Evening star., 1930-12-07
BY ANGUS MACGREGoR.

NEW YORK, December b lN.A.N.A.). E.
David Blake is q rough-and- tumble
tumhling in every port the world knows
about, and some 1t doesn't. He is sub
ject to attacks of what the boys on the
water front call religion. He is in the
throes of one now.
A fine, raw, red specimen of q man,
Blake sits in a rickety mission house
on West street thumbing a Bible and
spelling out the words with delibera-
ton. His lower lip hangs pendulus. his
tongue droops a bit, his bushy black
brows are United in a fierce effort to
subdue the printed word. I got him to
tell me the story of how religious fervor
entered his soul for its thousandth brief
stay.
Last week a storm churned up quite
a to-do on the Atlantic and Blake's
ship, a freighter of uncertain vintage
was caught smack in the middle of 1t.
The freighter, through some mysterious
error in the design, belongs to the ae-
cursed class known as rollers. On a
fiat sea sheN shakes like a dancing girl
in Singapore cafe. When a storm
breaks, it's muKierous.
Tub WalIOwed Five Days.
For five days the tub wallowed, spun
and quivered, and on the evening of
the fifth day she began leaking like a
hat full of water
In the f'c'sle the starboard watch, of
duty, huddled in fear-ridden silence
The monotonous kree-swish, kree-
swish Of the pumps, manned by the
port watch; the crashing and groaning
of the stricken ship and the deep
throated grumble of the ocean as it
lashed and spit ut the sinking tub made
q nf nfYfN
among them was calm-a young Portu-
guese whom Blake characterized as "a
worm without soul" He has another
name, but Blake refused to give it to
me. The Portuguese fell to his knees
before his bunk and quietly began
praying. "Madre de Dios,"- he said
quietly, II am ready" Then, peace
fully and happily, he climbed to his
bunk and began reading the Bible
Blake watched with curiosity.
A few minutes later a breaker slith-
cred down the hatchway and flooded
the fcsle. Amid shouts and screams
board watch clattered pell-mell to the
deck, but the Portuguese never left his
bunk
The mate laughed away their fears.
"A little water down your necks," he
said, might take the smell off'n you"
Portuguese Was Cool.
But it was some time before the men
could be herded back to their quarters.
The Portuguese never looked up when
they dragged in, uneasy with fear. He
was as cool as q child sleeping in a
carriage in sunlit garden.
so" said Blake to me, "I figures If
religion helps q guy like him what's got
the mind and soul of q snake, it would
help David Blake. And here am. took
proper, catching up on my Bible learn
ing. Let 1t be a lesson" he concluded
sternly, ito the young people"
On the way out asked the mission
attendant how long he thought Blake's
new attack of religion would last.
Oh" he replied, until he gets a
little thirsty, think"
Big Man Gets Surprise.
Big Bill Oakes, six feet tall, built with
the strength and rugged beauty Of an
oak tree, man who can, and once did.
XIII an OK with his fist, Is all hashed up
these days. He looks like meat that's
been through a grinder.
"A truck?" asked sympathetically.
Sit down and I'll tell YOU" said Bill:
its long story and q rotten one"
It all came of q bottle of cognac.
AAA AAaOCo hOtI1lIlB WOISE LQan q OTy
whistle. Coming out Of Hamburg on
the Tigris, he laid in a supply calcu-
lated with the precision of experience
to last him to New York. But Bill dis
covered to his dismay that his cognac
was disappearing too fast. Somebody
was helping himself and Bills nose.
large one, led him to the culprit, q thin,
wiry Hawaiian, whose breath had be-
come as penetrating as Big Bill'a own.
Warning BIuntIy Given.
Big Bill Is a man of more streneth
than tact. He came directly TO the
point. One more nip" he said, and
I'll tear your heart out with INV hands." {"
Inc Hawaiian smiled and said nothing.
Never once did 1t enter Cakes mind
that he ought to hide his brandy. A
man as big and tough as he is not ac-
cuStomed to having things stolen from
MN. But the next day a copious uuan-
tity was removed Surreptitiously from
the bottle. With the roar of q maddened
Dull he rushed for the Hawaiian.
IL seemed shame" Bill said mo-
roseIy, for guy like. me TO sock a runt
Ike him. Why, I could pick nv teeth
with his bones. But was plenty sore"
Not as sore as you are now" asked.
WHAT was it, jiu-jitsu?"
l was sore then in q different way.
Yes. IL was jiu-jitsu."
The two came to prips and then in
some mysterious manner Big Bill did a