| Show THE OF THE ADMIRAL mcgl by morley robert author of the Colo asu tha fugitives 1101 1191 1191 ty L 0 pay company incorporated ot course not said spiller the night well set traps to catch the rats that a man sees when he s got the and nothing makes banks angrier than to throw out a hint you don t believe in them rocks I 1 always gets him on it by asking for a clean ackart and proved shoals end what not and giving it him hot and heavy on and the like bah I 1 ain t no patience and spiller tramped the deck for a bit presently he came back to here green stood he II 11 be in bombay before us he said gloomily I 1 have to own the simoom s taster than the Pa lembang but it she was sailed by a better man she d make quicker passages why an engineer in a steamer can pass a thorough sailor in a scow his heart was bitter but the thought that her majesty s cruiser amphion has discredited the simoom bigia was balm to his inmost soul as he turned to go below keep a bright lookout he growled and he left green to con elder the matter of in general and the simoom vigia in particular for these the terror ot sea men are like malicious spirits some man has seen them or has imagined them and forever after they bear sway in the minds of those who sail upon the great deep perhaps they re but a floating masa of wreck on velch the sea breaks in the south what was seen was it may be a berg on the shores of west africa perchance a river has sent out k floating island any accident of imagination may create them alcohol bears them on its tide chev are the ruts and ghosts and terrible creeping things ot the delirium of the sea that Is born of rum A heavy heeled spar is it floats becomes a pinnacle ot rock the boat that bears dead men in it Is forever after to be avoided here a rip of currents and there a heavy become fixed terrors and are given names for this Is the sea that Is unknown bet and shall forever be unknown it upon the mind of man very subtly and yet again with bremen dous strength under the sea are earthquakes and in it volcanoes of these islands are born and again chev pass away while the little crea ture man skims upon the surface of the ocean like a water beetle and may be seen no more when green was left alone upon the poop of the Pa lembang save for the presence of the man at the wheel something of the wonderful majesty of the sea came down upon him and tor a moment touched his nerves trust in the captain he had none for was of the usual alcoholic or he got out the chart and looked at it there stood the vigia marked simoom rock perhaps it existed after all he remembered the history of the aurora islands to the east of the falklands even now some old sailors believe there are euch islands real land not ice ground ed on deep soundings and the 81 bigia was close at hand if it existed at all allowing for sufficient uncertainty in its supposed position it might be anywhere within a de tree he stared out into the dark bees and imagined he saw it it was here it was there it was nowhere it was a wraith of the mind and dis alved he put back his night glasses and whistled till he remembered there was quite enough wind and that he had no desire to turn the hands up to shorten sail jerusalem it is dark he said again and he recalled s reply have the gas lit aye that would be pleasant for a moment he saw the streets of london town with a diminuendo in lamps and then he pulled himself together it breezed up a bit and was four bells he hove the log and went alongside the lee rail to go below to enter it on the elate she made a biggish weather roll and the decks being slippery he steadied himself and put his head outside the rail to take a look ahead and at that moment as he says he saw the simoom vigia his heart ethod still and then thumped furious ly in spite of the hiss of the seas and the windy roar of the rigging the sound of his pulse in his ears was like the sound ol 01 a pump he was paralyzed and yet he knew that the Pa lembang was rushing on to destruct tion hard a starboard he said coolly but in a choking voice sir said the astounded man at the wheel hard a starboard damn you said green fiercely and the helmsman ground the wheel hard down with the air of a martyr As the Pa lembang bowed and came round almost at right angles to her former course green swears he saw broken water though he lost the sharp pinnacle ot rock he sad seen at first old spiller who was not asleep came up on deck in a hurry what s she off her course tora green told him and spiller swore you saw nothing you damn tool I 1 did tiou you imaginative ass green wanted to plant bis fist between spiller s eyes but did not for he was a married man and hated to lose a job he ground his teeth and turned away the Pa lembang was put on her course again and after in terro gating the man on the lookout and the man at the wheel who ac they bad seen nothing the skipper swore promiscuously at everything and went below to lay his boul in soak what one man sees another 11 look tor and what a tool looks tor a tool will see be cried without knowing what a neat addition he had made to the subject of suggestion and by the time that allson relieved him at tour clock green was curiously un certain as to whether he had seen straight or not isow did lu asked wilson two hours ago I 1 d have sworn to it said the second mate scratching his head well ive a notion you did cried li v wilson between you and ane and the mizzen mast I 1 think banks Is a right smart man I 1 believe I 1 can swear I 1 saw it said young green much encouraged yes there were at least three rocks one of theata pinnacle like an obe ilsk and with kilsun secretly on hie side toe was quite sure 0 it before they reached bombay though spiller was forever jeering at him and mak ing the ship as uncomfortable as he could debbe you cin see gl too he was constantly suggesting quit at bombay it hell give me my discharge said creen and sure enough sp her did when he met green on the apollo bunda in a confidential yarn alth banks who tor a seaman 0 the old class was a very gentlemanly man with neat white whiskers you ve been encouraging him about that vigia roared spiller and when he wrote out green s discharge he offered to give him a special char acter tor seeing ghosts but not rats said green nastily as he put his discharge into his pock et for the last time spiller over drank himself he had a very bad time with rodents it was the best of luck for green that he got out of the Pa lembang tor banks mate fell and the second had no mate s ticket so green being in teat favor through having seen the poor discredited simoom vigia got the job for he had passed for mate just before signing as second in the Pa lembang banks took him round with him and again tackled the captain of the amphion abbit that vigia showing his new witness but captain mel ville shook his head the old man is crazy about those rocks was all he said as he refused to discuss the matter but banks and spiller went at it hammer and tongs when they met ashore he saw nothing said spiller onla what I 1 saw of course noti said spiller I 1 told the tool about it and he imagined the rest as you did banks fumed lucky you run the palem bang on my imagination slow as she goes she d have slammed herself into matchwood spiller choked with rage look here sail all over your blooming rocks as I 1 have done afore you just made this up to get noto biety and have your ship s name on the chart and be put in the directory I 1 know you banks and I 1 don t think much of you aard never did to get yourself talked about you d report that you d seen the flying dutchman indeed A disfigurement on any chart 1 you 11 have the chart of the indian ocean as big a disgrace as the north atlantic it you have your way you find nothing new to report this timea banks rose up in a towering rage you re no gentleman captain ler and speak no more with you not till you own that the simoom rocks are real and may you never have occasion to rue finding them out as such let you know I 1 ve as great respect tor the chart as you have and if you ever run your old tub on my rocks you can call em spiller s reef for all I 1 care so there and he perspired off to his vessel in shipping circles opinion was dl vided between the master of the sl and the master of the palem bang and it being the fashion of the sal lorman or for that matter of human kind in general to decide mat that admit of doubt according to personal prejudice and ancient ion there were more on spiller s side than on banks for one thing it is the perpetual ambition of all true eons of the ocean to discover some thing new and have his ship s name tagged on to it and every one was jealous of banks when the amphion looked for the rocks without success they threw out dark hints about a dead whale or a tree stump having been seen and some said rum just as others said rats contemptuous ly others with a very fine contempt tor the navy were of opinion that captain melville of H M S amphion considered he owned halt the indian ocean and all the arabian sea and would be as much put out at finding an unmarked rock or shoal in either as it he slipped upon an old chew on his own quarterdeck these were on banks side of course and some who disliked spiller said they be cleved in this new set ol 01 rocks to annoy him ending very naturally in holding the opinion they argued tor when old banks got on the high horse and swore he would not again to the disbeliever in the vigia he meant it and added details to bis statement not it I 1 found him in a boat in the middle of the indian ocean he swore excitedly the quarrel was as bitter as colem ic theology spiller was a rank atheist a scorner a scoffer a pagan a heathen if banks had written a new creed he would have begun it I 1 be aeve in the simoom rocks to the vest of the he clung to their existence pathetically and when an impecunious skipper of a storm disgruntled tramp wanted to borrow a couple of hundred rupees from him and remarked incidentally that he had seen broken water in the supposed position of the discredited reef banks forked out with enthusiasm and took down a lying statement joyfully but when the simoom was ready for sea again that same tramp skipper who was a wild disgrace to the respectable mystery of the sea exe buted a few maneuvers which let the Pa lembang get ahead of her fo be tramp julius caesar was her name had engines of an obstinate and ec cent a character sometimes the worked and ahey and on this particular occasion the refused to be reversed at any price As the julius caesar wouldn t g astern her captain shoved her at th crowded shipping ahead and put he through whooping on the bridge lilt a maniac he grazed three other steamers took a bumpkin off a sailing vessel slipped between two others and in one last complicated evolution smashed the of the simoom brought down her tore n mast and escaped to sea in a cyclone of curse of which the calm center was the a lembang report you said to banks when he left bombay hard a starboards ardi go to hell cried banks who rare ly swore save in a gale of wind after you said with what Is popularly known as truly oriental politeness and as a parting taunt he sang out what about them rocks you re an ungrammatical uneda bated man screamed banks dancing furiously but green and allson waved their caps to each other for all their way of passing compliments when one gave the other a western ocean relief at midnight were good friends to be Conil nned |
