Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28
By Albert Richard Wetjen
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

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a blasted dog that ought to be dead"
Also he poked his head inside the
second mates cabin every half hour
or So glowered at the apparently
sleeping officer and listened intently
for any noise. And several times
the second mate and he passed long
minutes in hot argument when the
former woke up for while-re-
spective rank forgotten. The cap
tain loathed dogs. but at the same
time he wasn't the sort of ship
master who cared to rule his officers
with too high a hand. That only
meant constant trouble and inefficient
work.
The captain did not find Waffies
Nor. did the dog appear on deck
again for several days, not until the
captain had put his revolver away
and recovered some of his cantanker-
Gus temper 1t was noticeable that
Waffles bore the captain no grudge.
He never barked at him when he
saw him He proved goodtempered
dog. Perhaps he knew what others
aboard guessed. that the captain s
bark was lots worse than his bite.
At last the Hemro slid into the dol
drums and the great Gains held her
captive. Her full spread of canvas
Slated and cracked. her decks reeled
and tossed to the endless CLASSY
swell. At night flying fish scattered
over the bulwarks and threshe ed
about the planking. The crew well
coined them. for they made good eat
ing Waff1es was wont to snap them
as they made to fly oversize again.
Like the crew, he welcomed them,
too.
Every night the stars grew big
and hot and seemed to come down
from the velvet sky to play in fan
tastic, queer shafts across the water.
Occasional whales sported about.
Dolphins, albacore, all the phenomena
of the life of the greater deep, ap-
peared. hunted, killed, played or died
and vanished.
Day after day the sun drifted from
horizon to horizon, burning to the
eyeballs And the bark reeled and
rolled and baked and waited for the
wind that was SO long in coming.
on such nights and on such days
the seCod mate dozed fitfully, during
his watch below, on the top of the
midship house, where his cabin was.
And by the side of his mattress Wat
les dozed. head on paws, bright eyes
half closed and watching the heave
and fall of his masters breast. What
ever loyalty he had given to past
masters, there was no doubt of his
loyalty to and love for his present
possessor.
The crew amused themselves in va
rious ways. There was little to do
as regards ships work, except re-
peated washing down to keep the
wooden decks and the boats in good
shape. The men fished, made mats
and fancy rope baskets, sea bags,
picture frames of cigar box wood
and ditties. They swan in the cool
of the morning and of the evening.
1t was one morning while some
were swimming, the same morning
that the first of the breeze came,
when 1t happened. The sun had not
yet appeared. but the soft blue sky
was alight with golden shafts and the
line of the horizon was blazing.
Near the bark rawboned Swedish
sailor slid through the sWells with
powerful strokes, his white body
glistening in the greenish water his
tanned neck, face and hands showing
very plainly against the rest of him.
A little sandy-haired coCkney swan
chirpily by him, and a black-mous-
taChed, stocky Dane was little
ahead and to his right.
The rest of the crew, officers in
cluded. hung over the poop and the
main deck rail and listlessly watched
the swimmers. Waffies was midships
with the second mate, his golden
head through an iron port that forced
him inboard every time it swung
shut when the ship rolled.
ONE of the men hanging in the fore
- rigging, where there was greater
GOODNESS. shouted suddenly and point
ed. All hands turned first up to him
to see where he was pointing and
then looked over the swells. The
lean, triangular fin was not hard to
pick UP.
Come aboard bawled the cap
tain from the poop to the swimmers
shark. Shark beloved and
chorused the seamen midships.
The mate, standing near the cap
tain, sprang to life and called the
carpenter to him. There was a chance
of sport, and any such chance was
to be eagerly seized on in calm
1t was good for officers to encourage
sport. 1t kept the men in condition
kept them good-tempered. And SO
long as 1T did not interfere with
ships work 1T was all right.
Get your hooks on deck, Chips"
said the mate, rasping his gray, I'M
shaver chin with one long hand
Wen try and catch the beastie. Tell
the cook to bring some pork on the
foredeck. Get a couple of men to
rig a watchtackle on the fore yard
arm"
Aye, aye, sir" murmured the
pleased and grinning carpenter, look
ing up at the lean mate He wad-
died away. a bowlegged wisp of a
sailor, with a face the color of ma
hogany and a mouth that stretched
from ear to ear, and made him ex-
tremely ugly. Like the mate, he
was dressed in thin blue cotton
dungarees, with a white cotton shirt
a white blue-peaked cap. peak back
ward, covering his neck, and dirty
white canvas shoes.
Meanwhile the swimmers were
heading for safety. The cockney and
the Dane reached the pilot ladder
lowered over the barks side, and
clambered gasping to the deck. Once
there, they leaned over the rail with
their eliminates, their naked and
dripping bodies rapidly drying, to