Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-01-19

rs o WOul0 10 q tOremaSt nanQ.
ShS would never COME ON deck unless
he was there; but. one evening he left
her at the rail across the break of the
poop, and went below without her To-
ticing. l hung in the wind u spell,
and then l made up my mind to speak
to her for fear I'd never get another
chance.
81 stepped right up and touched her
gently on the shouldeA and / says:
May
"She turned round quick and shot
a terrified glance at me that went
through me like a knife. My little
May, that | made mud pies with, went
to school with and shaved three years
for-was afraid of me! She seemed
about to faint. l threw caution to the
dogs, stepped right up and put my arm
around her. She fought and struggled
with the senseless fear of a shared
bird.
MAY said l, why didn't you wait
for me? Why did you marry this manf
| know you are not happy with him;
he treats you like u dog
MI. LAdiS Cd. Sdld II " bioh .
voice right in my EAR, L think the
weather braces will stan a little pull
"He spoke in a low, clear tone that
would have pierced armor plate. |
have never been accounted a timid
man. Andy. I've been through some
pretty narrow squeaks in my time. |
suppose | have faced as big odds on
ships decks-in the night. too, when
you couldn't see what was coming
as most any man in the business, but
l caved then, and | wasn't afraid OF
him, either. Next day at dinner no
ticed a slight. reddish lump on her
forehead. | ratified my knife and fork
and glared at him, but he never looked
up. l swear to you. Andy Thomas, II
I'd been sure he had hit her I'd have
throttled him across the table.
"Neither of us mentioned the sub
ject, but of course ii was knives out
between Us after that. She avoided
me more carefully than ever, though
| tried to show her that | wouldn't
bother her again. Poor little soul, she
had trouble enough without me bother
ing her. He was a cowardly hound
his treatment of his wife showed that
and he was scared to death of the
cargo. You know turp, gives off a gas
almost as inflammable as gunpowder,
The cabin was full of it. He wouldn't
allow any lights below, so we had to
turn in like troopers horses, all stand
ing for there would be no chance to
dress when called out in a hurry, and
he was forever poking his nose in the
galley and warning the cook about the
fire. The longer we were out the more
V and fidgety he got. We kept
the head pump rugged all the time and
the nose stretched along.
"She had two old boats IN the davits,
but they were warped with age and
neglect, so he bought a couple of con-
demned metallic lifeboats in Charles
ton hat came out of a captured block
ade runner-time o. the war-and hung
EN- in davits on each quarter. They
were kept stocked with provisions and
water and the falls faxed down clear
for a hurry call. Once he came on
deck In the night, yelling fire, and there
was the devil an all to pay before the
SOuwegian wrynecks got the boats
down. We nearly lost the biggest n
before we got it hoisted again. and
then he swore he'd perfect them In
boat drill If he had to keep them on
deck night and'day for the rest of the
passage. And he did too. He got them
so you could hardly speak to the mar
at the wheel even without all hands
dropping everything and making a
break for them dayit tackle falls.
"We raised st. Michaels. In the west,
ern islands. at 4 bells in the forenoon
watch the day before Christmas. and
before | went below to dinner | made
a memorandum of it on the slate"
"That vas the famous last entry On
the log slate that was read by the
crew who picked her up, wasn't it?" I
interrupted.
Eyes. Andy. that was it. We had
the wind from the sou'west, the wealth
err becoming thick and rather squally.
| told the second. mate for heavens
sake not to let her shake any of her
rags off in the puffs, or the OF man
would go crazy. Then ! went down to
dinner. We had finished the pea soup,
and | was glad to be that far along,
for we were as glum as the sole sur
vivors of Il cholera ship. Suddenly
there was a rumpus on deck. as though
all hands had gone crazy. and that
fool of a second mate stuck his head
down the scuttle and hollered out.
Fire.
at seems the barefooted Niger cook
had slipped up on the greasy brick
floor in the galley and capsized a buck
ct of slush on the hot stove. OF curse
it fared up and made a lot of smoke.
but that's all there was to it. The
niger, being to windward of it, opened
the weather door to get out, and the
dra Fl blpw fine smoke ont the Ice gal