The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-10-28

tential ringleader Of mutiny. One
evening Hoax defiantly and loudly
played a music-hall tune on an &C.
Gordon. A strain of it reached the
bridge, and Coulter, who was on
watch, ordered the offender forward.
After a violent and profane denun-
citation, under which the giant writhed
in silent fury, Coulter dashed out to
the sailors mouth with his clenched
fist and sent him sprawling to the
deck. But lest the punishment should
appear too i%rresolute, he also put him
in irons for twenty-four hours.
A fellow seaman plucked up the he
roism to demand that the incident be
entered on the log for admiralty in
v%estigation, but Coulter only laughed
and sent the insurgent into the infer
no of the ~stock-hole for an extra shift
at the shovels. In the stoke-hole the
thermometer registered $50 degrees
Fahrenheit, and the white and brown
torsos that strained under the trent
bling dials were black with the sooty
swat Of their effort, and red with the
pitiless glare Of the furnace CRATES.
The cloud on the horizon of u af-
fairs steadily gathered and blackened
until an ominous pail of mutiny over.
hung us. Only an occasional coral
reef or atoll now broke the monotony
Of a dead and oily sea. No shred of
cloud relieved the emptiness of a de-
vitalized sky.
Mansfield and I went about in can
vas shoes and pajamas. The ship was
more disheveled than we, and it's dis
cipline more s%lovenly than its dress.
The churlish silence of the fo'c's'le
vas met by braggart autocracy of the
officers. Conditions grew tenser and
thicker with each day, yet no specific
rupture came to fire the waiting ex-
plosion. Slowly it grew and gathered
menace, while the air hung pulseless
and heavy under its shadow.
Mansfield and I knew it needed only
a lightning flash to loose all the ar
tillery of the thunders and set them
about their hells fury. BY tacit con
sent we did not often talk of it, but
we remained close together and placed
our revolvers, belts, and sheath-knives
where they could be readily caught
up.
Under the silent horror of forebod-
ing, our nerve ! became raw, and our
tempers, like those Of others, short
and raspy.
On n sultry afternoon when the
trade-wind was dead, l came upon
Mansfield sprawling in the shadow Of
a life-boat, diligently reading entries
from the unknown girls diary, touch
ing the %untroubled incidents of her
sheltered life. He glanced up shame
facedly as l approached, then began
in eXculpation.
"See here" he said, you're quite
wrong about the outlines OF reading
this. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.
She's not that sort. Here we are
menaced by the inferno of a mutiny.
We are no better than mice waiting
the pleasure of a cat which means to
crush them. The atmosphere will
drive us mad. This book is like a
breeze off the heather. I tell you it
In abnormal times men entertain
abnormal ideas and warped notions.
I sat crosslegged on the deck beside
him and lighted my pipe. I said moth
ing.
tits all getting on my nerves. I'm
losing my grip" he admitted. Last
night I dreamed of a nasty row, and
all day a bit of rime has been running
through my BRAIN" He paused a mo-
ment, then quoted:
Twas a cutlas swipe, or an ounce
of lead,
Or a yawning hole in a battered
head,
And the scuppers glut with =
rotting red.
0AO IuSAO IuOy lay Wull0 LILO
soggy skies,
Dreened all day long in upstar.
ing eyes,
At murk sunset and at foul sun
rise.
He broke of and laughed at him
self unsteadily.
Get your mind of It," I command
ed shortly. Fetch out the notebook.
Let's read about her debut party"
But the passage at which the book
fell open dealt with q time prior to
debuts. At the head Of the page was
pasted a newspaper clipping limiting
at personalities, but giving no names.
zone Of the most beautiful and pop
ular members Of the younger set in
the summer colony" had been cap
sized while sailing in the harbor. The
youth who accompanied her had been
seized with cramps, and she had kept
not only herself, but her helpless e.
cort above water until the tardy AZ
rival Of help. Beneath. in her own