Evening star., 1952-09-25
The Cuine Mutiny
By Herman Wouk

throats with an itchy, foul tasting
film; it stung the eyes. The air wa.
hot and damp. The smell Of tht
Grated cabbageS on the after deck.
house made a singularly sickenine
marriage with the stack fumes
The sailors and officers of thu
Caine, sweating, dirty, unable tt
obtain relief of a shower, looked
at each other with 1olling tongues
and dulled sad eyes, and worked
with their hands to their noses.
The Caine and a destroyer.
escort were screening six LISTS
numbering fat shells more thar
three. hundred feet long, shaped
like wooden shoes, and witha.
strangely frail looking; a deter.
mined assault with a can opener
one felt. on one of these paunchy
hulls might bring about the aban.
don-ship alarm. The LISTS Wob-
bled over the waves at 8 knots
and the zigzagging secorts went
Slightly faster.
Queeg's water ban was about
"a hours old when Maryk
presented himself in the captains
cabin. The Gaines commanding
officer lay fiat on his back in his
bunk. naked. Two fans, buzzine
at full speed, blew streams of all
down on him; nevertheless sweat
stood in beads on his white chest
What is it, Steve?" he said, not
moving.
Captain. in view Of the extraor-
binary wind conditions. how
about securing the water regula-
tions after one day instead of two?
Paynter tells me we've got plenty
to last us until Funafuti-
That's not the point" ex-
claimed Queeg. "Why is everybody
so damned stupid on this ship?
Don't you think know how much
water we have? The point is, the
men on this ship have been vast
ing water. and for their own good
they've got to be taught a lesson,
that's ALL"
Captain, they've learned their
lesson. One day of this is like a
week without water"
The captain pursed his lips. "No.
Steve, said 48 hours and I meant
48 hours. If these men get the
idea that I'm one of these shilly-
shalliers who doesn't mean what
he says, there'll be no controlling
them. He'll, I'd like a shower my
self, Steve. I know how you feel.
But we've got to put up with these
inconveniences for the sake of the
mems own good"
No Relief for Crew.
The following wind did not de-
sert the Caine that night nor the
next day. Below decks, the air
that came through the ventilators
was intolerable; most of it was
stack gas. The sailors swarmed
out of the compartments and slept
in clusters on the after deckhouse
or on the main deck. as far from
the stacks as they could get.
Around noon the next morning
human nature revolted. The black
gang began to bootleg water in the
after engineroom, where the evap-
orators were, so that no pressure
would be found by Queeg in any
pipes. The word passed through
the ship like a telegram. The
two narrow steel ladders descend
ing to the broiling. clanking en-
gine space became choked with
sailors. Paynter quickly discovered
what was happening, and reported
it to Maryk in the charthouse
The executive officer shrugged
Cant hear word you're saying,
he said. stack gas has got my
ears ringing"
This blessed relief was available
only to the crew. Word of it soor
reached all the officers, but, unan-
imouSly diSloyal though they were
to Queeg, a vague yet pervasive
sense of the symbolism of an off,
GERS cap kept them from descend.
ing the engineroom ladders.
Ducely, indeed, dropped his head
on his arms beside the coding ma
chine at 3 o'clock, and bleated tt
Willie that he could stand it nc
more; he was going aft to get g
drink in the engineroom. Willie
glared at him. Ensign Keith bore
small resemblance at this moment
to the chubby, cheery-faced piano
player who had walked into Fur
nald Hall IA months earlier. He
had marked lines around mouth
and nose; cheekbones and CHR
stood out from the round face. Hi.
eyes were sunk in smudged sock
cts. "You go back aft" he sale
Ducely was 3 inches the tallel
of the two), "and you had better
start living in your life jacket.
swear I'll throw you over the side
Ducely moaned, lifted his head
and resumed picking feebly at the
coding machine.
Tn 0nn Y.nSnncf Noot O,1oao's