Show THE PROMOTION OF THE by morley roberta author of the colossus the fugitive copyright by th cartti publishing company copyright by i a company incorporated it mr watts continued was the authority on togs that his captain made out he soon had an opportunity ot showing it for halfway across the banks it was impossible to see farther than one could throw halt a hundredweight and the went tooting in darkness but every now and again in this dim world the men of science were alarmed and entertained by sud den battles in blasphemy between captain or the well informed mr watts and the crew 01 a bank fisherman for fog blankets sound in the oddest most erratic way and the throb of a screw cannot always be heard even in the calmest foggy weather such swearing matches be tween the and a smack were when apparently ghou tor three minutes or so sometimes sliced right in two by the sudden dropping down of what the meteorologist called an an acoustic wall of fog I 1 ike the last words i of don Whisker andos in A tragedy rehearsed a speech was cut off in the very flower of its youth where the blue binding blazes are you coming toa asked a faint nocturne and when captain had expended US last carefully prepared oration the right of maritime reply only conferred an audible oh you dog we have to thank the an acoustic of that tog bank for the conclusion said the meteor for if I 1 m any judge of hu man nature that Is still firing red hot words uto spacer yes sir said indignantly they re a foul mouthed lot it s as much as I 1 can do to keep even with em but slow down no more he telegraphed full speed ahead and left mr watts with awfully word ed s 0 o a battleship to the meanest brig afloat in the baloon he eat at the head 0 the table and drank rum hot science proves that rum ot Is the bailers bailors drink said captain and the correct drink for we all drink it and flourish on it and the reason Is that it goes by contraries it s cold work bein at sea and so we takes 1 ot and the sea Is salt so we takes it sweet and it comes from the west indies and that proves it said the ceolo gist warmly what a head you have captain the skipper nodded you may well say so he affirmed a phrenologist gave me a chart of my ead once a scientific chart with the soundings wrote out plain and what proved him right was his sayin that ere and there I 1 was too deep for him and I 1 paid him a guinea well worth it it was tor he said you get married and I 1 done so and mrs chasn t her living equal I 1 wish I 1 d brought that chart with me it would ave interested you gents to 1 now what a brother scientist thought of me it would indeed said the bathol ogist but there teli you what I 1 am said im a down righter that s me I 1 m captain of my boat I 1 am and if I 1 was afloat on a hencoop with all its crew id like to see the cock as would crow before I 1 gave him orders authority comes fatral to me be boss wherever I 1 am hancock more rum and I 1 would have succeeded in whatsoever I 1 took hold of phrenology told me so wrote out plain and ive a kind of deanin towards science ever since that phrenologist no put Is and on my ead and said with a start of surprise captain vou re a wonder but I 1 ve always wondered what it was made scientific chaps look so helpless hancock more rum but don t you fret gents im captain joseph and put you sate ashore or die in the at tempt and as he again ejaculated han cock more rum he tell asleep upon the table gentlemen said the geologist as our interests are now secure I 1 vote we go to bed but it was still a heavy tog and the was doing her ten knots an hour other steamers were doing the same or even more some twenty hnot liners slowed down in order that fell asleep upon ane table they might say that they had slowed down to about nineteen knots and a halt and some acting on the theory that the sooner they went through the fog belt the better for every one gave their engines all the steam they could make and stepped out for america or england at the pace of an indolent torpedo boat and the result of this was that at about four bells in the middle watch when the mate s aching eyes could see forty imaginary steam ers where there were none he omitted to observe there was a real one corn ing for him till it was too late the uttered one long hor rid wall which was answered in vain and the next minute the men of science were shot out of their bunks and their steamer was taking in the atlantic through a hole about the size of a dock gate what became of the lucky or un looky boat which got her blow in first the crew of the sin ing steamer did not inquire they heard her toot in the distance and in answer they blew their whistle tor help but though a whistle in a tog may be evidence of good faith it is not necessarily for wide publication and it is quite ble that the stranger if she did not sink ipso her bearings in the fog and beni off in the wrong direction at any ate the crew and passengers of the found themselves aar ft in three boats and in less than a quarter of an hour they heard tho agh they could not see their steamer blow her deck out and digap pear all up with the goose ender said the crew sulkily and now of course it will blow As ill luck and hurry would have it in the last rush for life most of the crew had tumbled into the mate s and second mate s boat with the lights of science were the captain and simpkins immortal Jehosha phat said joseph this s a pretty state of affairs that man drowning swine of a liner I 1 ope ashes gone down I 1 hope the codfish are sizing her cap tain up and sayin what they think of him simpkins keep hollowing holl where s them other boatsy I 1 cani holler no more sir whis simpkins hoarsely my throat s give out and as the wind rose the three boats drifted apart eminent scientific persons at the oars kept their boat head on to sea and six other eminent persons lay on the bottom boards and wished they were dead until the dawn crawled anto the east and showed them that they were alone it was a chill and watery dawn and as the boat lopped the cold green waves on the edge of athe bank the prospect was eminently unkind the wind was not aery heavy but it blew hard enough to bring the spray of each curling wave inboard and every one was soaked to the skin the sky was lowering and overcast and though the fog was dissipated a mist the sun till it looked as simp kins remarked about as warm as a new tin plate it must be said for calta n joseph that he retained in some meas ure those characteristics of authority which he claimed for himself and by a forced optimism which the nature of his crew made him adopt he endear ored to cheer stiem up my luck a temporary out he declared with some show of cheerful ness but if aint the first ome ive been run down and with god s elp gente it won t be the last and it s clean against the nature of things for so many learn d men to come to grief at one tell blow ere ther a scientific may come to grief in a crowd but so many being together is the best of insurances pull you through you mind me I 1 ask you to remember is that im captain and what I 1 says goes now and always it s all very well said the meteor whose temper was going with the skin of his hands but we all thought vou had no right to run so fast in a fog captain gasped and then je covered himself dian didn t I 1 tell on I 1 was captain here same as on the steamer tou did said the sulky man of science then hold your jaw said captain when you or the likes of you Is asked for criticism it 11 be time for you to give it till then you 11 give your captain no lectures on the running of his vessel god and the queen s enemies as sunk my ship but neither one nor the other has took away my natural gift of authority so shut up and though the choked with rage he said no more simpkins and the captain consulted we re right in the track of steam ers more pr les said captain and it bein so damp we can hang out without touch drink for a day or so and biscuit we ave plen ty simpkins nodded yes sir but this ere s a sull useless lot sir so they are said but they 11 ave to shape themselves as I 1 ald era the first crooked word and there 11 be a man of science missing out of this bright gal ackey of talent I 1 don t care where I 1 am but there I 1 II 11 be captain I 1 don t care it they was my owners I 1 d run em all the same they ain t passengers no more they re my crew he took a drink out of a flask and sank back in the stern sheets I 1 want you men to 1 beep your eyes skinned he majd presently which ot you is the astronomers astron omerT I 1 am answered the bow oar who was a long thin man in a wideawake and spectacles then keep a bright lookout or you II 11 see stars said and know that you aint passengers no more but a boat s crew and my boat s crew and you 11 have to look lively then I 1 sing out so the sooner we let a lit farther south the letter it will be that will do and mustering that he meant being captain whether he wa on an ice floe or a mud barge he fell asleep and snored this brute Is coming out in his true colors said the astronomer what did he mean by saying I 1 should see begging your pardon sir said simpkins he meant he d plug you plug mea bung your eye up explained simpkins and lor bless you he d do it oh a rare chap Is the captain why some ears half his money goes in fines I 1 wish to heaven I 1 was ashore said the poor astronomer and when I 1 get there see he never gets an other job simpkins eyed the sleeping skip ler in alarm best not let him ear you matey ne cried he d haze you to death haze mea work you up explained the sea man and I 1 you was all lean dl chile I 1 m on it I 1 want you bossers to said simpkins with great contempt I 1 mean he d just stock it to you till you was fair broke up the day passed without any inci dent of vital importance it Is true they sighted the smoke of a steamer hull down on the southern horizon but they saw nothing else across the waste of heaving water every now and again the captain woke up and made a few remarks on the nature of a and what he proposed doing to those who did not knuckle under but the night fell without any signs of mutiny on the part of the scientific crew in the very early dawn the astronomer who had slept in uneasy snatches woke up for the tenth time and changed his position simpkins and the geologist were keeping the boat before the sea which was running southeast and they were both halt blind with fatigue to be continued |