The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1934-09-17


breakfast, of course. this is optional.
Captain Wong 30 has some cases of
excellent champagne. We have, as
you know. a refrigerating plant, and
SO our champagne comes to the table
in a bucket of ice."
Il have an awful feeling" said
Bowers, that this voyage is not
going to last long enough"
BY the way" said Flint, "do
either of you play bridge?"
They both did.
That will be good news for the
skipper" said Flint. 81 play little
when ! get a chance, but 1t is his
particular madness. When he can't
get a game, he is always dealing ex.
permimental hands and working out
end-plays."
IL was extraordinarily still. The
ships progress was hardly fast
enough to create ripple. The buried
thudding and cluttefing OF the engine
seemed rather to accent than to dis
turb the stiffness. You might have
thought, so still they were. that the
birds and the animals were all dead.
Then suddenly the air began to
throb with a soft musical and con.
tinuous vibration. 1t seemed to draw
nearer and nearer, and to swell and
swell, and then to recede and to
wane.
The Get Ready" gong had sound
ed, and Ivy Green announced that
although she was not going to dress
for dinner, she was going to change.
Bowers showed her where the cabins
We're, her luggage and the shower.
While she was changing, he 10.
Gated the cabin steward, tipped him
handsomely and told him to carry
the mattresses to the forecastle-head
and make up two beds.
Later that night he succeeded In
overruling Miss Green's objections
to the arrangement which he had
ordered.
Except for Flint and me-" he said,
there is nobody on this ship but
Cinnamon. A Chinese sailor can be
one of the most unpleasant things
in the world. Your bed is right up in
the butts. Mine is we'll aft and cross
wise to the ship.
II don't snore, and I don't annoy
young women who dislike me. Aren't
you perhaps fiattering yourself lit.
tie too much? The facts are these:
you're in my employ. therefore
you're under my protection and
am responsible for you. l am going
to protect you whether you like it or
not.
You're a pretty girl on a ship full
of men. mostly young and mostly
bad characters. No one is going to
annoy you or modest you in any way,
and that goes for me too"
DEOPLE in the tropics who make
a habit of going to bed late are
people who can get along with
minimum OF sleep. Daylight itself
is the universal alarm clock.
That first night out, Ivy turned
in at 3 o'clock. She had changed in
her superheated cabin. to suit of
mems pyjamas and a wrapper. It
was a black night, and it was not
without difficulty that she found the
way to her reservation between the
capstan and the extreme bows of the
ship.
She shed her wrapper and tucked
in. The sea was glass smooth, but
there was a long slow majestic
ground-swell. The black triangle of
the Boldero's bows was a long time
il completing each slow rise and
fall. There is nothing that could be
called a breeze except that created
by the Boldero's four knots an hour.
Ivy lay on her back and looked up
at the stars. A sheet covered her
lightly and was perhaps too much
covering; but toward morning ne
temperature in those seas nearly al.
ways dropped a little. and the thin
blanket which Bowers had provided
would come in handy.
She was reconciled to the sleeping
arrangements. Bowers bed was
made up aft of the capstan, and she
admitted to herself that she would
have been nervous to lie out on the
deck with no one near.
The Chinese crew on the Boldero
had not made favorable impression
Oh her. 1t takes all kinds of China
men to make the race, and among
the Boldero crew some of the lowest
types could be recognized at a glance.
Unrestrained and without fear Of
consequences, they were the kind of
men who would stop at nothing.
II Bowers had not been an animal
murderer she would have liked him
from the start. She could not but be-
lieve that he was honorable. and that
his promise to protect her was valid.
Presently she heard the sound Of his
slippered feet. One of the tigers
growled warningly rather than me-
nacingly as he passed, and one OF
the longlegged birds said something
TO the others about his passing.
(cosyisLs. 1884. By GOsvnsssr kOrrisJ