Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-07-18
MUTT AND
JEFF
JEFF
INVENTS A
SUBSTI-
TUTE FOR
GASOLINE
BY BUD
FISHER
CHAPTER Xxx
The Drop of Irish


= The usual signs of land greeted
Neeland when he rose early next
morning and went out on deck for
the first time without his olive-wood
.sbox-first few gulls, then puff1ns,
.terns and other sea fowl in increas-
ing numbers, weed floating, fishing
-smacks, trawlers tossing on the
.rougher coast waters.
!. After breakfast he noticed two
British torpedo boat destroyers, one
~to starboard, the other on the port
blow, apparently keeping pace with
@at noon, subjects of speculation
@among the passengers; and at tea
time their number was increased to
five, the three new destroyers ap-
:pearing suddenly out of nowhere, dead
sahead, dashing forward through
lively sea under a swirling vortex of
egulls.
The curiosity of the passengers,
ALWAYS easily aroused, became more
thoroughly stirred up by the bulletins
posted late that afternoon, indicating
that the tension between the several
European chancelleries was becoming
acute, and that emperors and kings
were exchanging personal kilograms.
There was all sorts of talk on DECK
and at the dinner table wild talk
speculative talk, imaginative discus
ssions, logical and illogical. But, boil
ed down to it's basic ingredients, the
widest imagination on board the Vol
hyna admitted war to be an lmpos-
sibility of modern times, and that,
ultimately, diplomacy would, settle
what certainly appeared to be the
,ugliest international situation In
hundred years.
AT the bottom of his heart Nee
Hand believed this, too; wished for
it when his higher and more educat-
ed spiritual self was fatty interro-
ar In IA
f1ulsive ego of James Neeland, the
drop OF Irish had begun to sing and
seethe with the atavistic instinct
for row.
; War? He didn't know what it
meant, of course. 1t made good poe
dered history amusing; made dry
facts succulent.
Preparations for war in Europe,
which had been going on. for fifty
years, were most valuable, too, IN
contributing the brilliant hues OF UNI
forms to an otherwise sombre civil
ian world. and investing commonplace
and sober cities with the omnipres-
rent looming mystery of fortificae
lions
To painter. war seemed to be
dramatic and gorgeous affair; to, a
young man it appealed as all excite
Iment appeals. The sportsman in MIN
desired to witness a scrap; his art
1st's imagination was aroused; the
gambler in~him specialized as to the
outcome of such a war. And the
seething. surging drop Of Irish fixed
and purred and coaxed for chance
TO edge sideways into any fight which
God in His mercy might provide for
a decent gossoon who had never yet
had the pleasure of a broken head
Not" thought Neeland to him
felf, that I'll go trailing my coat
tails. I'll go about my own bust
hess of course-but somebody may
hit me crack at thatn'
He thought of Use Dumont and OF
the man with the golden beard, real
5zing that he had a wonderful time,
after all: sorry in his heart that it
was all over and that the Volhynia
was due to let go her mudhooks in
the Mersey about three o'clock the
next morning.
AS he leaned on the deck rail in
the soft July darkness, he could see
the lights of the destroyers to port
nd starboard. see strings Of jewel
ike signals flash, twingle, fade and
flash again.
All around him along the deck
passengers were promenading. girls
in evening gowns or in summer white
men in evening dress or reefed in
blue as nautically as possible; old la
dies toddling, Swather in wells old
gentlemen in dinner coats and sport
ing dgear-every weird or conven-
tonal combination infested the decks
Of the Volhynia.
Now. for the first time during the
voyage Neeland felt free to lounge
about where he listed, saunter wher.
ever the whin of the moment direct
ed his casual steps. The safety OF