The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1915-03-06
cAApTEa xIl.


nose schooners, and tramps. canvas
and steam, some Of them honest. some
OF them shady, and some of them pi-
rates Of the first water who did not
ind II necessary to hoist aloft the
skull and bones. The seas are dotted
with them They remind you Of the
once prosperous merchant. run down
at the heel. who sinks along the side
streets, ashamed to meet those he
knew In the past. You never hear
them mentioned In the maritime news,
which IL the society column Of the
ships: you know Of their existence
only by the bleached bones OF them.
strewn along the coast.
You who crave adventures on high
seas, you purchase ticket, steamer
chair. and couple of popular novels,
go on board to the blare of q very
Indifferent brass band. and believe you
are adventuring; when, as matter of
fact, you are about to spend dull
week or fortnight on water hotel.
where the most exciting thing Is the
bugle's call to meals or the discovery
of card sharp in the smoking room.
Take real ship. 60 as supercargo. to
the South seas; take the side streets
of the ocean, and learn what 1t can
do with NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., blister
| ing Gains, and mems souls. There will
be adventure enough then II you are
a weakling, either you are made
strong. or you die.
An honest ship, but run down at
the heel, rode at anchor in the sound,
q fourth-rater Of the hooker breed;
that is, her principal line of business
was hauling barges up and down the
coast. When she could not pick up
enough barges to make 1t pay, why,
she'd 60 gallivanting down to Cuba for
bales of tobacco or even to the Ber-
mudas for the heaven smelling onion.
Today she was an onion ship; which
precludes any idea OF adventure. She
| was about four thousand tons, and her
engines we're sternward and not
amidship. She carried two masts and
half dozen hoist booms. and the only
visible sign of anything new on her
was her bowsprit. This was new doubt
less because she had poked her nose
too far into her last slip.
| Her crew was orderly and tractable.
There were shore drunks, to be sure,
because they were sailors; but they
were at work. They moved about
briskly. for they were on the point Of
! sailing for the Bahamas--perhaps for
more onions. Presently the windlass
creaked and shrilled, and the blobby
links, much In need of tar paint, red
as fish gills, clattered down into the
bow. Sometimes they painted the
chain as 1t came over; but paint was
costly, and this was done only when
the anchor threatened to stay on the
bottom.
There was sailor among this crew,
and he went by the name Of Steve
Blossom; and he was one of his kind. A
| grimy dime novel protruded rakishly
from his hip pocket, and his right
cheek was swollen as with the tooth
ache, due, probably, to generous
"chaw" Of Seaman's Delight. He was
. real tobacco chewer, for he rarely
spat. He was as peaceful as q back.
water bay in summer; non-argumenta-
tive and passive, he stood his watch
| in fair weather and foul.
No one gave the anchor any more
attention after It came to rest. The
| great city over the way was fairy-like
/ In ito haziness and softened lines. II
was the poetry of angles, OF shafts
and spars Of stone; and Steve Bios
som. having q moment to himself.
| leaned against the rail and stared re-
| gretfully. He had been generously
drunk the night before, and 1t was q
| pleasant recollection. Chance led his
| glance to trail down the cutwater. His
| neck stretched from his collar like a
turtles from It's shell.
well, I'll be hornswoggled!" he
murmured, shifting his cud from star
board to port.
Caught on the fiuke of the anchor
wee the strangest looking box he had
ever laid eyes on. There were leather
| and steel bands and acknowledged
ivory and mother of pearl. and 1t hung
jauntily on the point Of the rusty luke.
Anybody would be hornswoggled "a
glimpse such droll Jest Of fate. On
! the luke Of the old mudhook. BY Z
| hair. you might ray. In AL the wild
sea yarns he had ever read or heard
there was nothing to match this
Treasured
l <~s- Z