Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1921-09-17

You in peasant lothes?-that luck had
been ag'in' us.
What the end would have been I
don't know. 1t was you that solved
the problem. not them. You looked al
the first man Of them hard. Then YOU
got TO your feet.
Michael says you quietly, I'm
going to sea. England's at war, and
there's work to d.. So lets make for
a kings ship, ana have done with mis-
cry and poverty.
Then YOU waved a hand TO the
man in command of the recruitiu
gang. and presently stepped up to
him and his friends.
Sir l said to you. I'm not going
to be pressed into the navy
"'Ihere's no pressin', Michael you
answered. Wen be quota men. Wen
do it for cash--for forty pounds each
and no other You let them have you
as you are But if YOU don't want to
come you added, its all the same
TO me-
Faith. l knew that was only talk
| knew you wanted me. Also l knew
the kings navy needed me. fer men are
hard to get SO, when they'd paid us
the cash-forty pounds apiece
stepped in behind you, and here we
are-here We are! Forty pounds
apiece-equal to three years wages of
an ordinary recruit of the army. 1t
amt bad, but We're here for three
years, and no escape from it. Yes,
here we are"
Dyck laughed.
Aye, here were likely to remain,
Michael There's only this to be said
we'll be fighting the French soon,
and it's easy to die in the midst of
great fight If We don't die. Michael,
something else viii turn up, maybe"
That's true. sir They'll make an
officer of you, among the common herd.
It's the dregs O. the world that comes
to the ships bottom in time Of peace
or war"
swell, I'm the dregs Of the world,
Michael I'm the supreme dregs"
Somehow the letter from Virginia
had decided Dyck Calhouns fate for
him. Here he Was--at sea. common
sailor in the navy. He and Michael
Clones had eaten and drunk as sailors
do, and they had realized that as
they ate and drank on the River
Thames, they would not eat and drink
ON the watery fairway. They had seen
the tank foul with age, from which
water was drawn for men who could
not live without it, and the smell of
it had revollad Dyck's SENSES. They
had seen the kegs of picked meat and
they had been told of the evil ralons
given to the sailors at sea.
The Ariadne had been flagship IN
her day the home of an admiral and
his staff She carried seyenty-four
guns, was easily obedient to her swift
sail, and had a reputation for gallantry.
From the first hour on board, Dyck
Calhoun had fitted in; with a discern
ing eye he had understood the seamen's
needs and the weaknesses Of the sys-
TEN.
The months he had spent between
his exit from prison and his entrance
into the Ariadne had roughened,
though not coarsened, Dyck's outward
appearance. From his first appearance
among the seamen he had sci himself
to become their leader. His enlist
ment was for three years, and he meant
that these three should prove the final
success Of this naval enterprise, or the
. fr.
The life Of the sailor, with It's coarse
ness and drudgery, its inadequate pay,
its evll-smelling food, It's maggoty
bread, its beer drawn from casks that
once had held oil or fish, its sinking
salt-meat barrels. the hideous stencil
Of the bilge-water-all this could in
one sense be no worse than his suffer
ings in jail. In spite Of self-control,
jail had been 10 him the degradation
of his hopes the humiliation Of his
manhood. He had suffered cold, damp
ness fever ana Indigestion there, and
1t had Slapped the fresh fiber Of Ire
in him.
From the moment Dyck arrived on
board the Arlndue be was marked
man. Tereus. disfrauchsed solicit
tor, who knew his story. spread tbe uu-
wholesome truth about him among the
ships people and be received atfcu-
tions at once offensive and AatteNng.
The best educated ~ the ships hand.
approached him on the grievances with
which the whole navy VAS stirring.
Cprrrfrr.r had rnf q Ia.v 4Hirif iu-