Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-11-08
CHAPTER vIII-continued.

CHAPTER vlli-Continued.
-
"The lady was sent into the cabin,
sir, and given a Stateroom where she
could fix herself up bit" he answered
soberly. 1.-THE other Teller had a heap
of a lot to say, an seemed to have
some sOrter grudge against you.
hadn't any time to listen to his yarn,
so / naturally turned him over to the
bosum, ter have thet eye dressed. He
must have got peach O. swipe, sir"
81 had to hit him-yes; but we can
talk of that later. Where is he now?'
"In the galley, sir, where they're
heating some water. After they get
him fixed up, is he to go aft, or for
irard?"
aft, if you have room to spare; he
is no Sailorman, but a millionaire from
New York; he has money to burn"
The fellow looked at me with his
mouth wide open, his glistening eyes
almost laughable-
'The devil you say, sir; he don't look
the part to my notion. You was all
part of yacht party?'
"Yes, the Esmeralda, steam yacht,
owned by Gerald Darlington of New
York. We were run down about n
big liner, which must have been out of
her course. She cut us square in two,
but, excepting us three, all living on
board got away in the boats. By acct
dent we were left, and escaped later in
the dinghy"
"What became of the liner?"
''She picked up the boats, and, think
ing they had all the survivors, went
rUyl.<
yacht went down five minutes after
since. Now. Mr.. Masters, that's our
story in brief. What's the trouble
here?"
It'll tell yer enough to make it clear,
sir" he said slowly. although there is
others on board who can explain more
in detail. You're q seaman-or was
once-so you'll see easily the sorter
fix we're in. I'm the only officer left
on the hooker. an L couldn't navigate
a ship if you'd give 1t to me. I'm only
the chief engineer. an my assistant is
in the fo'castle with broken leg. You
see tibet rifle for-rard, sir? Well, it
,wus lightning did that. Two bolts, so
the crew says, fer wus down below,
an never knew whut happened till the
eiectrics all went out. Then 1 shut off
steam, and clumb out on deck. Lord
but it wuS a black night, raining cats
and dogs, but no wind to speak of. 1t
wuS the rain what saved us, for fire
started yonder-yer can see where it
burned-but it died out of itself. When
morning come We saw what we was up
against: it looked q lot sight worse
then than it does now. Them bolts of
lightning he'd knocked the foremost
Into Smithereens, killed the wheels
man, and put the steering gear plumb
out o commission. Then the top
mast an spars just naturally wrecked
the bridge, and charthouse, an the
whole mass caught fire. The second
officer was in the wheelhouse, sir, an
never knew what hit him, an both the
captain an the first officer wus a
standin' tergether on the bridge. The
top mast crushed the life out of 'em.
There wus six sailormen hurt the same
way, an four of 'em died. 1t wus the
darndest mess 1 ever saw at sea, sir"
'Bad enough, surely; when did this
happen?"
"Niglt afore last; we've cleaned up
a but since, but the crew won't work
mucn under. me- an we're short
handed rugged up this wheel aft, so
as to keep an engine going, and hung
on. waiting for something to turn up.
There wasn't nothing else could do
NO, 1 presume not" and my eyes
rested thoughtfully on the scene for
ward. 'How is the ,hull-sound? You
seem sunk deeply"
That's cargo sir; full to the
matches. The shp's dry as a bone
have had the well sounded every three
hours"
And wnat ABOUT the crew p
"Just so, so; crimp brought them
aboard drunk, an we were not at sea
long enough for the mates to WHY
them into shape when this thing hap
pened. I'm no deck officer, Mr.. Hollis
and they don't take orders from ms
very well. 1 call 'em a Id hare
lot"
I made no comment. endeavoring t.
turn all these facts over in my mind
and reach some decision 1t was evi
det.e enough what was wanted. ana