The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-05-11

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 seer
the tank foul with age, from which
water was drawn for men who could
not live without 1t, and the smell OF
it had revolted Dyck's senses. They
had seen the kegs of picked meat, and
they had been told Of the evil rations
given to the sailors at sea.
The Ariadne had been a flagship In
her day, the home of an admiral and
his staff. She carried seventy-four
guns, was easily obedient to her swift
sail, and had q 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 r~Oughened,
though not coarsened, Dyck's outward
appearance. From his first appearance
among the seamen he had set 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
stark period In a calendar Of tragedy.
The life of the sailor, with it's coarse
ness and drudgery, its inadequate pay,
It's evil-smelling food, its maggOty
bread, It's 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 to him the degradation
of his hopes, the humiliation Of his
manhood. He bad suffered cold, damp
ness, fever, ana indigestion there, and
1t had Slapped the fresh 1ter Of life
In him. =
From the moment DycE arrived on
board the Ariadne he was a marked
man. Ferens, a DISTINGUISHED solicit
tor, who knew his story, spread the un-
wholesome truth about him among the
ships people, and he received atten-
tons at once offensive and flattering.
The best educated of the ships hands
approached him on the grievances with
which the whole navy was stirring.
Something had put a new spirit IT,
to the life of his majeSty's ships; 1t
was, in a sense, the reflection Of the
French Revolution and Tom Paine's
"Age Of Reason What the Ameri-
a II had done in establishing q repub-
lie, what France was doing by her
revolution, got into the veins and
minds Of some men in England, but it
got into the veins and minds of the
sailor first for, however low his origin.
he had intercourse not given to the
average landSman. He visited foreign
ports, he came in touch with other ele-
ments than those of British life and
character.
OF all the ships In the navy the
Ariadne was the best that Dyck Cal
hOun could have entered. Her Off
GERS were humane and friendly, yet
firm and 1t was quite certain that If
mutiny came they would be treated
well. The agitation on the Ariadne
in support of the grievances of the
sailors was so moderate that, from
the first, Dyck threw in his lot with
1t. Ferens, the former solicitor. first
came to him with a list of proposals,
which only repeated the demands made
by the agitators at Spithead.
you're new among u.s." said Fer
n to Dyck. "You don't quite know
what we've been doing, l suppose.
Some Of us have been In the navy for
two years, and some for ten. There
are men on this ship who could tell
you stories that would make your
blood run cold-take my word for 1t.
There's a lot of things goin' on that
oughtn't to be goin' on. The time has
come for reform.
"Things are mOvin', and we've got
to take u stand now when the time
Is ripe for It, or else lose it forever.
Over at Spithead they're gettin' their
OWL WY. AHc SONcLhluSht are gun
to send the admiralty board down here,
because our admiral says to them that
II won't be safe goin' unless they do"
"And what are We going to do here?"
asked Dyck. whats the game Of the
fleet at the Nore?"
Ferens replied In a low voice:
Our men are gOin' to send out pc
titions-to the admiralty and to the
house Of commons"
"Why don't you try Lord Howe?
"He's not In command Of a fleet
now. Besides, petitions have been sent
him, and he's taken no notice."
Howe? No notice-the best admiral
we ever had! I don't believe It," de-
clared Dyck savagely. "Why. the whole
navy believes In Howe. They haven't
forgotten what he did In "a. He's as
near to the seaman as the seaman Is
to his mother. He's a big enough
friend Of the sailor to waste no time
before doing his turn"
Ferens shook his head morosely.
"That may be-" he said, "but the pc