The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1919-05-01

INV
myself to the upper deck. A sailor
was In the galley and had started q
Gre. The ship was rolling, pitching
anc ,urching. In that galley It sound.
ed like n bombardment. Pots and
pans were rattling In their racks; n
few Of them has fallen out, and were
chasing each other around the deck.
Cold and miserable, I crouched in
the corner. keeping myself from fall
Ing by holding on to the rail In front
Of the stove.
The sailor took compassion on me.
and made the toast and tea. How
he did II wns q marvel to me, but
later on ! became very expert my
self.
Following the fife lines" on the
upper deck. I at last managed 10 reach
the bridge with my pot Of tea and
two slices Of toasted bread. There
were two men at the wheel. In the
darkness I went up TO them and asked
for the mate. They did not answer
Just then I received a resounding
smack IN the back which made my
teeth rattle, end that dreaded. gruff
voice Of the mate reached my ears
through the wind: Damn you, you
hell's spawn. keep away from the men
Mt the wheel or I'll throw you over
the side"
I mumbled my apologies. and fol.
lowed the mate into the chart house.
He greedily drank the tea. and In
about four bites disposed of the pieces
Of toast. The toast was soaked In
salt water and ! inwardly wished that
1t would poison him ; In fact ! prayed
that the ship would sink with all on
board. Such Is seasickness.
I managed, somehow or other, to
make my way back to the galley, and
I met my superior officer" for the
trip, the "cookie." He was about Eve
feet nothing In height; n shriveled.up
Welshman about forty-five years old.
He reminded me Of a mummy In the
Museum Of NATURAL History In Cen
trail park. II he had ever smiled I
am sure that his face would have
cracked. 1t seemed frozen into n
perpetual scowl. He gave n look ut
me ana let Ou q howl.
"Blawst my headlights. an this ere
(pointing TO mel Is what I'm to work
with on this bloomin' passage. I'm
lucky. I am, not 'arf. ! amt" He
looked like some gorilla. The rolling
Of the ship affected him not In the
least. He seemed to sway and bend
with every movement Of the ship.
The next two or three days were n
horrible nightmare to me. How ]
lived through them ! do not know. !
had q deadly fear Of the cook. As
soon as he found out that I could not
even boil water without burning II he
started in to make my life a misery.
He had q habit Of carrying a huge
butcher knife In his belt. Between
meals he would sit down on Q bench
and constantly feel the edge, at the
same time telling me what nm expert
he was at carving. Later on ! found that
there was a reason for his carrying this
knife. He and the Grew were ut dag.
ger points. he " daring to 90 for.
ward except In case Of necessity, and
then he was careful always to carry
his butcher knife. Down In my heart
I realized that II the occasion should
arise he would not be backward in
demonstrating his art Of carving on
his opponent. That Welshman was
no better cook than ! was. and the
crew 500 became aware Of this fact /;
hence their hostility.
The Cushko was a '1ime juicer,"
sailing under the English flag. The
skipper was q 'lime j%uicer," the first
mate n blue noser," the first engineer
a Scotsman. while the crew was COM
posed of Spnniards. Italians, Square
heads. Films. Swedes and Russians.
The bos'n was Irish, and a firm be-
lever in Home Rule. A worse gang
of cutthroats could hardly be con.
ceived n nice, polite bunch they were.
Believe me, Bill snd I had our troubles.
Bill and / were the only two Amerl-
can on board. The engineers ness
man was a Prussian, Karl Tatzner by
name. l nlcknamed him "Fritz." He
was only twenty years old, but was
feet tall.
After w~eatherlng the gale we at last
came Into the Gulf stream, and of the
coast OF Florida II was warm and
pleasant.
! found that my duties were 10 peel
spuds. wash pots and pans and be n
regular fetch and carry" for the cook.
My Office hours were from six bells In
the morning (three o'clock) until four
bells at night (ten o'clock. ! was
greasy and filthy at all times, having
"othing but salt water to wash In. and
this would not cut the grease. RIll
had II much ensler than I. I had muir
der In my heart and vowed TO Jump
ship" at the first port we put into.
After nine or ten days we came
alongside at Castries. ST. Lucia. Brit
ish West indies, TO coal ship. At this
port the men believed In woman suf-
frage. Long lines Of half-naked black
women, with huge baskets OF coal on
their heads. passed up the forward
gang plank. dumped their load OF coal
into the open bunkers, and left the