Middletown transcript., 1921-10-29
CHAPTER II-Continued.


such a cry, indeed, as might burst
from the lips of a mother seeing her
only child run down by the Limited
burst from poor Captain Scraggs. MY
ship! My ship!" he howled. "My
darling little Maggie! They've killed
YOU, they've killed you! The dirty
lubbers!"
The succeeding wave lifted the Mag
gle off the beach, carried her in some
fifty feet further, and deposited her
gently on the sand. She heeled over
to port little and rested there as If
she was very, very weary. nor could
all the threshing of her screw in re-
verse haul her off again. The surf,
dashing in under her fantail. had more
power than McGuffey's engines, and,
foot by foot, the Maggie proceeded to
dig herself in. Mr.. Gibney listened
for five minutes to the uproar that
rose from the bowels of the little
steamer before he whistled up Mr..
McGuffey.
"Kill her, kill her." he ordered.
.Your wheel will bite into the sand
first thing you know, and tear the
stern off her. You're shakin' the old
girl to pieces"
McGuffey killed his engine, banked
his fires, and came up on deck, wiping
his anxious face with fearfully filthy
sweat rag. At the same time Scraggs
and Neils Halvorsen came crawling
pft over the deckload and when they
reached the clear space around the
pilot house, Captain Scraggs threw his
brown derby on the deck and leaped
upon it until, his rage abating ulti-
mately, no power on earth, in the air,
or under the sea, could possibly have
rehabilitated it and rendered it fit for
further wear, even by Captain Scraggs.
This petulant practice of jumping on
his hat was a habit with Scraggs
whenever anything annoyed him par
ticularly and was always infallible evil
dence that simple declarative sen
tence had stuck in his throat.
"Weli, cid whirling dervish," Mr..
Gibney demanded calmly when Scraggs
paused for lack of breath to continue
his dance, "what about it? We're up
Salt Creek without paddle; the devil
to pay and no pitch hot"
"McGuffey's fired!' Captain Scraggs
screeched.
"Come, come, Scraggsy, old tarpot,"
Mr.. Gibney soothed. 'This amt no
time for fightin'. Thinkin' an actin
is all that saves the Maggie now."
But Captain Scraggs was beyond
reason. "McGuffey's fired! AIcGuf-
fey's flred!" he reiterated. "The dirty
rotten wharf rat! Call yourself an
engineer?" he continued witheringly
LAS an engineer you're bowling sue
cess at shoemakin' you slob. I'll fix
your clock for you, my hearty. I'll
have your ticket took away from you,
an that's no Chinaman's dream,
nuther."
Its all my fault runnin' by dead
reckonin'," the honest Gibney pro-
tested. MAC amt to fault. The en-
slllS 1OCll UuSlCu OA AC SUI
the wrong signal"
"It's his business to see to it that
he's got an engine room telegraph that
won't bust
"You dog!' McGuffcy roared and
sprang at the skipper, who leaped
nimbly up the little ladder to the top
of the pilot house and stood prepared
to kick Mr.. McGuffey in the face
should that worthy venture up after
him. Il can't persuade you to git me
nothin' that ought to have. I'm tired
workin' with junk an scraps an cop
per wire and pieces O. string. I'm
through"
You're right-you're through, be-
cause you're fired!" Scraggs shrieked
in insane rage. "Get off my ship, you
maritime impostor, or I'll take pistol
to you. Overheard with you. you
greasy, Anticipated bounder! You're
rotten, understand? Rotten! Rotten
Rotten!''
'You owe me eight dollars an six
bits, Scraggs," Mr.. McGuffey reminded
his owner calmly. "Chuck down the
spondulicks an I'll get off your ship"
Captain Scraggs was beyond reason,
so ne tossed the money down to the
engineer. "Now git,' he commanded.
Without further ado, Mr.. McGuffey
started across the deckload to the
fo'castle head. Scraggs could not see
him but he could hear him-so he
pelted the engineer with potatoes, cab
bage heads and onions, the vegetables
descending about the honest McGuffey
in a yeritable barrage. Even in the
darkness several of these missiles took
effect.
Upon reaching the very apex of the
Maggie's bow, Mr.. McGuffey turned
and hurled promise into the dark
ness: 'If we ever meet again.
Scraggs, I'll make Mrs. Scraggs a wild
Ow. Paste that in your hat-when
you get a new one"
The Maggie was resting easily on
the beach, with the broken water from
the long lazy combers surging we'll
up above her water line. At most,
six feet of water awaited the engineer,
who stood, .lering shoreward and lis
tening intently, oblivious to the stray
missiles which whizzed past. Present
~, from out Of the fog, he heard a
prin,7Inp. metallic sound and through