Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, November 16, 1917 Page: 3 of 10
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PALACIOS BEACON, pALACIOS, TEXAS
MAN
WORLD,
tOARD
WAS A LAW
^NtO^lMSELPU
jSS^ '
3/C^tOwD^
•"»*v
COp>Rio«r Av JACK L.CY-JPON"
CHAPTER
ifiow
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r
I scarcely kfiow where to begin,
though I sometimes facetiousfy place
the causo of It all to Charley Furu
Bath's credit. He kept a summer cot-
tago in Mill Valley, under the shadow
of Mount Tamalpals, and never occu-
pied It except when he loafed through
the winter months and read Nietzsche
and Schopenhauer to rest his brain.
Had It not been my custom to run up
to see him every Saturday afternoon
and to stop over till Monday morning,
this particular January Monday morn-
lug- would not have found me afloat
on San Francisco bay.
Not but that I was afloat in a safe
craft, for the Martinez was a new ferry
steamer, making her fcTurth or fifth
trip on the "run between Sausallto and
San Francisco. The danger lay In the
heavy fog which blanketed the bay,
and of which, as a landsman, I had
little apprehension. I took up my posi-
tion on the forward upper deck, direct-
ly beneath the pilot house, and al-
lowed the myitery of the fog to lay
hold of my Imagination. A fresh breeze
was blowing, and for a time I was
alone in the moist obscurity—yet not
alone, for ! was dimly conscious of
the presence of the pilot, and of what
I took to be the captain, In the glass
house above my head.
It was good that men should be spe-
cialists, I mused. The peculiar knowl-
edge of the pilot and captain sufficed
for many thousands of people who
knew no more of the sea and naviga-
tion than I knew. On the other hand,
Instead of "having to devote my en-
ergy to the learning of a multitude of
things, I concentrated It. upon a few
particular things, such as, for instance,
the analysis of Poe's place in Ameri-
can llteraturarr~;'t.n essay of mine, by
the way. in tile current Atlantic.
From out ^9 fog came the mourn-
^^liMoUlag'of a bell, and I could sea
"tWTpflnt turning the wheel with great
rapidity. The bell, which had seemed
straight ahead, was now sounding
> from the side. Our own whistle waB
blowing hoarsely, and from time to
i time the sound of other whistles came
+Q *10 from cut c? tb? fojj. An uti raati
1 ferryboat was blowing blast after
J blast, and a mouth-blown horn was
tooting in terror-stricken fashion.
A shrill whistle, piping as if gone
mad, came from diroctly ahead and
from very near at hand. Gongs sound-
ed on the Martinez. Our paddlewheels
stopped, their pulsing beat died away,
and then they started again. The
shrill whistle, like the chirping of a
cricket amid the cries of great beastB,
shot through the fog from more to
the side and swiftly grew faint and
fainter.
I glanced up. The captain had
thrust his head and shoulders out of
the pilot house, and was staring in-
tently Into the fog as though by sheer
force of will he could penetrate It. His
' face was anxious.
: Then everything happened, and with
aconceivable rapidity. The fog
jeemed to break away as though split
oy a wedge, and the bow of a steam-
boat emerged, trailing fog-wreaths on
either side like seaweed on the snout
of Leviathan. I could see the pilot
house and a white-bearded man lean-
ing partly out of it, on his elbows. He
was clad In a blue uniform, and I re-
member noting how trim and quiet he
was. His quietness, under the clrcum
stances, was terrible. Ho accepted
• destiny, marched hand In hand with it,
and coolly measured the stroke. As
tie leaned there, he ran a calm and
speculative eye ever us, as though to
determine the prociso point of the col
Ileum, and took no notice whatever
when our pilot, white with rage, shout-
ed, "Now you've done it J"
We must have been struck squarely
amidships, for I saw nothing, the
strange steamboat having passed be-
yond my line of vision. The Martinez
heeled over, sharply, and there was a
crashing and rending of timber. 1 was
thrown flat on the wet deck, and be-
fore I could scramble to my feet 1
heard the screams of women. This
it wms, 1 am certain—the most inde
ecribable of blood-curdling sounds—
that threw me into a panic. 1 remem-
bered the life preservers stored In the
cabin, but was met at the door and
swept back by a wild rush of men and
women. What happened In the next
few minutes I do not recollect, though
I have a clear remembrance of pull
lng down life preservers from the over-
head. racks, while a red-fa,ced man
fastened them about the bodies ot a
hysterical group of women.
It was the screamlnK of the women
that most tried my nerves. It must
have tried, too,- the norves of the red-
faced man, for I have a picture which
will never fade from my mind. A stout
gentleman is stuffing a magazine Into
his overcoat pocket and looking on cu-
riously. A tangled mass of women,
with drawn, white faces and open
mouths, is shrieking like a chorus of
lost souls; and the red-faced man, his
face now purpliBh with wrath, and
with his arms extended overhead as
in the act of hurling thunderbolts, Is
shouting, "Shut up! Oh, shut up!"
These women, capable of the most
subllmo emotions, of tho tenderest
sympathies, were open-mouthed and
screaming. Tney wanted to live, they
were helpless, like rats In a trap, and
they screamed.
The horror 01 It drove mo out on
deck. I was feeling sick and squeam-
ish, and sat down on a bench. In a
hazy way I saw and heard men rush-
ing and shouting as they strove to
lower the boats. It was just as I had
read descriptions of such scenes in
books. The tackles Jammed. Nothing
worked. One boat lowered away with
the plugs out filled with women and
children and then with water, and cap-
sized. Another boat had been lowered
by one end. and still hung in the tackle
by the other end, where it had been
abandoned. Nothing was to be seen
of the strange steamboat which had
caused the disaster, though I heard
men saying that she would undoubt-
edly send boats to our assistance.
I descended to the lower deck. The
Martinez was sinking fast, for tho wa-
ter was very hear. Numbers of the
passengers were leaping overboard.
Others, In the water, were clamoring
to be taken aboard again. No one
"An' 'Ow Yer Feeling Now, 8lr?"
heeded them. A cry arose that .ve
were sinking. I was seized by the con-
sequent panic, and wont over the side
In a surge of bodies. How I Went over
I do not know, though I did know, and
instantly, why those in the water were
so desirous of getting back on the
steamer. The water was cold—so cold
that It was painful. The pang, as I
plunged Into It, was as quick and
sharp as that of fire. It bit to the mar-
row. It was like the grip of death.
I gasped with the anguish and shock
of it, filling my lungB before the life
preserver popped me to the surface.
The taste of the salt water was strong
in my mouth, and I was strangling
with the acrid stuff In my throat and
'iings.
How long this lasted I have no con-
ception, for a blankness intervened,
of which I remember no more than one
remembers of troubled and painful
sleep. When I arrtrised. it was as after
centuries of time; and 1 saw, almost
above me and emerging from tho fog,
the bow of a vessel, and three triangu-
lar sails, each shrewdly lapping the
other and filled with wind. Where the
bow cut the water there was a great
foaming and gurgling, and I seemed
dircctly in its path. I tried to cry
out, but was too exhausted. The bow
plunged down, Just missing me and
sending a swash of water clear over
my head. Then the long, black side
of the vessel began slipping past, so
near that I could have touched it with
my hands. 1 tried to reach it, by my
arms were heavy aud lifeless. Again
I strove to call out, but made no sound.
The stern eft the vessel shot by,
dropping, as It did so, into a hollow
between the waves; and I caught a
glimpse of a man standing at the
wheel, and of another man who
seemed to be doing little else than
smoke a cigaf. He slowly turned his
head and glanced out over the water
in my direction.
Life and death were in that glance.
His face wari an absent expression,
as of deep thought, and I became
afraid that if his eyes did light upon
me he wouid not see me. But he did
see me, for he sprang to the wheel,
thrusting tho other man aside, and
whirled it round and round, hand over
hand, at the same time shouting or-
ders of sone sort. The vessel seemed
to go off at a tangent to its former
course and leapt almost instantly from
view Into the fog.
I felt myself slipping into uncon-
sciousness, and tried with all the
powor of my will to flsht above the
suftocating blankness and darkness
that was rising around me. A little
later I heard the stroke of oars, grow-
ing nearer and nearer, and the calls
of a man. When he was very near I
heard him crying, In vexed fashion,
"Why In hell don't you sing out?"
This meant me, I thought, and then
tho blankness and darkness rose over
me.
CHAPTER II.
I seemed swinging In a mighty
rhythm through orbit vastness. But
a change came over the face of the
dream, for a dream I told myrelf it
must be. My rhythm grew shorter
and shorter. I was jerked from swing
to counter-swing with Irritating haste.
I could scarcely catch my breath, so
fiercely was I impelled through the
heavens. I gasped, caught by breath
painfully, and opened my eyes. Two
men were kneeling beside me. working
over me. My mighty rhythm was the
lift and forward plunge of a ship on
tho sea. A man's hard hands were
chafing my naked chest. I squirmed
under the pain of It, and half lifted
my head. My chest was raw and red,
and I could see tiny blood globules
starting through the torn and In-
flamed cuticle.
"That'll do, Yon3on," one of the men
said. "Can't yer see you've bloomln'
well rubbed all the gent's skin orf7"
The man addressed as Yonson. a
man of the heavy Scandinavian type,
ceased chafing me, and arose awk-
wardly to his feet. The man who had
spoken to him was clearly a Cockney,
with the clean lines and weakly pretty,
almost effeminate face of the man
who has absorbed the Bound of Bow
belis with his mother's milk. A drag-
gled muslin cap on his head and
dirty gunnysack about hia slim li!ps
proclaimed him cook of the decidedly
dirty ship's gajley in which I found
myself.
"An" 'ow yer feelln' now, sir?" ho
asked, with the subservient smirk
which comes only of generations of
tip-seeking ancestors.
For reply I twisted weakly into a
sitting posture, and was helped bv
Yonson to my feet. The cook grinned
and thrust into my hand a steaming
mug with an " 'Ere, this'll do yer
good." It was a nauseous mess—ship's
coffee—but the heat of It was revivi-
fying. Between gulps of the molten
stuff I glanced down at my raw and
bleeding chest and turned to the Scan-
dinavian.
"Tliank you, Mr. Yonson," I said;
"but don't you think your measures
wcro rather horoic?"
"My name is Johnson, not Yonson,"
he said, in very good, though slow
English, with no more than a shade of
accent to it.
There was mild protest In his pale
blue eyes, and withal a frankness and
manliness that quite won me to him.
'Thank you, Mr. Johnson," I cor-
rected, and reached out my hand for
his.
He hesitated, awkward and bashful,
shifted his weight from ono leg to
the other, then blunderingly gripped
my hand in a hearty shake.
"Have you any dry clothes I may
put on?" I asked the cook.
"Yoa, sir," ho answered, with choor-
ful alacrity. "I'll run down an' tyke
a look over my kit, if you've no objec-
tions, air, to weariu' my togs."
"And where am 1?" I asked Johnson,
whom I took to be one of the sailors.
"What vessel Is this, and where is she
bound?"
"Off tho Farallcnes, heading about
Bou'west," he answered, slowly and
methodically, as though groping for
his best English, and rigidly observing
the order of my queries. "The schoon-
/T^TTHIS TALE
( 1 JACK LON-
DON'S SEA EX-
PERIENCE IS
USEDJvVITH ALL J
THFNPOWgR^OF/
•r H !S-VlR-iLEj?EN -
imp
er Ghost, bound seal hunting to Ja-
pan."
"And who is the captain? I must
see him as soon as I am dressed."
Johnson looked puzzled and embar-
rassed. Ho hesitated while he groped
in his vocabulary and framed a com-
plete answer. "The cap'n is Wolf Lar-
son, or po ir?n call him. I never heard
his other name. But you better speak
soft with him. He is mad this morn-
ing. The mate-—"
But he did not finish. The cook had
glided in.
"Better sling yer '00k out of 'ere,
Yonson," he said. "The old man'll be
wantin' yer on deck, an' tlfis ayn't no
d'y to fall foul of 'lm."
JohnBon turned obediently to the
door. at. the same time, over the cook's
shoulder, favoring me with an amaz-
ingly solemn and portentous wink, as
though to emphasize his interrupted
remark and the need for me to be
soft-spoken with the captain.
Hanging over the cook's arm was a
loose and crumpled array of evil-look-
ing and sour-smelling garments.
"They was put aw'y wet, sir," he
vouchsafed explanation. "But you'll
'ave to make them do till I ury yours
out by the fire."
Clinging to the woodwork, stagger
ing with the roll of the ship, and aid-
ed by the cook, I managed to slip into
a rough woolen undershirt. On the
instant ray flesh was creeping and
crawling from the harsh contact. He
noticed my Involuntary twitching and
grimacing, and smirked:
"I only hope yer don't ever 'ave to
get used to such as that in this life
'cos you've got a bloomin' soft skin
that you 'ave, more like a lydy's thar
any I know of. I was blocmin' well
sure you was a gentleman as soon a*-
I sot eyes on yer."
I had taken a disllko to him at flr3t
and hh be helped to dresH me thin dls
like Increased. There was something
repulsive about hie touch. I shrank
from his hand; my flesh revolted. And
between this and the smells arising
from various pots boiling and on the
galley flre, I was In haste to get out
into the fresh air. Further, there was
the need of seeing the captain about j
what arrangements could be made for ■
getting me ashore.
"And whom have I (o thank for this
kindness?" I asked, when I stood com-
pletely arrayed, a tiny boy's cap on
my head, »nd for coat a dirty, striped
cotton jacket which ended at the
small of my back and the sleeves of
which reached Just below my elbows.
The cook drew himself up in a smug-
ly humble fashion, a deprecating
smirk on his face.
"Mugridge, air," he fawned, his ef-
feminate features running Into a greasy
smile. "Thomas Mugridge, sir, an' at
yer service."
"Ail right, Thomas," i said, "i shall
not forget you—when my clothes are
dry."
"Thank you, sir," he said, very
gratefully and very humbly indeed.
Precisely in the way that the door
slid back, he slid aside, and I stepped
out and staggered across the moving
deck to a corner of the cabin, to
which I clung for support. The j
schooner, heeled over far out from the j
perpendicular, was bowing and plune
lng into tho long Pacific roll. The fog
was gone, and In its place the sun
sparkled crisply on the surface of the
water. I turned to the east, where I
knew California must lie, but could
sco nothing savo low-lying fog bunks, j
In tho southwest, and almost 4n our I
course, I saw tho pyramidal loom of j
some vessel's sails. Bcyoud a sailor j
at the wheel, who stared curiously
acroBs tho top of a cabin, I attracted
no notice whatever.
Everybody seemed interested In
what was going on amidships. Thero,
011 a hatch, a huge man was lying on
his back. His eyes were closed, and
he was apparently unconscious. A
sailor, from time to time, and quite
methodically, as a matter of routine,
dropped a canvas bucket into the
ocean at the end of a rope, hauled It
In hand under hand, and sluiced Its
contents over tho proBtrate man.
(TO BE CONTINUKD.)
37#> More
For Your
Money
Get the Genuine
CASCARA Erf QUININE
No advance in price for this 20-year-
old remedy—35c for 24 Ubleta—Soma
cold tablets now 30c for 21 tablet*-—
Figured on proportionate coat per
tablet, you aave 9%c when you buy
Hill'a—Cures Cold
in 24 houra—grip
in 3 day a—Money
back if it faila.
24 Tablata for 2Sc.
At any Drug Stora
FATE PURSUED THIS TOMMH
Nearly Spent Bullet Goes Through
Hole Made In His Helmet by
German Sniper.
James Dickinson, a convalescent
Canadian soldier, In a letter to a
friend, tells this story of the great
war:
During a lull In the battle of the
Marne one of the Canadian troopers
took off his steel helmet, and, placing
It on the end of his rifle, held it so
that about half of it protruded above
the top of the trench. A German
sniper, observing It, at once shot at It,
and i lie bail, striking it squurely,
pierced tho steel, going out the other
side. The "Tommy" laughingly showed
it to his comrades and placed it back
on his head.
Fifteen minutes later the order came
to "go over the top," and this same
"Tommy" was among the first. He was
also among the first to fall, mortally
wounded. •
It was discovered nt the dressing
station that he had been struck by a
nearly spent bullet that had gone
through one of the holes that he hud
so recently shown his fellow soldiers
in laughter.
First Dreadnaught.
It Is hard to realize that the original
dreadnaught is now ten years old, and
that, big as It is, close upon 18,000 tons.
It has been far surpassed In tonnage
and armament, observes an exchange.
It gave a new word to the world, for
the name of the ship, one of the tradi-
tional names of the British navy, Is
now applied to all ships of Its class
in every country. The word has taken
the place of man of war, line of battle
ship, nnd ironclad. Even now we have
been obliged to go one better and the
word superdreadnaught has arisen. It
is Interesting to hark back to the most
famous of Nelson's ships, probably the
most famous vessel which ever sailed
the sen, the Victory, and to compare
it with even the first dreadnaught. The
latter took i4 months to complete and
cost $9,000,000, while the Trafalgar
flagship, a little over 2,0<)0"tons, re-
quired ninny years to build nnd cost
only $445,000, a sum at that time con-
sidered colossal.
Wealth of Australia.
The recently completed "census of
tvealth in Australia shows that the
country's net assets are equal to $1,-
[175 per head of the population. The
migration returns show a ioss of 279,-
000 males since the war began and
white women now outnumber the men
by 85,000.
r*t
Saving Her Voice.
The Impresario—Certainly, inadam,
I can supply you with a second prima
donna to sing your children to slpep.
But you sing so perfectly yourself.
Tho Prima Donna Aesoluta—But my
singing is worth $5,000 a night, and I
couldn't think of squandering that
amount on the children.—Houston
Chronicle.
In most cases
| of Dyspepsia
Coffee Does
Not Agree"—
says a well known
authority.
Many who use cof-
fee — not knowing
that it aggravates
stomach troubies—
could still enjoy a
delicious hot table
beverage and es-
cape cotfee's effects
by a change to the
wholesome, pure
cereal drink—
POSTUM
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Tucker, T. L. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, November 16, 1917, newspaper, November 16, 1917; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth411929/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Palacios Library.