OCR Text |
Show - j. Is Timm sea Ewaa. ill III - cpvj. by H'eSI nl much us when I hiirt seen It Inst. The bright rainbow ulow of the colored skylight gave me an old familiar feeling. feel-ing. Something restrained me fmin entering. ili not dare go In theu. I would mil now. At t lie stein I looked (or my name which I li ii U ome in r veil on the mil. I founil It, luilt effaced by time hihI weather. I rend It slowly. sio1IIiik It out list a child spells Uh rlrul lessons: I' ll IC L A X I.-U -K-I-l 4i K. I looked nt the compass, beside which I hud watched lor hours, 't he compass in Hired place lo u sailor. "Till ship." I thought, "carried me Riifciy. The storms were wild nil the n J from "Frisco around the lloiu lu Liverpool. They wanted lu tuke uh, every limn uhuurU. tml the good old I'liuniue fought ugitliiHl wind mid wave over leagues iind leagues ol dreary w usle mid brought us safely to port. Ves. she wus our mother, our kindly protecting iiiol her." 1 he deserted ship with uti ungulded helm rolled luiek mid forth. The rl ji-glug ji-glug creaked iind groaned. It seemed to lie n vnlee, a voice Unit hurt inu. Kvery spur seemed tu guy: "So here yuu Mre, I'lielux, buck again. Where have yuu been ull these years? Where In iu he crew? What do yuu want here, ulmie? Wliul are you going to do with me?" Mltle had I dreamed when I win sullor on this tine lianjue that une day I would walk her decks again, not us a seaman, but us the cunuuunder uf rulder. Iteturnlng to the Seeadler, I shut myself up lu my cabin. In the disunite dis-unite I heard the roar of a bouib, and I knew that my old I'lnuiore bad Blurted on her lust cruise. ' CHAPTER VIII The Life of a Modern Buccaneer Buc-caneer Although our old jolly boat was a raiding auxiliary cruiser, she also degenerated de-generated Into a breed of passenger ship, too. Our pusseugers were our prisoners. That made the situation somewhat unusual and added a bit of spice. I've served at an officer aboard a dozen or more liners, and have aeen all kind and strata of tu- CHAPTER VII 10 The Last Cruise of the Pool Old Pinmore One night. Hie breeze having beeumt llKhU we iirnceeded under a" chmil nt ail. It was a nlchl such u you rarely Iind anywhere hut In the tropics The f"iir KcinllllatliiK stars nt the Southern Truss twinkled merrily down upon us. Our Ralls were full, and the waves murmured past our how. The sky was a gnrueouK spread of blinklnu stars, nnd (lid Man Moon was bright that he seemed lo he ImighliiK and chuckling. The buccaneer's deck was crowded. We sat around In genial fraternity, olllcers, prisoners, and crew each with a goblet of chanipngne. "What ho. a light!" My night telescope at my eye. I saw a ship. On the horizon, brightly outlined by the light ot the moon stood a stately three muster. Our Hash signal Dared out across the wuter. "lleuve to a (ieruain cruiser." tin able to make us out, she Utile guessed thut we were nothing more thun sailing ship, from which she could ' easily escape by slipping through the night. We were coiitidcui she would take us for an armored cruiser easily able to catch her and blow her out of the sea wllh a broadside. We waited at the rail to see what would happen. Presently, we heurd a splashing uf oars. Out of the darkness dark-ness came a hall, the Jolllesl hall I have ever listened to. it was Id naeal seuport French. "What a relief I Instead ot a Bocbe petre destined for French powder mills, and u saving of hundreds, perhaps, per-haps, thousands of tleiinan lives. One Sunday morning, we sighted i large British btniUe and started utter her. Khe thought we were , playfully challenging her lo a race, and tried to run away. I dun I know whether we could have ruughl her in a straight sailing ship against sailing ship contest; con-test; at uny rule, our motor gave us the edge. A strange feeling came over me as we gained on her and us her lines became more distinct, it was a sense of sadness and of vague, dimly daun lug recollection. Had I seeu that ship before? Was it possible . . "Signal und usk her for her name," I culled. Our signal Hag went aloft. The reply re-ply came hack : "Pinmore." Ah, my old I'lnmore. on which I hud made the longest and most bur rowing voyage of my life. Memories swept over me of those endless storms and nf t lie disease on hoard, herl-herl. scurvy. My whole being seemed tn leap back to the days of my youth. Homesickness seized me. I could not say a word to Leudeimtnn. who stood beside me. "No use, the ship must be sunk," a harsh Inner voice told me. It was hard for me to sink uny sailing sail-ing vessel, but doubly cruel lo have lo sink my old ship I fell as tliougn she were a kind mother. No sailor with any kind of 'Bailor's soul tn' hlh) will raise a hand against his own ship We took her as we had taken the cruiser. I nnd yuu are un old wind-Jammer wind-Jammer like ourselves, ttul why the juke? Your signal fooled us completely, complete-ly, i suppose yon want to tell us something shout the war." "I'ouie on board," I replied. "We have lots of news." We were In our shirt sleeves, and looked like ordinary seamen. ' On deck he said proudly: "I am a Frenchman." As though we couldn't have guessed lu "A French maul Flue. How Is France doing?" "Ah I France, she Is victorious, or will be very soon. Ituvl de vous voir." tie tn li ly bubbled over with delight when we ode red him a bottle of champagne. cham-pagne. Being Homeward bound, be was In a frolicsome mood. He was fitch u cheery, convivial soul that 1 hated tu break the bad news to him. I left the progress of events lo do that. He wuuted tu have a look over our ship. So I ushered him aft to my cabin, and threw open the doui lie took a step forward and recoiled On the walls were pictures ol the Kaiser, lliudenhurg, l.udeudorff, alio Von Tirpllz, nnd a large Cermiin flag "Des ulleuninds!" he groaned. "Yes," I said, "we are Oernuitis." "Then we uie lost, per IHeu!" "Yes, per lieu, you are lost." He stood with his forehead In one hand. Ills despair was both tragic uud comic to behold. I tried us best I could to say a few words of cheer. "Well, t'aplaln. yon are not the utilj one tu lose your ship during the war. Tomorrow I. too. may be sunk, or the next day." He replied In the most doleful tone Imaginable. "It Is not so much the loss ot 'ii ship. Hut It's that 1 feel I have oiil) myself to blame for It. In Valparaiso where I lay In port with my I'uplelx two uf my fellow captains warned me not to start until they had cabled oui owners for liual Instructions and news about U-boats and cruisers I'osslbli our owners would Instruct us to keep un the usual course, they said. Hut the wind was fair, and I thought It best to take advantage ol It. So. without wailing .for a reply from out owners. I sailed from Valparaiso ahead of the other two captains. And now because I did riot take their advice. I have lost the IHtplelx. m.v ship Moti IHeu. what an ass I was! Now lliej will report It to my owners. Hint I will never gel a , ship again." "What were the mimes ot youi friends' ships?" -The Antoiiin " "The Antoiiin under Captain l.ccoijV "Yes And the l.a Uochefoiicaiild. others. When her crew came abourd. I looked for familiar faces. There were none. The skipper. Captain Mullen, Mul-len, came up to me with a humorous, sea manly air." "Well. Captain, our hard luck Is your good luck." "Lucky?" I felt like saying. "Do you cull this lucky?" He whs a typical old seaman, ofruld neither ot enemy In wur nor storms nt sea. The seven seas hud been his home. I.Ike the sailing ship, the old-time old-time windjammer cuptuln Is vanishing Captalu Mullen was Indeed like the king of a vanishing race. He swaggered down below, uud saluted our other skippers with a Jovial air. He soon became the leading figure of the "Cap loins' club." When every one hud left the Pin , more, I hud a bout tuke me over to her. I clambered aboard and sent the bout uud its crew buck, telling them I would give them a hall when I wanted them again. "Why does the Count want tu remain re-main alone aboard her?" I heard one of them any. I went lo the fu'c'sle. There was my bunk,' the same old hunk where 1 had slept night ufter night tor months and had tumbled out countless times at the coiiiuiand "all bands on deck" while those endless storms hore down upon us. I paced the planks on deck A'heie I had stood watch so often. It seemed as though I had never seen thai deck save in a storm. Those gales had left so deep un Imprint on my memory Unit It gave me a sense ol strangeness lo see the sun shining on the I'lninore's plunks und a slowly heaving seu around. I remembered a cunning little cat I had once owned on hoard her. The captain s wife wanted It. The steward gut It for her. I told the steward Unit If he did not bring It back to me I would go to the capiuin. The steward laughed at me. I determined lu com plain to the captain about the steward and his wife and demand my eat buck I could see myself us I had wrathfull) strode along the deck to Hie ciibln The sight of the door made me stop I mustered up my courage and ad mm eil iiiuIii. I ventured Just fai enough to peep In at the door, whlcli was ajar. The skipper was sitting i here reading a paper One glimpse of Hie master, and all ol I'hclnt. I. tie diges bravery oozed away, lie tinned and tiptoed away. I never did get my cat hack, and forever uftei held a gtudge against the steward I could still feel the old enmity It I could have found thai steward. I a-iin!i! Imve lot li i 111 know lloiv file clety aboard. Including dull, delight nil. Ill-natured. Jovial both the quiet and the dead. Yea, I have bad some splendid pustenger lists on voyages where every hout was gay and bubbling bub-bling with fun. But do group of passengers pas-sengers on a liner ever enjoyed sucb happy comradeship as did we aboard our huccaueerlng craft. The fact that we were captors and captives only seemed to make It all the Jollier. We took the greatest pleasure in making the time agreeable for our prisoners, with games, concerts, cards, and story telling. We tried to feed them well, nnd 1 think we did. which helps a lot. as you'll agree. We didn't throw It at them either. In fuct, we served special meals fur nil the nations whose ships we captured. One day our own1 German cbet cooked, and that boy was some cook, as you say. The next day an English cookie, then the French chef, then the Italian to make as some polenta. The English food was the worst. It usually usual-ly Is. On the other hand, the Americans Ameri-cans fed their sailors best of ell.' It's long been a tradition on Yankee clippers. clip-pers. In the old days, the American sailing ships were famous for frightful fright-ful work and much brutality, but the food was good. Today the work Is not had and there Is no brutality, but the fond is still good. The prisoners seemed to appreciate our Intentions thoroughly. They wanted lo do everything they could for us In return. Keeling of patriotism patriot-ism should hnve made them hope for our early destruction. But mure elemental ele-mental sentiments of gratitude and friendship obliterated the more artificial arti-ficial passions nf war hatred. I am sure that very few of our passengers wished us any III or gloated In the hope of our being sunk by the cruisers of their tuitions. I think It really hurt many of them to realize that the day probably would come when we would he caught and go down nnder a rain of Allied shellflre. Thnt magnificent Frenchman, the captain of the Charles Oounod. kept aloof from the general fraternizing, and scrupulously kept up his manner of cold politeness and stately hostility toward us. hut eveo he thawed out a few degrees, although al-though he tried bard to keep from showing It. There was only one uf our prisoners who behaved himself In any way that could lie considered Improper. That wits Captain l,pcoq who had cherished hopes that we would run afoul of the British cruiser You see, the skippers skip-pers aboard were quite free to go where they liked on the ship, except that I asked eeeh one. as he came . . . . . . .. . . i end ol a rope loll I went lo Iheciihln and halt opened the door It was iiiioiini. uoi to go into wie tore pari or j the ship, and I explained why. (TO HE CONTINUED.! nJ.4eJieeJea "Orderly," I culled In (eruiaii. which the captain did m l understand, "bring up captains numbers live and nine." While we waited, I Invited in) mournful guest to have some more, chuuiiiiigne. hut he refused and con tinned holding his head and imniulng A knock in the door. "Come In." And In walked the captains of the Anlonin and the la liochefoitcauld. They had been on board ten and lliree days respectively The cuptuln of the iMipiels gaped. "Kh. tout la France-!" he cried. Full of Ironical enthusiasm, be raised bis glu- uf champagne nnd saluted tlieni. Then Willi Joy that he made no effort to conceal, he clasped the hands ot the two captains whose advice he had scorned and who had encountered the same fate as he They relumed his welcome with a g.-lni humor. The preseiici" of these three cap tains abourd the Seemlier represented a loss of ton thousand Ions ol sail |