Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-25

souhs han' punsieu eNpEebsion III MS
You appear 70 be a sentleman." he
said at last. why are you on board
,hts ship as a ,stowaway7 Don't you
know that ! can put you in irons, con-
at the first port of call7'
"Certainy. sir. That's just what am
lying to avoid. AS a gentleman, am
prepared to do everything In my power
painf, Ts1'e efc,a Kon Of d,S What must seem most
Mr.. Mott smiled The captain stiffened
perceptibly. ....
no How asM.aS0Sy did you come aboard this shipT"
"As coal passer, sir. Day before
yesterday. when you were getting In the
| last lot OF coal. had a single IS gold
piece In my pocket. II did the trick.
With that seemingly insignificant rem
nant OF comfortable little fortune I In
duced one Of the nr.tive coal carriers
Portuguese nobleman, I shall always
| call hlm--to part with his trousers, shirt
and hat. 1 slipped 'em on over my own
clothes, stuffed my boots and socks in
SIDE my shirt. picked UP his basket Of
coal, and walked aboard. 1t isn't neces-
sary, i suppose, to state that my career
| IS dock hand ceased with that solitary
basket of coal, or that having once put
foot board the Doraine I was in . posi-
We'll, I'm damned" said Capt. Trig-
ger. Some one shall pay for this care
iessness, Mr.. Mott I've never heard. Of
anything so cool. What did you Gay
your name is. young mani"
"A. A. Percival, SIR"
"Ah-ahem! l see. viii 1t offend you,
A. A., IL make so bold as to inquire
why the devil you neglected to book your
passage In the regular way. as any
been expected to do, and where Is your
passport your certificate Of health, your
purse. and your discharge from prison?"
Mr.. Percival spread out his hands in
sure OF complete surrender
Would you be interested in my story,
Capt. Trigger? 1t. is brief but edifying
When / arrived in town, the evening be-
fore you were to sail, I had a wallet we'll
tlled with gold, currency, and so fortn
the foothills of the Andes. to be moro
defnite--and had my papers. my can
- .tu con ,ract, and a ci a. right of way
! so to speak. My personal belongings
were supposed to have arrived in town
hide trunks, in fact Well, they didn't
arrive. don't know what became Of
them. had no time to investigate. This
| was the last boat / could get for two or
three weeks that would land me in the
U. s. A / put up at the Alcazar Granu
for the night. 1t was then too late to
| secure passage. but fully intended to
do so the first thing in the morning
There was q concert and dance at the
hotel that night, and l went In to look
| on for while. I ran across a friend.
an engineer who was on the job with
me up in the hills a few months ago.
He Is also an American, chap from
| Providence. Rhode Island. Connected
with the consular service now. He was
Dor ng your"
"No, no-get on with it." urged Capt
Trigger.
Several of them were sailing on this
ship. and they were having little fare
we'll party. That, however, has nothing to
do with the case. left them at mid
night and went up to my room. Now
com 3 the part you W II not bell We. Oar
| Ing the night sleep very soundly--
some one entered my room, rified my
pockets, and got away with everything
I possessed except my clothes and the IS
gold piece I have carried ever since I
left home--as lucky coin. you know.
| He"
How did he happen to overlook your
lucky coin?" inquired the captain sar-
caBtically.
Because 1t couldn't be lucky coin II
! I carried 1t in my purse. No coin Is ever
lucky that gets into my purse, captain.
| I always kept 1t tightly sewed up In the
band of my trousers, safe from the H.
| fluence of evil companions. I did not
discover the loss until morning. 1t was
| then too late to do anything. as you were
sailing at s. My Providence friend was
was determined TO sail on the Doraine.
| That 8 the story. sir, in brief. cav
| to you II / wasn't justified In doing the
| best l could under the circumstances.
Capt. Trigger was not as fierce as he
looked. He could not keep the twinkle
out of his eye.
I'VE will see about that" he managed
| to say with commendable gruffness. "As-
suming that your story Is true, why are
you in such a tremendous hurry to reach
the United States? Skipping out for
some reason, eh?''
WELL" said the young man slowly
you see, news Is long time getting out
into the wilderness where I've been To-
Of course, that there was a war on, but
We didn't know how 1t was progressing.
Down here In this part OF the world we
have war every two or three months,
and we've got so used to having 'em
over with In a week or two that We just
naturally don't pay much attention to
mem. We don't even care who wins
But a couple of months ago we got word
UP there that the United States had fin
ally got into it with everybody under he
sun, and that the Germans were bound
to win IL we didn't get couple of mil
lion men across in pretty short order.
I'm thirty years old, captain. strong and
healthy, and I'm a good American;
you the truth about being robbed. I
don't mind losing the money--only q
couple Of thousand pesos. you know
but If you chuck me off at the next port
Of call, Capt. Trigger. III curse you to
my dying day. I'm willing to work, I'm
willing to be put In irons, I'm willing
to get along on bread and water, but
you've just got to land me in the United
States. You are an Engl'shman. I
suppose you've got relatives over In
France fighting the Germans. Maybe
you've had some one killed who is dear
to you"
MY youngest son was killed in Flan-
ders." said the captain simply.
II am sorry, sir. Well, for every Eng
lishman and every Frenchman who has
died over there, my country ought to
supply some one to take his place ex-
pect to be one of those men, captain.
have no other excuse for coming aboard
your ship as a stowaway."
The captain stlll eyed him narrowly
II believe you are honest, young man.
II am deceived in you I shall never
trust the eyes of another man as long
as live. Sit down, Mr., Percival
shall put you to work. never fear, but In
the meantime am very much interested
You will oblige me by going as fully as
possible into all the details. shall not
pass Judgment on you until I've heard
all of your story"
Algernon Adonis Percival, civil and
mining engineer, Cornell had gone
development In the mines of Montana
! and later in the perilous districts Of
northern Mexico. A year or two prior
to the breaking out Of the great world
war, he was sent to South America to
replace the general superint ntendent OF
new copper mining enterprise In re-
mote section of the Andes on the Bo-
livian side of the mountains Here he
was in charge of the heterogeneous horde
of miners laborers, structural workers.
yatu xtyIn ah In ha