| Show ao aa THE PRO MOTSON OF THE ADMI TO AT AND HER SEA COMEDIES by morley roberts author of the colossus tira fugitive osos osos by thi courtil 1101 tf L 0 fays A company the simoom got to sea inside ol 01 forty eight hours for banks lost no time he had made up his mind to waste some on the next chance he had of looking for his blessed rocks unless the monsoon blew too hard they had a fairly decent show run ning down the coast on the inside of the and taking the usual to the eastward be tween keeling and the chagos archi pelago picked up beautiful passage winds and southeast trades and went booming green found banks a first class old man and the simoom as comfortable as a good bar par or corn pared with the bug haunted Pa lembang where a man s toes got sore with the curing work of cock roaches he made up his mind to stick to her as he evidently suited banks they both got cracked crac kei a little on the simoom rocks and gradually gFa dually talked themselves into the belief of a shark s tooth reef about a mile ion with one special tang that ri a young peak of teneriffe the Pa lembang into liverpool river about three weeks after the simoom and green back at work after ten daya at home had a high time with allson but the skippers passed each other with their cosea in the air as high as squirrels tails and never shopped a word in a fortnight As luck would have it they were both tor bombay again only to give likely it sir a chance of getting there first the simoom was to call at the cape just before the Pa lembang cleared banks and spiller tell up against each other on the landing stage and as was full up to his back teeth and uvula he broke silence and went tor the upholder of the vigia in high style he could have taken a first class in bad language at any austra lian back blocks academy of cursing and what they don t know in bias phemy there can only be learnt from low class spaniard so the air V as blue from liverpool to manchester and to the isle of man and banks got up and left for when he was ashore be was very religious even at sea he carried a prayer book and an od volume of virulent sermons of the kind which indicate that no need forgive any enemy who Is not of the same persuasion but to tell the truth banks could have for given anything but an insult to his beloved rocks such a man t to live he cried angrily as he went off in a tremulous rage he s predestined td the pit and he trusted that providence might one day yield him a chance of getting even his prayers were ter vent towards that end and it proal dence works as it sometimes appears to do through rum and ignorance and a good conceit in a man there was a chance of his appeals being attended to on the passage out to the cape they saw nothing of the Pa lembang but there she was heard of as being seen somewhere in the neighborhood of the agulhas bank having a real good time in that native home of the god of the winds where 60 per cent of all the breezes that do blow are gales that dance in and out and about like a cooper round a cask but the simoom had luck and slipped through as it aeolus never spotted her and old banks chortled happily and sang an extra hymn on sunday compensating the men other wise disposed to growl at tha sinnova alon with an extra lot of grog for your true sal lorman is the real con lve and things that dont happen in the elret week of a new ship have no business to happen after wards which la a hint that some young second mates may find handy to remember and remembering this will enable you to see why no true old shellback will ship in a steam boat any more than the guard of a coach would let himself to any beast ly new railroad the southwest monsoon has backed down to the une about the time they crossed it and the simoom sweated up to the very comfortably we ve made a good passage a rip ping good passage said old banks rubbing his hands and I 1 m con damned it I 1 dont shape a course tor my rocks mr green As he had been shaping tor them ever since he had deliberately gone out of his way to take the route east of madagascar instead of the inner or mozambique route green winked the other eye and said nothing to tell the truth he himself had a hank ering to set his mind at rest on the subject for he felt his credit involved with the skipper s the man at the wheel overheard what banks said and when he stumped for ard the whole crew knew that the simoom was looking tor a needle in the indian ocean A life s job my bullies said their informant well be like the crew ot the flying dutchman yet I 1 m wondering whether came up this wa now said old banks presently with an Inter roga alve cock of his head and not b the channel asked green aw fl banks turned about mr green may the lord forgive me but I 1 just hate that with an hatred every time he gets a ashow he brags he s run r over where I 1 located my rocks and not only that but arias cross in the latt tude where they might be and he set about that he d herring boned a course on the chart on the longitude going bach and forth on it like a dog in a turnip field so now he 11 be up here again to have another shy for it it he saw em he d swear he never and why he hates me so I 1 can t tell unless it was I 1 did my duty once and let him know hat a god fearing man thought of a blasphemy blas phem e green nodded that s it sir so it Is so it Is cried banks pen he has no grace in him and he set it about I 1 know that I 1 soak at sea it im sober ashore he said my rocks were delirium tremens and im a discredited man wounded in a tender spot it was just four bells in the forenoon watch then and soon after they her down as the wind was very puffs and the sky low and dark just before eight bells green spotted a vessel on the star board bov and called the old man he came on deck like a white headed jack in the box keep her away he cried bet she s the shake out them reefs nd hoist the main t gal I 1 n s 1 again his grammar failed in excitement we re overhauling her hand over hand anyhow suggested green it I 1 can pass him going two fool for his one I 1 d run the simoom un der screamed the skipper and when we come up with him if my voice in a trumpet can carry tell him what I 1 think of him he thinks I 1 m soft because I 1 sing hymns on sun day I 1 II 11 let him know before I 1 sang hymns I 1 was the biggest tough on the australian coast gods truth I 1 was and I 1 wish I 1 was now oh how I 1 wish it and him ashore with me and green bel eved it because he had to there was something in the aid mans eye as he walked to and tro an unregenerate bloodthirsty snap that was very convincing so the reefs were shaken out of the topsails ind even that did not satisfy the skip per let him know that a saved and repentant christian isn t necessarily a worm said banks mr green get the mainsail the simoom was snoring through it now and green stared what she cant carry she may drag said the skipper with flashing eyes and the simoom lost her courtesy with the sea under the influence of the mainsail for the monsoon was a stiff one she shouldered the indian ocean aside like a policeman shoving through a crowd she scooped up tons of it as a scraper team scoops sand and ran at any extra sea like a bull at a hedge the men were under the break of the t gallant toe ale sheltering from the cataract they knew the Pa lembang was ahead and as eager as the skipper to overhaul her through the bos on and his mate it had leaked out that the old man was keen tor a palaver with spiller he s like a bull hale in a flurry said one who had been whaling now my notion Is that the skipper kin blaspheme it he wants to the Pa lembang was visibly herself and no other vessel by this time and she carried all she could stand I 1 ve halt a notion to have the t gal 1 set said banks looking up aloft and it we t overhaul ing her twenty three to the dozen damme but I 1 would for the Pa lembang showed noth ing above her reefed topsails and the foresail had a reef in it and the sl came after her like the inside edge of a cyclone gamme mv trumpet cried banks mr green take the wheel and run her as close as maybe and the second mate stood at the maln topsail hilliards halli ards Pa lembang ahoy yelled banks through his trumpet as he came tear ing up on the weather side of hia enemy s ship where the blue blazes are you coming toa shrieked who waa both drunk and angry passing you as it you was standing still you low uneducated swine said banks and I 1 could do it jundef jury rig what about them rocksy jeered spiller through bis trumpet what a the price of you notorious old liar you disgrace to the they were dose alongside now nol half a cables length apart a good to b continued |
