Evening star., 1933-10-29
Some True Stories of Cats That Proved Them
sel0es Heroes When Danger Threatened
at Sea-IVhen the Waves Rolled
High or Mutiuy Mas Near:

She had been swept away on DUTY,
I concluded AS walked back toward
my cabin I tried to think of her keeping
an eye on things while we had been
chained to the bridge by the hurricane
wind!
AS I write this another instance flashes
~ to my mind. Old One-Eye, about
whom I have written before, was the
hero. He was the most sagacious cat
that ever trod the deck OF a vessel,
seeming almost human in his actions
and perception. Yet he was dumb, or
practically so. Only twice, in the many
years of our association, did ever hear
him NEW!
The first time was during still night
when my vessel lay at anchor of a
tropical port. In the morning there
had been trouble with one of the Negro
cooks He had been on shore and he
had looked too fondly upon the wine
when it was red. Breakfast had been
late and badly cooked and the sailormen
were about to administer little cor
poral punishment when appeared upon
the scene. The cooks hide was saved,
and he was locked in the brig until he
sobered up In the late afternoon that
condition came about and he was freed.
He was very contrite, and he entered
the galley to prepare the supper with
a great show of diligence. That eve
ming I went early to bed. had scarcely
fallen asleep-or SO it seemed-when I
wakened with a start. Old One-Eye was
on the pillow beside my head, and I
distinctly heard him NEW!
This so startled me that I sat bolt
upright, and Immediately SenSed that
there was some one in the room. Quick
as a wink the light was switched on.
In the doorway stood the cook with a
bewildered expression on his black,
sweaty face and one OF the long galley
knives in his right hand.
What do you want?" asked, pleas
antly enough, as soon as I had swallowed
a few long breaths to still the wild flut-
tering of my heart.
The cook grinned, and said: "Ah's got
a spite with yo'. Abs come to cut yo'
throat from eah to eah!"
He didn't do it. I knew that man
who tells you that he's going to kill you
seldom does, and | acted accordingly.
But shivers run up and down my spine
every time think of what might have
happened if Old One-Eye had not sensed
the danger and forced that NEW from
his mute throat in warning!
The second time was even more aston
ishing, and even now I marvel about
just how it came to pass.
It happened off the Nantucket Shoals
when my vessel was making the run be-
tween Boston and Havana. The night
was still and thick with pea-soup fog
and, because many fishing boats had
been passed earlier in the evening, we
crept along under reduced speed, our
steaming lights cutting tunnel
through the mist laden air and our siren
ripping the silence apart with its raucous
blast.
BECAUSE of the dampnesS the decks
= were deserted, but when the watch
was called at 8 o'clock the light from
a doorway under the forecaStle-head
revealed Old One-Eye lying sprawled
out in the center of coil of rope on
No. 1 hatch, the one nearest the bow.
I forgot him until after midnight.
Suddenly he mewed! Curious, I listened
intently {. but only the noises of
the vessel disturbed the silence of the
foggy darkness. I concluded that, in
his sleep, he was dreaming of the cat
heaven where fish wiggle on platters
with no water near to protect them, and
I had moved back against the wheel
house again when second NEW waited
down on the gentle wind. Startled now
70 tho hxidcra roll