The Argosy, October 1906 — page 120: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

= was gone, ae Seith pipe, watch, - money, and a plain gold ring which had been my father’s. way of the deck- -house, looking at me with a sardonic grin on his ugly phiz. “Guess you'll turn to now!” he eo - =~snarled, with as much feeling as though | "speaking to a dog. ‘Get that main- hatch tarpaulin stretched along, aad step lively ! a There was appended ‘a. choide string of profanity, in which my eyes, my limbs, and my sacred ego were all consigned to a everlasting torment. ee LP glance I-knew him: He was Si ee Hogan, and I had been first mate over aa _ him voyage before last. In those few _ seconds Ialso had arrived at a clear understanding of my position. _ | was once more a foremast hand, tum- bled on board by some boarding-house ee shark the night before; penniless, shipped for a long voyage with nothing between me and nakedness but ee ship’s __ slop-chest! ey I knew enough of salt-water discipline Se to realize that it would be useless to - “kick.” IT must e’en make the best of a bad job. =e Hogan I knew for a brute and a bully one of those down-east ruffians, found only in American ships, more’s the oe pity, whose code in dealing with a crew “22 consists of hard words and _ harder S2 knocks. The ship’ in which he sailed was more than likely to be a floating ._ © Hades, — “the skipper kept him in - check. & _ AIF this, I say, flashed through my still breath after my unceremonious exit on Stee deck. But in that brief interval I got e ray bearings Bape Keg ay, sir!” I answered nimbly ~. . enough, and then: = “What ship might this be, Mn Ho- gan?” T inquired. He started, and stepped inal dlorcaten = £- inghy. half-uncertainly toward me. aa “Who—what the ” hé was begin- =e ning, ‘when I determined to assist his te = You’ ve a short memory, Mr. Ho- gan,” I said. ‘Don’t you remember ‘Miles Bantock, first mate of the okd Iro- rs —-~ ee — ey The red-headed man stood in the, door- | es head while I stood recovering my rs “By the holy fhuping Jehoshaphat ! ae he exclaimed, “ what you doin’ here?” = Shan ghaied, I suppose,” I returned, “oe “but as I was upon the point of signing B. once more, it doesn’t matter much, except that I should rather have come aboard in*shipshape fashion,” gery. = ‘May I be everlastingly transported to the hottest Tophet that-ever sizzled!” + was the sense of his next exclamation, though the terms were more forcibly di- “ This’ll be nuts for rect and primitive. the old man!” and he slapped his thigh in huge and brutal delight.’ ‘“ Does your ‘ old man’ happen to want a mate this morning?” I inquired with @ grin. . “ Not by a blame sight he don’t! ”. was the reply. | My cool and jaunty acceptance a the situation rather staggered him. x All this time L was sweating .at the é heavy tarpaulin, getting it unrolled ready ‘at tHe halyards. for battening down. Apparently forget- ful of discipline, Hogan continued: “What you goin’ to do about it?” “Stick it out, I reckon,’ I replied. Then straightening up and looking him squarely in the eye, I added: “T know my work, Mr. Hogan, and I don’t need any of your peculiar perswad- ing!” He laughed a short laugh, mirthless as the bark of a deg. “Well,-I dare say you do,” he said, _ ‘an’ I don’t see as you can help your- self, but you’ll-find there’s a sweet lot o’ swabs aboard,’ and with these words he strode aft, knocking down a man in the road, by way of keeping his hand in. By this time we were running smartly on the heels of the tug down the Swash, and soon she would be casting off. “All hands make sail! ” shouted Ho- gan from the break of the poop. The wind was about sou’west, hence the old. familiar cry, and « Hoist stays’ls and inner jib!” found me ready — The fore-and-aft can-— vas sheeted home, there came the order: “ Set tops’Is and t’gall’ns’ls,”’ the black yards were alive with a crowd of picturesque figures clad in clothes of . = de- — ey Jaabeebie cut and color. in-- dicating my wholly unsuitable soee tog- and soon |