Show PROMOTION OF ADMIRAL by morley roberta author ct the colossus Colos nus the fugitive copyright 1909 y curall company copyright DOS by L 0 faga ik company he spent the continued inter al at lunch with the british consul I 1 tell you what stanley said the admiral I 1 dont care what they did to me for its done me no harm but after this you should be able to make them enforce the laws it they would only do that the pacific coast stink so in the nostrils of shipmasters and ship owners the consul explained the local tern of politics it appeared that every one with any business on the borcert of crime insured against the results of accidents by being in politics and if the thieving politicians ap point the man to control them what s the the result Is shanghai smith said the admiral well see you later ive an appointment with mr sant of the harvester the consul stared what with sant why he got eighteen months hard labor for 1 ill ing a man six months ago but he a not in prison of course not said the consul he was pardoned by the governor he s just the man I 1 wish to see cried dicky durn he found sant waiting at cart wright s office he was a hard bitted weather beaten gentleman and half his face was jaw that jaw had hold of a long cigar with his back teeth he continued srael ing and chewing and did both savagely what peter had said to him did not come out but by agreement the admiral was intro deuced as mr dunn you have reason not to like shang hal smith 1 sail peter so nodded sant mr dunn does not like him either could you make any use of him on board the Harvester 7 I 1 could said sant grinning he d a useful man if you imagined you missed a man tomorrow to morrow morning just as you were getting up your anchor and some one hailed you and said they had picked one up ou would take him aboard wet or dry said sant III undertake he shall be wet said the admiral eha and he turned to selwyn yes sir replied the lieutenant that could be arranged very well mr sant said the ad and its understood of course said peter that you gentlemen never saw each other and dont know each other when you meet it being a mat ter of mutual obligation I 1 agree said sant and ot course cartwright added as he escorted the admiral and sel wyn into the passage it there should be a at smith s and any of your men are in it we shall all ex plain that it was owing to your hav ing been put away and two wrongs then will make it right I 1 guess the newspapers will call it square exactly so said the admiral and when he reached the atrium he had very nearly worked out the plan by which the row at shang hai smith s was to occur just go over it with you sel wyn he said when he reached his cabin again now you must kemem her I 1 rely on your discretion A wrong step may land us in trouble with the authorities and the admiral ty well what do you propose sir kichard asked selwyn this is rightly your show and mine said the admiral I 1 wont have any one else in it that I 1 can help I 1 ought to speak to hamilton but I 1 won t keep him out of the trouble for hamilton was the captain of the triumphant I 1 suppose the men here are really fond of mea said the admiral interrogatively they havo no monopoly of that said selwyn Is there any one of them you could drop a bint to that you could trusta of course said selwyn there s benson whose father works for mine as gardener do you mean benson my coxs na yes sir he s the very man you might let him know that if he should get into any trouble he will be paid for it I 1 leave the rest to you you can go ashore now with this note to stanley rely on d secretion on that will give you a chance to take benson with you and speak to him on the quiet I 1 dont know that I 1 care particularly to hear any more about it till the day after tomorrow to morrow unless I 1 haap to ultimately all the responsibility is mine of course and by that selwyn understood rightly enough that dicky dunn for ull his cunning had no intention ot shirking trouble it trouble came he went ashore and took benson up town with him do you men think it was shanghai smith that laid tor us anil put the admiral away benson he as they went up market street there ain t the of a doubt e done it sir said benson and they don t like it lord bless you sir it s very ard aln all liberty stopped but between ou and me it was wise to stop it they would ave rooted is ouse up and shied the wreckage into the bay its a pity that you and about twenty more do it said selwyn and if one could only catch hold of he himself and put him on board an outward bound ship it would do efm good benson slapped his leg oh sir there ain t a man on board the triumphant that wouldn t do six months with pleasure to ave the addlin of am no for sure sir 1 I was lying awake last night think ing of it said selwyn at least I 1 believe I 1 was awake perhaps I 1 was dreaming but I 1 seemed to think that a couple of boats crews were ashore and that you went to shang hai s place tor a drink I 1 ve done that same sir said took benson uptown with him benson and the liquor was cruel bad and I 1 dreamed yes I 1 suppose it was a dream that you started a row and made hay of his bar and col lared him and took him in the cut ter and him about the bay till about four in the morning you always was very imaginary and dreamy as a boy sir begging your pardon sir said benson and I 1 dreamed you came to the harvester her lying in the bay the ship with the bad name among sailor men the ship said selwyn and you hailed her and asked the captain it a man had tried to escape by swimming and he said yes and then you said you d picked him up benson looked at him quickly but he wouldn t be wet sir oh yes he would benson you could easily duck him overboard benson stared very hard at the lieu tenant of course I 1 could very easy duck him and love to do it too and did the captain of the harvester own to him sira selwyn nodded he would benson I 1 mean he did of course I 1 suppose asked benson with his eyes on the pavement that it had been arranged soa in the dream yes said the lieu tenant was it for to morrow evening sira I 1 thought so said selwyn and the curious thing about it was that the whole thing was done as quietly as possible all you men went to work in silence without as much as a hurrah and one of the boats brought me ashore and the other brought the admiral and it was only after you had put the man on board the har ester that you came back for the admiral at five clock in the morning bencon and what about the boat as brought you sira I 1 came back a twelve and went on board with them after the fight and while you were rowing mr smith about the bay cheering him up was there anything else sira nothing said eelwyn only that I 1 forget whether it came out it it did the men sa J it was a game all of their own and I 1 think no I 1 m sure that it any one got into trouble it paid him well after all of course it would sir said ben son warmly I 1 wish it could really come off you never know your luck sir and I 1 think mr smith said selwyn and when benson went on board again and had a long confabulation with two boats crews there was a unanimous opinion among them that mr smith had piled his ship up with a vengeance when he ran against a british admiral there ain t to be no weapons said benson bothin worse nor more cuttin than a staysail ank as a knuckle duster and even that I 1 dont recommend an odd stretcher or two and the bottles there will do the job and the word is silence now and then mum s the word said the men and like the children that they were they wrought the whole ship s corn pany into a frenzy of excitement by dropping hints about as heavy as a half hundredweight on every one who was not in the game had there been much longer to wait than twenty four hours they must have told or burst and if they had not burst the others would have finally reached the truth by the process of exhaustion it was none clock on the follow ing evening that the admiral went on shore to dine with the british consul he told benson that he might be later than eleven and as benson touched his cap he tool the liberty of belaev ing he might be as late as five in the morning and just about eleven sel wyn came ashore in another boat with papers which had to go to the ad miral I 1 shall be baal in a hour abom said selwyn and th twe na were left in command of the cutting out expedition the whole business was nearly wrecked at the outset by the settlement of the ques tion as to who was to be left in charge of the boats finally thomas and benson ordered two men to stay and the defrauded men sat back and growled most horribly as the rest moved off towards shanghai smiths in loose order look ere said billings to graves as they were left alone it s one must stay with the boats but one s enough and on an like this borders ain t worth a damn howe you a quid a whole quid and my grog for a month if you II 11 be the man to stay no toss you the same terms both sides and the spin of coin sent billings running after the rest he was re aceved by benson with curses but he stuck to the party all the same very well you report me you know you cant be said defiantly and ive give graves a thick un and my grog for a month to be let come this awful sacrifice appealed even to benson all right he said but it I 1 can t report ou for this I 1 can the next time next time be damned cried all lings oo 00 cares about next time nowa and they hove in sight of shanghai smith s to be continued |