,v,inr chostly white in the dark,
md nv It's constant fluttering judged
ma, the ship was pitching up and
Town ike an uneasy hydraulic lift
and a few showers of spray found
,ter passage through the hawse
holes from time to time.
Ha,, YOU ever felt that maddenins
sense u incompetence which follows
o., watching the work of anbther
mans office The civilian Is at home
among his despatch boxes and flies OF
p.rd.r- cases. How N the world
does he do to- asks the military man
The 'uddlng officer can arrans for
the movements of 200 men across
,ountry 'Tncomprehensible' says
the civilian, And so it is with all
allen employs from our own. So 1t
was with me. I knew that ! was ly-
ag among all the materials out or
which Clark Russell builds his books
= the sea-the rush through the
night. the gouts of foam. the singing
,, the wind In the rigging overhead,
nd the black mystery of the water
but for the l'fe of me I could make
nothing of them all.
"a topsail royal flying free
A bit Of canvas was TO me
And il was nothing more"
"Oh taat a mar should have but
one poor ,.t'le life and one incom-
ple,e set Of experiences to crowd into
T." I sighed as the bells Of the ship
,ulled me TO sleep ard the lookout
man crooned a dreamy song.
l Sept FAR into the night, FOR the
clouds gathered over the sky. the
stars died out and all grew as black
As pitch. But we never slackened
speed. We beat the foam to left
r.gh, with clanking of chains, rafting
( bowports and savage noises of rip
ping and rerding from the cutwater
p,ough.ng up to the luminous sea
blasts. 7 was reused By the words OF
he man in the smoking room; "a
strong situation, sir, very strong
quite th. strongest one in the play, in
fact, Tlo Red Lamp y know"
7 thought over the sentence lazily
FOR a I'm. and then-surely there was
a red lamp N the air somewhere, an
nro'er3''e glare hat singed the shut
Yields. I opened my eyes and looked
forward. The lascar was asleep, his
face bowed on his knees, though he
uIg5' 20 have been reused by the hum
{ a rapidly approaching city, by the
ao.s', II men and women talking ano
.auCa.r- and drinking. I could hear II
not ht.t a mile away. 1t was strange
,ha. A.. cars should be closed.
IT, -ht was so black that one
could hardly breathe; and yet where
did .h- glare from the red lamp come
from from our ship-shc was
slcr' Hnl asleep. The officers on thu
't.d-o N.r. asleep; there was no on'
&C i"H g- awake but myself. AnC
'ae s... g III, red lamp went up t.
lie H.,.. Small wonder. \ quar-
'r M.," In front of us rolled
~ s'. OPP under full steam and sh'
Was ..' down on us without
word ~ warming, Would the lookou
man r.t,. look out? Would thei
crew ', a~ fast asleep as ours? |
was Impossible, for the other shlI
humm.l with populous noise an
there wls the defiant tinkle of a plan
RISING above all. She should have al