Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-17

would prove worthy. linen ne VI
| his shoulders with a quick little mo-
| ton, his lips relaxed, the muscles
each side of his jaw disappeared, and
| there came to him, as by right, the
| IRON spirit of his race, to which dis
| aster was a word unknown and failure
/ something that simply didn't occur,
He laughed softly and went down to
the main cabin.
nAWN found a mushroom of smoke
H. lifting from the Prince Shan's
midship deck. The gusts of the night
had gone, and the mushroom rose
steadily and evenly from the main
hatch. Enveloping the mushroom,
like an enormous pail spread far over
the ship and the sea. was light yell
low haze that made the sun rays
CULVER and seem a sickly orange and
blurred the sparkle from the long
green swells.
Near the break of the poop, men
moved up and down at the pumps.
from which led wet rounds of hose,
pulsing as if with life each time the
handles came down. There were
chemicals below. and something was
happening to them. judging from the
fumes that made the throat contract
and the eyes run. A few minutes of
such fumes was enough to drive a
man, sick and shaking. to his knees
A few more minutes sent him uncon
sciouS. Already the cook and a sea
man had been carried aft to recover.
Capt. Craddock watched the scene.
He remained a neat and tranquil fig
ure. He had taken the time to wash
and shave and change his linen, as
on any normal morning. He gave
his orders. when occasion arose, with
out haste or any change in his quiet
voice. The men, sweating and breath
ing hard at their work, would take
fresh courage at the sight Of him.
The sun swept upward, and a faint
breeze grew from the Southeast, send
ing the mushroom of smoke and the
yellow haze sprawling along the for
ward deck and over the schooner's
bows. The ship began to twist
somewhat in her rolling.
The captain walked aft, comman-
deered a seaman and sent him to the
wheel. He worked out careful
course, trimmed ship, and ran before
the stiffening wind. He returned to
the taffrail then to watch, apparently
without emotion. No man knew the
keen anxiety gnawing within him.
Such things must not be shown. That
was one of the penalties of command.
BY noon the mushroom of smoke
had subsidized to a mere thread of
vapor, and the gases from the chemi-
Gals We're not so strong. The wind
was blowing steadily, and the spirits
of the tired men were soothed. One
watch went below to get some sleep.
The other watch pumped an hour or
so longer. and the thread of vapor
gradually died away. The captain
walked to the poop companion with
the intention of starting the men to
breaking out cargo, when the second
mate touched his arm and said:
Glass dropping. sir"
Thank you," said the captain, and
he went into the little charthouse
abaft the main cabin scuttle. The glass
was low and dropping lower. The cap
tain nodded to himself, and the little
muscles appeared each side of his jaw
again. He wiped his palms that were
at him, but he fought it down. He
must have no faltering Of faith. So
ran the old covenant, and, whether
the tale was true or not. he knew
his forbears had gone se-enely through
their duty. They did not doubt their
ship or themselves, and they kept the
faith with the sea, which is unfalter-
| ing vigilance and truth OF plank and
| spar and saltwater lore.
He went on deck, without haste,
smiling a little.
Get the canvas off her." he said.
"And everything battened down."
The mate sprang to life, and the
tired men went to work. The watch
sent below to sleep stumbled on deck
again. sullen and daZed and a little
stupefied. The captain paced back
and forth and watched the sudden
vague mist growing on the far kori-
zon, blotting out the sky, growing
darker. turning to leaden hue.
by the time dark fell the sea had
risen to long. vicious breakers.
The Prince Shan, heavy with the
water that had been pumped into her
to quell the fire, sagged badly, waved
and twice within an hour was swept
by towering masses of water. Her
hull quivered and shook, and her
phosphorescent lights that seemed
like live things.
Capt. Craddock stood in his stream
ing oilskins in the lee of the chart
house with the mate and the second
and watched. apparently undisturbed,
the progress of the storm.
1t was an incoherent, roaring
chaos, thing Of thick, driving spume
| and screaming wind that took the
breath. The Prince Shan writhed and
shivered and twisted, as if a giant
hand was pursuing her below the
waves and she strove frantically to
escape. 1t was during a wild vaw
caused by her partially watar.logged
| 6nt xtn
giant breaker outstripped the racing
| ship and topped her stern, with a
thunderous roaring that numbed the
very senses Of already dazed men. The
two men at the wheel were sent help.
lessly to the very forward taffrail.
| The captain and the mates mingled
with each other and Jared In a knot
| at the head Of the port compa Mon.
The sailmaker, who was Just ascend
ing to the poop, went oversize on a
| sleek boil of foam, screa ming in a
thin. piping voice that somehow
pierced the roaring. All this in the
| thick dark, rtven with shimmers of
white and sudden seafires, SO that no
| man saw.
The Prince Shan staggered. sank in
the trough, as if she intended to go
down and then. rising like a cork,
shook the water from her decks so
that it roared in cataracts and smaller
waves about her masts and houses
She staggered again, quivered, as If
from some blow. and swung broadside
to the sea. wallowing in the trough.
The next breaker swept her starboard
to port. preached her clean and sent
her on her beam ends so that every.
thing movable, and a great deal that
supposedly was not, went to leeward
with crash.
There was a period of quiet. a lull
almost, though that was caused be.
cause the Keeling hull shut off tenn
porarily the scream of the wind and
| spume. The Prince Shan remained