Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-09-10
THE EVIL
EYE
A Tale of the Sea
pv DWIGHT NORWOOD

lin Butterworth, a sailor, while
.shore with a liberty party at Tangier
In into a row with a Mohammedan
make charmer and had an eye gouged
ut Jim was not ~overparticular about
H. looks. but tired OF answering Ques-
ons about how he lost his eye. The
r,ace left after the eye had been
Eliminated was certainly shocking to
sehold and caused every n who
ome near him to shudder. He wore
green patch over it for awhile, but
ound it very troublesome to keep in
&%os,tion. One day a shipmate said to
i'm:
aJim. why don't you get an artificial
I've put in your faceF"
aWhat's that?' asked Jim.
eWhy, an eye made Of glass painted
n look Just like a real eye. They make
IN so fine you can't tell 'em from the
zeal thing"
aWhere do you get 'em?"
"Oh, at any respectable port They
ell 'em in the shops"
The next port the vessel Jim had
&iened with stopped at was Naples.
IN soon as Jim vas permitted to go
shore he took two or three of his ship
mates with him, went to one of the
hopping streets, and the party stopped
n an opticians. The shopkeeper
brought out a tray full Of artificial eyes
! nd set 1t before the sailors for selec-
ion.
Jim's single natural eye was a dark
brown, but it did not seem to occur to
ny of the party that the artificial eye
zhould be of the same color as the real
3ne. One recommended a blue, another
i steel gray, another a black with a SUI
perfuity Of red In 1t. Doubtless the
artist who had painted in the colors
had done his best to make the glass re-
semble real eyes, but the best was by
DO means good. Indeed, some of them
we're soulless, some wild, and a num-
Der were well fitted to express insanity.
The shopkeeper, realizing that the
sailors were about to make a mistake
b the selection. picked up a brown eye,
he nearest match to Jim's remaining
I've, and offered it as the one best suit
ID to the case. But Jim's mates scoffed
Attt.
"Wot?' cried one of them. PUT that
hing into his head? You might as
yell give him an eye from a dead
han."
there's a dandy" said another, TAX
ing one of a greenish hue with a tinge
I red from the tray and holding it up
beside Jim's natural eye. "There's some
xpression in that eye. You'd clean out
be sultan's harem with it, Jim. No
F0man could resist you"
Jim took it and stood before a mirror,
7olding 1t in position to see how it
Fould look in its proper place.
Mates" he said. IF you all agrees
nat it's wot's wanted I'll take 1t, but
don't believe any of you would stand
-FOUR ground at meetin' me wearin' it
IN the fo'csle on a dark night with the
lghtnin' playin' round"
Its a Jim dandy" replied one
"A beautr cried another.
ut reminds me of the eyes of a gal I
3el in with at Madeira" said another.
WELL" said Jim, "since you all
grees that it's becomin' and l brought
Z gu ere for your opinions 1 reckon
~ I've got to do is to plank down the
rice"
The shopkeeper was willing to part
nth the artistic production for the
pm of 10 lire, which Jim produced;
Pc Vender adjusted 1t in Jim's eye,
zpd the party departed to enjoy them
elves In a neighboring wine shop.
When the men returned to the ship
IN found that his artificial Y at
acted more attention than the empty
picket. But when he asked his ship
ates their opinion as to the looks of
e new eye" they all pronounced it
pne O. the finest blinkers afioat."
The eye not having been put into the
zpcket by a skilled surgeon was not
Fry comfortable, and Jim soon sought
enef in wearing It in his pocket In
z.ead OF in his face. Then he fell to
@ternating between the glass eye, the
Atch n the empty socket The
*4ew gradually became accustomed to
e "blinker," but the time never
4me when it ceased to excite COM
52ent And whenever Jim went ashore,
matter at what port, his eye ex-
zee the establishment and often the
.=fror of the Inhabitants. Children
sspecially would fee from him, bawl-
- As to the girls, Jim never found
sweetheart in any land while wear
- II, except ON the African coast
BUT a day came when all this was
sanged; when Jim's eye was an OBJ
of worship by both the officers
the ship and his messmates; when
- was as proud of his glass eye as
II mad been a decoration.
pne day the Mary Robinson was
Aiing under a four knot breeze in the
#Hiay archipelago. when the captain
*'sed a glass and brought 1t to bear
a dhow on his starboard quarter.
1ID