The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

A SECRET OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. | 4tt soul in the hereafter. When there is any trouble aboard ship it is seldom that any of the crew openly side with the officers. The captain and mates are the sailors’ sworn enemies (so Jack Tar believes—too often with good reason) and whether the men approve of all their leaders do or not, they seldom stand out against them. The cook usually remains neutral. On the Naida the cook, ’Tonio, had sailed with Captain Latimer for twenty years and loved Sydney as though she had been his own child. The sailors did not trust Tonio. And Thorne, innocently enough, was causing, by his familiarity with Jessop, doubts to arise in the minds of Captain Latimer and his officers. * One or two little outbreaks had already occurred, and affairs between those before and those abaft the mainmast were very strained. Thorne continued to avoid the officers, including Sydney, and his fellow passenger; he seldom appeared at the common table, taking most of his meals in his own cabin and paying ’Tonio something extra for his trouble. When not shut into’his private quarters, he paced the deck alone, or conversed with the sailors when they were off duty. : Thus far the Naida had experienced a remarkably pleasant voyage. But now she ran into regular Cape Horn weather. It was dangerous to hug the coast in the gale which burst over them when off Terra de Fuego, so they steered for the southeast and ran some days out of their course before the storm. Finally it passed and the brig was put on her route again. But that first gale seemed but a mild taste of what was in store for her. Three days after she passed the Cape another gale struck her and the Naida stag- gered on under the blow like a wearied courser. The sea sprang a few planks in her old hull this time, too, and from that time on the clank of the pumps was heard for a part of every day. There is nothing that will take the heart out of a sailor like the sound of the pumps. ‘She leak did not gain on them, but the old brig was badly strained and nobody knew what the next blow would do to her. The crew became more reckless than ever and the officers had more difficulty in con- trolling them. kg 3 Monckton. stayed below most of the time during the bad weather. But Thorne, whose muscles of steel and cool head made him of valuable assist- ance, turned to with the men and worked as hard as any of them. And his aid was appreciated, for the brig was manned by as small a crew as the law allowed—another result of Captain Latimer’s economy. Yet Thorne had incased himself in a shell of dignified silence through which neither captain nor officers could break, much as they appreciated his help. Miss Latimer dd try, but the attempt ended disastrously. Finding — Thorne leaning over the port rail one day after the force of the second tem- pest had spent itself, she broke the ice by saying, pleasantly : “You make avery good sailor, for a ‘green hand’, Mr. Thorne. You seem to take to it very naturally.’’ ‘‘T believe I told you, when I first came aboard, that I thought there was a streak of salt water in me somewhere,’’ he returned, smiling. It was the first time she had put herself out to speak to him in two weeks, and he was determined to show her he felt no resentment. Gomichbooksseo |