Newspaper Page Text
I 1 W CHAPTER I Captain Phineas P. Scraggs has grown up around the dock* o Saa Francisco, and from mess boy on a river steamer, risen to the ownership of the steamer Maggie Since each an nual inspection promised to be the last of the old weatherbeaten vessel, Scraggs naturally has some difficulty In securing a crew When the gtorj opens, Adelbert Glbney, likable but erratic, a man Whom nobody but Sciaggs would hire, is the skippei, Neils Halvorsen, a solemn 9wede, constitutes the fo'castle hands, and Bait McGuffey, a wastrel of the Glb ney pe, i eigns in the engine room (Continued from last issue) CHAPTER II. Captain Scraggs and The Squ.ire head partook first (if the ham unci eggs coffee and bieud, which the skipper-prepared. Sciaggs then pie pared a siuiiltir meal lor Mr. Gibney and MeGuffej, set it In the oven to keep warm, and descended to the en gine loom to relieve McGuffey for din ner. Neils at tike fline time took the cotuse from Mi Glhney and iclieved the latter nt the wheel. By this time, darkness hnd descended upon the world, and the Maggie had entered the log, following her custom she pio eeeded In absolute silence, although as paitinJ offset to the extreme liahillty to collision with other coastwise iiitfl, due to the non whistling rule a hoard the Moggie Mr (ilhnev hud laid a course half a mile inside the usual steamer lanes, nlbeit due to his over whelming desire for peace he had neglected to infwim his owner of tills the honest fellow pioeede upon the hypothesis that what people do not know is not apt to trouble them Captain Sciaggs tend the log and repoited tiie miJeage to Mr Gihney, who figured with the stub of a pencil on the pilot house wall wagged his head, and appeared satisfied "Better go for'd," he onlered "an' help The Squarehead on the lookout At eight o'clock we ought to he right under the lee o' folnt San Pedro when I whistle Me ought to catch the echo thrown back by the cliff. Listen for It." Promptly at eight o'clock Mr Me fluffey was horrified to sec his stenm gauge drop half a pound as the Mag glee's siren sounded. Mr. Gibney stuck his ingenious head out of the pilot house and listened, hut no answering But No Answering Echo Reached His Ears. echo reached his ears. "Hear any- thing''" he bawled. "I lei id the Maggie's siren," Captain Stingos letorted venomously. Mi tribnej leaped out on deck, se lected a SIUIIJI head of cabbage from a broken date and hurled It forward Then he sprang hack Into the pilot bouse and straightened the Maggie on her course again. He leaned o\er the binnacle with the ciitT of his watch- i coat wiping awu\ the moisture on thc\ glass, and studied the Instrument care* fullS "I don't trust the clanged thing/* he mutteied. "Guess I'll haul her off a coupler points an' try the whistle again." He did Still no echo. He was in clined to believe that Captain Senlggn had not read the taffiail log eorieety, and when at eight thirt\ he tried f^c \.histle agnln he was still without. ie sults In the way of an echo from the cliff, nlbeit the engine room holler brought him several of a nrofn^ char acter from the perspiring MeGr ffe "We've passed Pedio," Mr. 'Gihney decided. He ground his end nj id mut tered ugly' things to himself, tor his dead reckoning had gone nsfinj and he was worried*. Tut fog, ity anj thing, r., ._.,. ,4, A*at ~.it^ -r^r- J-. -r_--. r^- was thicker than ever. Time passed. Suddenly Mr. Gibney thrilled electrically to a shrill I from Captain Scraggs. "What's thut?" Mr. Gibney bawled. "I amino, hounds like the surf, Gib." "Ain't you been on this run long enough to know that the surf don't sound like nothin' else in life but breakers?" Gibney retorted wrathfully. "I a'n't certain, Gib." Instantly Gibney signaled McGuffey for half speed ahead. "Breakeis on the starboard bow,'* jelled Captain Scraggs. "Port bow," The Squarehead cor rected him. "Oh, inj great patience!" Mr. Gib ney gioaned. "They're on both bows an' we're headed straight for the beach. Here's where we all go to the devil together," and he yanked wildly at the signal wire that led to the engine room, with the Intention of giving McGuffev tour bellsthe signal uhomd the, Maggie for full speed astein At the second jerk the wire broke, but not until two bells had sounded in the engine roomthe signal for full speed ahead. The efficient McGnflev promptly kicked her wide open, and the Fates decreed that, having done 30, Mr. McGuffey should foithwith climb the ladder and thrust his head out on deck for a breath of fresh air. Instantly a cboius of shrieks up on the fo'castle head nt tracted his attention to such a degree that he failed to hear the engine room howler as Mr. Gibney blew Irantically Into It, Presentlj, nut of the hubbub for ward, Mr McGuffey heard Captain Scraggs wall frnnticnlly: "Stop her' For the love of heaven, stop her'" In-i stantly thy engineer dropped back into the engine room and set the Maggie full speed astein then he grasped the bowler suid held it to his ear. "Stop her'" he heard Gibney shriek. "Whv in blazes don't vou stop her?" "She's set nstern, Gib. She'll ease up in a. minute" "You know It!" Gibney answered significantly. The Maggie climbed lazllv to the crest of a long oily roller, slid reck lessly down the other side, and took the following sen over her tnffrail. She still had some head on, but very littlenot quite sufficient to give her decent steeiage wnv, as Mr. Gibney discovered when, having at length com municated his desires to McGuffey,, he spun the wheel frantically In a be lated effort to svlng the Maggie's dirty no out to sent "Nothing doha'," he snarled. "She'll have to come to) a complete stop before she begins to wnlk backward and get steerage way /on again. She'll bump ns sine as depth an' taxes," She didwith a crack that shook the rigging owl caused It to rattle like buckshots In KI pan. A terrible rry-1- such cry, [Indeed, as might burst from the ltps\ of a mothjer seeing her only child run down by the Limited burst from poior Captain Scraggs. "My ship' My sl^lp!" he lwvvled. "My dnl-ling little Maggie! They've killed 5011, thev've billed yon! The dirty lubbers'" The succee fling wave lifted the Mag gie oft the pilch, carried her in some fifty feet further, and deposited her gentl.v on tl sand. She heeled over to port a IP,Tie and rested there ns if she was very, \ery weary, nor could alt the thr tshlng of her screw in re verse haul her off again. The snrf, dnshing in "under her fantail, had more power th:ui MeGtitTey's engines, and, foot by ixit. the Maggie proceeded to dig her'jpff in Mr. Glhnev listened for five* minutes to the uproar that lose fromi the bowels of the little steam ftr liefore he whistled up Mr McGi'Jl'ev. "Kfil her, kill her," he ordered. "YoirV wheel will bite into the sand first tiling vou know-, nnd tear the stern off bier. You're shakm' the old glr/i to pleres" "McGuffey killed his engine, hanked l&s fires, ntwl came up on deck, wiping /lis anxious lace vvfth a. fearfully filthy swvat rag. At the same time Scraggs and Nells Halvorsen cnm crawling' art o*cr the decklnhrt and when they 1 cached the clear space around the pilot house. Captain Scraggs threw his blown derby on the* deck and leaped upou It until, his irjge abating ulti mately, no power on earth. In the air, or tinder the seft. eotild possibly have' rolieibi United, it and wendered It fi^Jor further wean-, e\en by Captain Scruggs, Tills petulant practice of lumping on his hat as a hnhflt with Scraggs whene\er anything nmno.ved him par tlculnrlv and was always infallible evi dence thai a simple declarative sen tence had stuck In M'throat. "Well, 1 oVd whirling der\ Ish," Mr. Gibney rnwmde calrttly when Scraggs paused to iRck of breath to continue his dni*ee, "what about it? We're up Salt Cjpeck jwlthout a piuldle the devil r,..r _^ ___Jad& *&*%*&?*r to pay and no pitch hot." "McGuffej's tiled!" Captain Scraggs screeched. "Come, come, Scraggsy, old tarpot," Mr. Gibnev soothed. "This ain't no time for fightln'. Thlnkin' an* actin* is all that saves the Maggie now." But Captain Sciaggs was beyond reason. "McGuffey's fired! McGuf fey's fired!" he reiterated. "The dirty rotten wharf rat Call yourself an engineer?" he continued withermgly "As an engineer jou're a howling "suc cess at shoemakln', jou slob. I'll fl\ jour clock for you, my hearty. I'll have jour ticket took away froiu .vou an' that's no Chinaman's dream nutlier." 1 "HowVe We to Get My Maggie Off the Beach?" "It's all my fault runnin' bj dead reckon in'," the honest Gibney pio tested. "Mac ain't to fault. The en gine room telegraph busted an' he got the wrong signal "It's his business to see to it that he's got an engine room telegraph that won't bust" "Ion dog!" McGuffey roared and spiang at the skipper, who leaped nimbly up the little ladder to the top of the pilot house and stood piepared to kick Mr. McGuffey in the face should that worthy venture up atter him. "I can't persuade jou to git me nothin' that I ought to have I'm tired w01 kin' with 1unk an' scraps an' cop per wire and pieces o' string. I'm through!" "Yor.'je rightyou're through, be cause jou'ie filed'" Scraggs shrieked In insane lage. "Get off mj ship, vou maritime Impostor, or I'll take a pistol to on. Overbonrd with ou you greasj, nddlepated bounder' You're rotten, understand? Rotten! Itotten! Hot ten'" "You owe me eight dollars an' six bits, Scraggs," Mr. McGuffej reminded his owner calmly. "Chuck down the spondulicks an' IT! get off vour ship" Captain Scraggs was be.vond reason, so ne tossed the money down to the engineer. "Now git," he commanded. Without further ado, Mr McGuffey started across the deckload to the fo'castle head Scraggs could not see him but he could hear himso he pelted the engineer with potatoes, cab bage heads and onions, the vegetables descending about the honest McGuffey In veritable barrage. Even in the darkness several of these missiles took effect. Upon reaching the very ape of the Maggie's bow, Mr McGuffey turned and hurled a promise into the dark ness* "If we ever meet again, Scraggs, I'll make Mrs. Scraggs a wid ow. Paste that In jour hatwhen you get a new one." The Maggie was resting easily on the beach, with the bioken water from the long hv/A combers singing well up above her water line. At most, sl\ teet of water awaited the engineer, who stood, peering shoieward and lis tening intentlj', oblivious to the straj missiles which whizzed past. Pieseut lj, from out of the fog, he heard a grinding, metallic sound and tluough a sudden lilt in the fog caught a brief glimpse of blue flame with sparks uidittting faintly from It. That settled matters for Bartholo mew McGuffey. The metallic sound was the piotest fiom the wheels of a Cliff house trollev car loundlng a curve the blue flame was an electric manifestation due to the Intelmlttent contnet of her trollev with the wire, wet with fog McGuffey knew the exact position of the Maggie now, so he poised a moment on her bow as a wave swept past him, he leaped overboard, scrambl ashore, made his wnj up the beach to the great highway which flanks the shote line between the Cliff house and Ingleslde, sought a madhouse, and warmed his Interior with four fingers of whisky neat. Then, feeling quite content with himself, even In h^s wet garments, he hoarded a cit.v bound trollej car and departed for the Avomith and hospital itj of Scab .Tohhnv'R sailor boarding house in Oregon street. Captain Scraggs sat down on the half-emptied ciate of vegetables and commenced to weep bitterlyhalf be cause of rage and half hecause he re garded himself a pauper Already he had a vision of himself scouring the waterfront In search of a 1ob "No use hoevhooin' over milk, Scraggsj." Alwajs philosophical, the nuthoi of the ovvnu woe sought to carry the disn'tcu off-llghtlj. "Don't ndd vour s. It tears to a saltier sea until jc 1'ie certain jou're a total loss an' 110 Insurance I jot jou into this i 3 mVW72~ THE BEMID.TI DAILY PIONEER nnd suppose ft**} up fo me to get jou off, so I guess I'll commence opeia- tio'ns." Suiting the action to the word, Mr. Gibnej grasped the whistle coid and a strange, sad, sueezlng, wheezy niotui resembling the expiring protest of a lusty pig and gradually increasing into a long-drawn but respectable whistle lewarded his efforts. For once, he could afford to be prodigal with- the steam, a#d while It lasted there could be no Mistaking the fact that here was a steamer in dire,^- ties* B?, The wcid call for nelp brought Sciaggs aiound to a fuller lealiyatfon tin onciimitv of the disaster whle*lf had overtaken him. In his agony he forgot to curse his navigating offlceu for the latter's stubbornness In refusing to turn back when the fog threatened. He clutched Mr. Gjbney by the right arm, theiebV interrupting for an in stant the dismal outburst from the Maggie's siren. "Gib," he moaned. "I'm a ruined man. How're we ever to get the old sweetheart off whole? Answei me that, Gib. Answer me, I saj How're we to get my Maggie oft the bench?"- Mr. Gibnej shook lumselt loose from that frantic grip and continued his pull on the whistle until the Maggie, taking a talse note, quaveted, moaned, spat steam a minute and subsided with what might be termed a nautical sob. "Now, see what you/ve done?" he bawled "You've made me bust the whistle." "Answer my question, Gib "We'll never get her off if jou don't quit mterieun' an' give me time to think I'll admit llieie ain't much of a chance, because It's dead low watei now an' just as soon as the tide is at the flood she'll diive furthei up the beach an' fall apart." "Perhaps McGuffey will have heart enough to telephone into the citj tor a tug 'Ie 11ft scarcely probable, Scraggsy You abused him vile an' threw a lot of fodder at him." "I wish I'd been took with paraljsis first," Scraggs walled bitteilj. "You'd best jump ashoie, Gib, an' 'phone 111 We're just below the Cliff house and jou can nin up to one o' them beach resorts an' 'phone in to the Bed Stack Tug Boat ccunpanj." "'Twouldn't be ethics for me, the registeied master o' the Maggie, to desert the ship, Scraggsj, old stick-in the-mud. What's the matter with get tin' jour own shanks wet?" "I classen't, Gib. I've had a touch of chills an' fever ever since I used to run mate up the San Joaquin sloughs Here's a nickel to drop in the telephone slot, Gib. There's a good fellow." "Scraggsj, jou're deludln' yourself Show me a tugboat skipper that would come out heie on a night like this to pick up the S. S. Maggie, two decks an' no bottom an' londed with garden tiuck, an' 111 wag my ears an' look at the back o* n^f neck. She ain't worth it." "Ain't worth it Why, man, I paid fifteen hundred hard cash dollars for her "Fourteen hundred an' ninety-nine dollars an' ninety-nine cents too much. They seen jou comin'. However, grantin' for the sake of argyment that she's worth the tow, the next question them tow boat skippeis'll ask Is- 'Who's goin' to pay the bill?' It'll be two hundred an' fifty dollars nt the lowest flgger, an* if jou got that much credit with the tow boat company jou're some high financier. Ain't that logic?" "I'm afraid," Scraggs replied sadly, "it is Still, thej'd have a lien on the Maggie" "Steamer ahoy!" came a voice fiom the beach. "Man with a megaphone," Air. Gib ney ciied. "Ahoy! Ahoy, there!" "Who are jo an' what's the trou- ble'" Captain Scraggs took it upon him self to answer: "American stehraer Mag" Mr. Gibney sprang upon him tiger Ishly, placed a horny, tobacco-smelling palm across Scraggs* mouth and effec tlvelv smothered all further sound. "American steamer Yankee Prince," he bawled like a veritable Bull of Bashaii, "of Boston, Hong Kong to Frisco, vv ith a general cargo of sandal wood, nee an' silk. Where'ie we nt' "Just outside the Gate. Half a mile o" the Cliff house" "Telephone in for a tug. We're In nice shape, restin* easy, but our rud der's gone an' the after web o* the crank shaft busted. Telephone in, nij man, an* I'll make It up to vou when we get a sate anchorage. Who are jou''" "Lindstrom, of the Golden Gnte Life Saving station "I'll not forget you, Lindstrom. My owners aie Yankees, but thej're sports." "All right. I'll telephone. On my wnv "(Jnd speed yon," murmured Mr. Glbnev. and released his hold on Cap tain Scraggs, who instantly tlnew his arms around the navigating officer's burly neck. "I forgive you, Adelbert," be ciooned. "I forgive you freelj. By the tail of the Great Sacred Bull, jou're a marvel. She's an all night fog or I'm a Chinnnmn, and if it only stajs thick enoughs" "If II hold," Glbdey retorted dogged lj\ "It's a tule fog. They always hold. Quit huggin' me. YOur breath's bad." Captain Scraggs, hurled forcibly backw ard, bumped into the pilot house, but lost none of his enthusiasm "You're a jewel," he declared. "Oh man, what a head' Whatever made jou think of the Yankee Prince?" "Because," Mr. Gibney answered calmly,, "there ain't no such ship^this (Continued on Page 3) ^3-^ gflU^^f -**~nrtT~- ft* nnlMWttirfrffllir flttlll-H* 1 1,(1 /'''J SKETCHES WON THE RECRUITS Alvan Hadley, Crayon Artist, Now "Drawing" Some of the Promi 1 nent Legion JVIen. Alvan C. ("Hup") Hadle.v, crayon expert and ex-marine, travels with a Greenwich V11- lage troupe. probably recruit- ed more marines by his clever (sketches, during the^ war, than any otlSts 'individual No ope that ever looked very hard at ojhe of ,.hls pic tures ever stayed out Of the ma rines, and no one that ever looks M*v f verj haul now ever staj-s away from his show. He Is at present busy sketching prominent nieinbeis of the Ameilcan Legion, outside of "hours," for publication in newspapers When "Hap" enlisted in the marine corps at Paris island, a red-necked sergeant asked him what his occupa tion was. "Artist," said Hap. So the sergeant put him to work white-washing garbage cans. The crowning disappointment of H"p's life is that he never ran across that sergeant again. Use of Oil Long Ago. Oil from natural spiings in Sicily was used in lamps in the temple of Jupiter at Rome- and oil-fed lamps weie burned in other temples and in rich men's homes* *3 IT IS MOT TOO LATE To Try For The Prizes In The Pioneer Puzzle Contest HAVE YOUR PUZZLES IN TO THE PIONEER OFFICE BY 6 O'CLOCK TONIGHTOR IF YOUR LETTER SHOWS A POST-MARK OF SATURDAY, APRIL 15, IT WILL BE ENTERED. IT COSTS YOU NOTHINGUNLESS YOU WANT TO TRY FOR THE BIGGEST PRIZE. T SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 15, 1922 ^ftAjWWW^ftWVWWW^ I Save In Buying I Mrs. G. O. Riggs Northern and North western Minnesota Agent for Packard aad Bond Pianos 1213 Lake Blvd. Phone 623-J Bemidji Minn. u... A^1^^Cfef^C-U^^^L^^^^ /*&>$*!:+ ""i"" "^v. ST*