Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-26

back Of II the two seamsn read strength,
decision, integrity. The gay, bantering.
whilom attitude Of this unusual young
pose. He was was ~ not a daredsvii, I'm nor W was
ne carefree, unstable youth who had
matured abruptly In the exercise VI
power On the contrary, he was--and
Capt Tr.srer knew it--the personinca-
tlSn t,oaoea OF Sonndaencs, conf an optimist to whom
able and therefore to be reckoned as one
In tho vast scheme Of human endeavor
o nghtsr who merely rests on his arms
but never lays them down !: a spirit that
aesorbs the bitters and the sweets OF
life with equal relish.
Capt Trigger was not slow In making
Nd his mind. This clean minded, clean
bodied American with the confidsnt.
though respectful smile. was a chap after
his own heart
II hardly know what to do with you.
Percival." he, said, q scowi of genuine
perplexity in his eyes You are not an
tleman. You have exercised an author
ity perhaps somewhat similar to my own
---poasibly In some respects your position
up there was even more autocratic. X
may use the term. am not uncon-
scious Of all this, and yet' have no
choice other than that designated by law.
The regulations are unalterable. It 10
a matter Of morale, pure and simple
We are compelled to treat all stowaways
alike OF course, shall not subject you
to the ordinary--shall we say methods
Pardon me. captain" broke in tho
young man, his smile no longer in evil
dence, II am asking no favors. I expect
to be treated as an ordinary stowaway.
Set me to work at anything you like and
! win make as good job Of It as pos
II was about to suggest that you serve
as sort OF assistant to Mr.. Codge, the
purser.. I've no doubt he could find
something for you to do and
. yVaT us sca. way o. Ssr. IL n1S
ing for mo to do but to submit"
'Mr. Codge a hard taskmaster. He is
quite a good d-natured man."
hastily ADDED Mr.. Mott. r.assurinsiy.
home" protested Percivai. Il want to
be sentenced to the hardest sort Of la
Dor, II you don't mind. I don't want 10
owe this steamship company q penny
sir, as master Of this ship. 70 put me on
the meanest Job you've got"
My wordf' exclaimed Captain Trig-
I'm blessed /" said Mr.. Mott.
up where I've been running things
and cock walking like foreman in o
shirt waist factory ! made the rules and
I enforced them. I want to say to you
that no favors were shown. II the Prince
Of Wales had drifted In there. dead
broke. and asked for something to eat.
he would have got It, but you bet your
life he'd have had to work for It. y
tramp's q tramp, no matter how much
purple he's been used to, and you can
say the same for q stowaway what
the matter with me taking the ace OF
% whafpypr
you call 'em. you lost last nightr'
"Swabbers, maybe you call 'em. Men
that mop up the decks after everybody
else has turned in"
what are you talking about?" de-
manded the captain. sitting up. very
straight. Peroival stared at him In as
II thought you knew about It, of
course. Good Lord, sir, don't you know
that a couple Of your men Jumped pr,sr over
rather9 Just as the. ship was rounding
that big headland--'
GOOD God, man, are you In earnest =
| cried Mr.. Mott, starting toward the door.
II certainly am. / took them for ae-
they didn't forget to put on life pre-:
servers before they jumped. haven't
| a doubt they were picked up. 80 there
no use worrying. A minute or two after
| they went over--from the bottom deck
| or whatever you call tt heard mo
tor boat popping away like gatiins
But he was alone. Captain Trigger
had dashed out of tho cabin In the wake
| of the first officer.
Agernon Adonis Percivai stared
Good Lord, why all this excitement
over q couple Of bums7" he said, ad-
dressing space. TT they were, working
for me. I'd thank the Lord to be RID OF
'em 60 cheaply. They-Hello" 40.
The second of'icer popped INTO 'he
Come along with me-" he snapped:
| "Idyeiy now. Just where and when DID
you see a couple Of men 80 overpoara!
Quietly now. We don't want to alarm
the passengers" ,..,,v,r,
disturbing report, tho officers OF tho
Doraine. with set faces. were employed
in a swift but silent investigation. Be.
fore many more minutes had passed az
least a portion OF the stowaways @ tn"nS s,SrS
missing. although. strange to say. they
had not been missed up to the time
noses were counted. They were down
on the ships roster as NorweSians'
New York registry. and had come oown
with the Doraine on her Trip from 'hs
Perolval repeated his story: but had
little TO add In tho way OF detail. Ho
had stolen on deck some time after mid.
night for a breath OF air, risking DE-
lection. and from the shsider haS ,ssrd 0s = no
two men swabbing tho deck below. Sud.
denly they ceased work. and he prepared
TO creep back to q place OF safety. con-
cluding that they were on their way to
the upper deck. u.. r,,o
two men were almost directly below
him, and he could see the upper por-
tions of their figures as they leaned far
out over the rail. apparently looking
into the swirling waters below. quite
distinctly he heard % one 90, Of tnem IN AZ say. y
now or never" The other mpmbled
something he could not distinguish. He
was only mildly interested, not anticl-
pating what was to follow. For q few
seconds he heard them scrambling and
nuffing and then he saw them quite
plainiy on the rail. their figures bulky
with what ne Identified as lifebuoys,
a faint light from somewhere falling
directly upon the grayish white opJects
In which they were swathed. ,~,, ~,
One Of them uttered the word Now J"
and to his amazement they shot out. as
one man, into the biaekness below.
There was q single splash. For q mo-
ment or two he stood spellbound. Then
he heard some one running along the
had been witnessed by others. no darted
| into the companion way and made h!s
way back to the stateroom OF the sick
passenger. Through the lightless port
hole ne listened for the terrifying shout,
| MAN overheard !" II did not come. but
his ear caught the staccato beat OF a
| motor nearby striking UP abruptly out
OF the swish of rushing waters. In his
| Ignorance ne decided that It was boat
daring deserters, and calmly waited for
| the engines of the mighty Doraine 70
cease their rhythmic pulsing. He fell