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Page Four I CHAPTER XV. U'MtUlM4> ('upturn Kettle’s hand shot out aud ‘ Slight the engineer’s collar before he had descended three steps of the steep bridge ladder, and jerked him suddenly backward, and deposited him sitting on the deck of the upper bridge. "Stop it," he said in a sharp whis per, "and sober up, and look there." He stretched out an arm Into the night, and pointed to the south and east. The black velvet darkness was flawed by a flicker of intlniteeimal flames. •‘Phosphorescence," said McTodd. "Tb# outer splashes of llgbt'U be oars. Gosh, but she’s a big craft, yun. She'll have a dozen oars a-slde. She'll be one of those tig kherbs." "A lighter." "The Moorish word’s kherb. as ye'd know if ye’d my education. I don’t see for why ye're surprised. It's the natural sequence of events that the other blackguards should home off to join their chief who’s tucked bis way in among us so cannlly. I should say that the throat-cuttlug will begin with in flve seconds of their coming over the side." ‘That’s my idea of it, and I've made ray preparations accordlug. The mates know, and the deckhands are standing by. But I've another sur prise packet for them first. What steam have yon?" "Enough, maybe, to Just turn her ever with." T told that old fool of a chief to keep steam for full speed all night. By James, i’ll log that man for iuoom petencc! “ "You should have given your order through me, and 1 would have seen It carried oat. The chief's vera canny on coal, and In private 1 may tell ye I suspect him of being an Aberdonian. But I’ll away below and get a boost ( on those gages." The oasis of phosphorescence slow ly crawled across the black desert of the night, and presently a second flick ering oasis disclosed Itself, and then a third and a fourth. "Four big lighters crammed with men. and all of them of the true fight ing trade." mused Captain Kettle. ‘‘lf they're the ordinary cargo kherb of the northwest coast they'll carry s hundred and twenty hands apiece In smooth water like this lagoon That means four to five hundred enthus- 1 lasts coming to call, and all carrying j cutlery. Well, if they go direct to my : old anchorage I’m free to own they'll get a, surprise." - Silence and secrecy was the order of the night. Mr. Trethewy, the mate, received orders and departed swiftly to the forecastle head. The carpenter was dropped Into the cable-locker, and battened down there so that the noise of bis knocking out a shackle should not make Itself heard. Then the heavy cable was muffled in every way possible, and dropped through the hawse-hole, link by link, and finally let go with a rope and buoy to mark It. Phorphorescence, now they were looking for it, showed them ou the line of the cable right down to the lagoon’s floor, and to the men on board seemed an open advertisement oi their position; but no trace of this reached the kherbs. and they plodded wteudily along their course to the Wangaroo’s old anchor age. Steam meanwhile was beginning to pour quietly through the escape pipe, and (‘aptaiu Kettle uodded ap preciatively to himself as he took the temperature from time to time from the outside of the funnel casing. The leading kherb reached the spot where; the steamer should have been, eased ber phosphorescence-steering oars, and dlaappeared Into the black ness of the night, and as the others came up and lost their way they also vanished into nothingness. Captain Kettle put a cigar between his teeth, but be did not venture to light it, nor did he risk the clanging bell of the engine-room telegraph. In stead be applied his lips to the voice tube, and got into communication with a very sober and alert McTodd. who said he bad iouiul it necessary to put his chief to bed. • • • The WarrgarPo gathered 'w,ijr slowly and without no!so, and Captain Kettle, to avoid the-clamor of giving orders, took the team steering-In his' own hands., The night ahead was without beacon, and firii of a dense amorphous darkness, but with a sail ors knack of memory the little sailor had the bearings of his old anchorage, and of every salient point of the la goon flrmly charted in bis head, aud worked out a dead reckoning of his steamboat’s course as he went along He kept one eye on the Biff fully t hooded binnacle and th« other roving through the blackness ahead, and without mental inconvenience, did sums each minute as a direction and distance run as is the habit of sailor men, and Incidentally kept an atten tive «ar for the talk and laughter In the saloon below to make sure that his owner, Miss Chesterman, and the ealnt were still merrily engaged in their occupation of killing time. And when he reckoned he was within a hundred yards of the kherbs. and bad called to Mr McTodd to "whack her up all he knew." he was conscious of an elaborate head and pair of comely shoulders protruding above the heed of the upper bridge ladder behind him. "Captain.” came a voice, "It’s dark, and no one will see. May I come up on top here? I know what’s going on. and I don’t feel as if I could stay be low. anyhow.” "For the lord's sake, mlas, go back there! ’Tisn’t safe for you up here.’* "It would be no worse for me than It will be for you. And it’s miserable down (here in the dark, and alone. Miserable:** "But they may begin shooting and all aorte of things presently.” "ft would be no worse for me than tt WHI W tor you." Mis* Dubbe had come up on the bridge by this, and he beard her voice behind and slightly above him. The position was desper ate. and one can hardly blame him for Wtet be did. “Go aft a bit. sad to starboard No. the other— the starboard aide; yea, there. Now, eee that boat on the checks? Tea, that'* it. Now, if f«l waat to stay oa this deck yon’re The Marriage of Captain Kettle A ROMANCE OF THE SEA. By CUTCUFFB HYNB Copyright 1912, The Bobbs-Merrill Corapniiy io gei tos.ue iuni, and keep your ur«u under the gunwale, and the Lord gram the bout a skin keepa out their gas pipe bullet*, though I don’t think It wiH." The kherbs had heard the steamer's coming by this time, a* the renewed phosphorescence from their oars show ed very plainly. But they strung out into a line and gave themselves over as her prey. She had worked up by this time to the full eight knots of her speed, and Kettle steered her into the rearmost kherb, and dfove over tt. nnd then held on for the next ahead. Those of the lighter's crew who were wise struck out straightway for the shore. Those who had more talent for fighting leaped for the Wangaroo's low rail as they stamped the wreck of their own craft under water, and hauled themselves up, and were met by frenzied white men flailing at them with Iron clubs. Whack, crash, crunch went the belaylng-pina. and true believers fell back Into Paradise or the lagoon. The Wangaroo scraped over the ruins of the first kherb, crunched through the second, and of her own accord put In her celebrated sheer to starboard and bagged the third. But she was a slow little tub when all was said and done, and, anyway, she waj not built for a ram, and the Impacts had shaken her a good deal, and knocked off her pace and upset her steering, and kherb number four, furi ously rowed, managed to beach Itself aud emit its crew intact. "But still I don’t call that bad." said a quiet voice from behind, and Captain 1 Kettle rang off hia engines and turned round to gaze ou a lighted cigar and | the face of Sldi Mohammed Bergasfc. "Get down off my bridge!" The little sailor yapped out the words with venomous precision, and then turned to the two other figures behind. "As to you, sir. you may be my owner, but of your own free will I heard you offer to serve under by command, and I’m ashamed of your lack of discipline. As to your piace, miss, I make no suggestion, but if you’ve heard all the language that's been flying about on this bridge dur ing this last ten minutes, and liked It, I'm sorry for your tastfc, that » nil.” "I apologize, Skipper," said Sir George "Very good. sir. Make it so. Take that native gentleman with the Eng lish accent down below, and keep him there till I come. And If he doesn't want to go. tell the bo’s’n to put him In Irons By James, I’m going to have discipline on this jihlp. or I’ll know the reason why!" When these had left the upper deck, out of sheer delight In his own skill In seamanship (and I‘m afraid also through knowledge that Miss Dubbs was a spectator In the life-boat behind him) Kettle swrung the steamer round and, plotting a course through the un relieved dark, made back for tb« spot whence he had started. He returned as he had come, full steam ahead, aud only slowed up to bring the steamer's forefoot to a stand still on the anchor buoy. "Well, of all the beastly gallery tricks 1 ever saw!" sneered Mr. Treth ewy, the mate, on the forecastle head a* he oversaw the picking up of the buoy. "But don’t you wish you could do It yourself, my aon?" hiccoughed Mr. Mc- Todd from under th« break of the fore castle. "fainting deck-houses is about all you’re good at. I don’t trust you i to make fast a mooring rope unless l oversee It myself afterward to make sure you haven't a slippery hitch. My young friend. I tell ye that the officers and crew of this packer are a great source of anxiety to the Old Man and myself, aud if anybody dislikes tMt statement I’m free to fight him this minute. And now, the night being hot and maneuvers being over. I'm going to drop Into the lagoon for a bit of a swim. Ijrave me this rope's end over the side to climb back by." In the meanwhile argument held swav in the saloon. "I’m afraid,” said the saint, "from your point of view it must look uncom monly fishy.” Tm sure my skipper thinks so," Sir George agreed. "Well, I’ll ask you not to let him hang mo out of hand, which I gather w ould be his agreeable method of mak ing ail things entirely safe; and, of course. If you insist on keeping me on board as a hostage, I shall hava to stay. But, really, I think I should be of more use to you ashore. These aren't my people, as f'v* told you, but as kald of the big Berber tribe here abouts 1 have a good deal of local Influence.” Sir George Chesterman rubbed hts chin. "This attack will take a bit of explaining, you know." "If you mean your captain's un provoked attack on some boats that hadn't harmed him, 1 should say It will.’’ TUo big untidy Englishman laughed. Os course, those four or flve hun dred armed ruffians had come ou% merely for a quiet evening's row! However, my dear man, we won't worry about past nlßtory. The ques tion is: hat's going to be done next. Wo, I should again like to re mind you, have come here to salvage that steamer, and the sooner we get it the better it will be for the neigh borhood.” The Berber chief threw back bin head; there was a hard glint in his blue eyes. "Well, you will not get 1 the steamer. By the customs of this coast she belongs to the people of the coast, and 1 am going to see that they get her." "1 thought you said an hour ago that yon were a rich man. What good’s this wretched old wreck to you, even if you can realize on her, which is doubtful?" "In money, no good whatever. But, my dear Chesterman, you make tß* usual superficial Englishmans %uls take. If any one asks you suddenly what is your aim In life, you aiwaya reply, without thinking, that moneys UM one thing you want. You don’t | really mean it, but you’ve got Into , the habit of saying it Now. money doesn't amuse me a bit. With the curse of my English education behind me. I tell you frankly this ebuntry bores me •tiff, and if you were to for get I came on board here under a flag of truce—which, of course, you can t—and hang me out of hand, yon THE DETROIT TIMES: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2T, I*l*. j * / •. m i U 4 tiiiiltU W V •* Vi obliged to >ou. Aud t'ni sure It would save you a lot of trouble *’ "Os course, you eau be put ashore whoa you wish. And you may either tell us now your future policy, or you can do the other thing." "Now you re angry. Don't you call that a bit unreasonable ot your broth er, Miss Chesterman? I’ve beeu quite frank with you about the shore situation aud our resources, instead of leaving you to find out all that for yourself Tve pulled the handtrap distinctly iu your favor, and yet l know you’ll be angrier with me still when I tell you that presently I'm going to fight for the possession oi that useless and rusty old steamer for all that I'm worth 1 wish you could understand what a boon hgutlng is to a man who dome* of a fighting stock when he s boren to death with exist ing things, and finds, moreover, that his amiable subjects are beginning to talk about constitutions and other ab surd modern fads, and need some • mart blood-letting to bring them back to their senses again.” Violet Chesterman shut her fan with a click. "Now, look here, you two, this has gone far enough, and. to my mind, it's getting ridiculous. You talk about flghung as if you were challenging one another to a game ot polo. George, go up and fetch Cap tain Kettle down to have a whisky andsoda. and by the time you are back I think you will find that Mr. Bsrgash and I have arrived at a friendly treaty." CHAPTER XVI. The Call of the Queen. Camels on suulit sand —ami at a respectable distance —sre, I think, al ways decorative. From alt artistic poiht of view it is always advisable to keep them there —namely, bn sand, and at a distance, because nearness to the workaday camel quite takes th** enchantment from the riew cf him. To begin with, he is mangy from hls hurricane deck to his big splay feet, and out of evury ten square inches that ought to be covtred with hair, he wears nine square inches bald. He emits evil noises and an evil •mail. He w'ears camel ticks about his person which he shares w.th an one who conus near him, and they subsequently have to bo removed from one’s body by a minor surgical oper ation. When ne bites—which he does with his lips, not teeth —the effect is very much the same as having one x fingers slammed Into tne hinge-side oi a railway-carriage door. He is as ungrateful as a Greek, aud as treacherous as an Armenian. A horse will not drink after him; sheep avoid the pasture he has soiled; aud even a jackaJ will not eat him when he is dead if there is any other car rion within reach. Also he is the only ' possible beast of burden for many thousand square miles of this imper fect earth’s surface. The camels tipped out from behind a dune, with nodding heads and ridic ulous necks, and swung down to the beach opposite the rusted Norman Towers, and then held along the hard sand northward. Sous had riders, some carried bales, and two wore hfiod-shaped tilts, bright with blue and red draperies. The ladies will be inside those coh ered contraptions." dir George ex plained. "How ghastly hot they must be, poor dears," said his sister. "Those coverings look like carpet.” "They are carpet," said the saint, "and of our own weaving. Were rather proud of them. I'd got some on the floor of my rooms at Cam bridge. and the art people and the furniture cranks who came to see me I went Into ecstacles over the coloring. Also there's camel’s-halr cloth under- Wouldn't Tou Think She'd Get Dizzy , Away up There? ; . ft Mwi r* J rjr 3* • \ \ to t p,, i i * j j »* -i’ / Si : MISS PIXLEY. P got warn pile 4 While Pslatlac • )M«XeiUcb at LosU«Mle, Ky. death. But a woman's douar is by no means as hot as jfotid tliiuk. In deed, in war times we put our wound ed into them to keep the poor fellows 1 away from the heat." "There *eein* to be a very large escort," said Sir George rather thoughtfully, "considering that >°u -aid the country was perfectly quiet. Sldl Birgasb laughed. -1 suppose v ou on your part would describe Lon iou a* perfectly quiet, yet when your ►vlug and queen go about they not In requently have quite a small srtny Uttering along at the heels of thc.r harlot. I'm sorry I don't impress >ou as anybody out of the ordinary, chestermau, but really, when I am at I am a genuine potentate, and my mother s a real, queen. To be : frank with you. ceremonial bores ine, i but my mother likes it- She was brought up to It, you see. My poor old | dad wax a great stickler for that sort ,of pageant and etiquette. I believe, j to bo historical, we got it from the I Vandals in the early middle ages, when our people hired themselves out ax mercenaries to help in the inid i European war; and. If you come to think of it, the modern Germans who I suppose, are the Vandals’ lineal de ' xcendants, are Jtist as keen on pomp ' and circumstance today.” "I was only wondering how we are going to find room for them all. We re a bit cramped here, you know ou this little tub.” "Oh, you needn’t worry about put ting up all the entourage. Tbey'B form camp, as you'll presently see, on the shore, and I should think, when It comes to the point, my moth er will prefer to sleep there, too. She talked very big, poor dear, about her keen desire to accept your Invitation to come and live N'zaranee faxhlon on a N'zaranee ship, but 1 expect when she really tries it she’ll detect & wob ble even on this smooth lagoon. I believe some of our people did once hire out as rowers to a Phoenician galley and pick up a certain amouut of seamanship there; but that’s quite a long tlmo ago now, and since then we seem to have 9tuck pretty well to terra flrma. and have worse nau tical Insides than a Frenchman. There is Just one more thing— ’’ "Well, go ahead, man.’’ "You see the state religion is Mo hammediam, and it’s part of the game that our women go veiled. 1 think it rot myself, but you can't get over the prejudices of centuries, with the prophet at the back of it as a dosing retort to all possible arguments, especially as the old gentleman is counted as a direct ancestor. Besides, as I've told you, my mother is rather old-fashioned, lu her Ideas, and 1m afraid she looks upon my more mod ern European views as merely Beandl ous.” "Oh. we quite expected your moth er would come veiled," sal* Violet, "nnd I got the captain to give me a big state-room that opens off the en sine-room alleyway, and which up to now they’ve used for stores. He’s had what cases were left sent down to the hold, anfl the stewardess and I have dodged it up Into a really prettv 1 ttle sitting-room. At night we can rig the berth if your mother comes to stay on board, but in the meanwhile it's nnlte the zenana, if that’s the w-ord. The only thing I'm troubled about Is the cooking. Will she like our food? "Not in the least. But that need not disturb you. She brings her own food. I say. Chestertnau. you might tell your skipper to hold on with that boat he’s trying to send away. They will be awfully mad If you go among them before everything is ready, and I can tell you these elaborate cere monial camps take quite a bit of time to pitch.” Ashore on the dazzling beach the leading camel had halted, shut him self up In sections like a four-joint two-foot rule, and discharged hl\ white-draped rider. The other camels ax they strolled up swung out of line ahead into line abeam, and also tame to moorings, and the escort, pulling farther round to the north, dismount ed. drove lit their picket pins, and soon had their horses, straddled out to impossible spans by well-stretched heel ropes. The diamond hitch, w*hlch the western packer fondly imagines to be his own invention, was patent ed probably by the camel driver ot Mecca, nnd anyway is in current use In the Sahara today for making fast a load on that most uneasy of all bag ,gage animals. treatise**) MAMIE PIXLEY, STACK PAINTER, LKESTHE JOB Makes More Money, She Says, Than Teacher* or Fac tory Workers DROVE A TEAM AND PLOWED ON THE FARM GeU Her Hand* All Covered With Paint, Hut Doesn't Mind J By E. C. RODGERB. JEFFERBON, Ind., Nov. 21.— 4 ‘‘How do I like my Job?" repealed a very much be painted youug woman from ba< k of a coat of black cinders and coal dust. Why. I like it fine!" she answered, and made for a bucket of cold water Alter a few liberal splashes, the laughing eyes aud healthy complexion of the world's only girl smokestack painter faced me She is Miss May me Pixley. Kmoke stack painting Is her regular business, though when smokestacks are not to be had she will paint steeples aud flagpoles with the best of men steeple jacks—and paiut ’em aa fast and as well. Miss Pixley had just finished coat ing the last strip of smokestack with black paint when 1 came up. Her No Artificial Coloring used in this Sugar H Every step of the refining processes supervised by skilled chemists GO Hf Presented in anew way GQ in dust-tight, germ-proof packages GE3 This sugar reaches you free from black specks,flies, dust or germs. Equally suitable for table use with bcmes and cereals, or for cooking £23 Never sold in bulk. Sold only In 2 and 5 pound Sealed Packages. GQ Guaranteed Weight rj— * \ THE AMERICAN SUGAR REFINING COMPANY 7 1 Address —New York City I Pure urhen f J^TVjL rZ''f CRVSTAL.^ n ® B|l Cl*** 1 Sugar V M> /fies no tfusf ) >*:>'. ; ■. :rs^L |h.W,; y *7 w|Lx( HfEtjfj|» *▼ Jilt^B -JSf L i\ * • jri 7 lok M. FROM THE RT. HON. JAMES BRYCE, O. M., BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES AND AUTHOR OF "THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH" British Embassy, Washington, -. . March 6, 1912. Dear Mr. Haslrin 1 Thank you very much for your interestinff and valuable book upon the department* of the Federal Government ana their working. It is full of useful and practical knowledge and 1 wish very much that 1 bad had it or something like it, both when 1 was writing ‘'The American Common* wealth ” and when 1 first came here as ambassador. I am sure we have no book over in England which gives a similar account of the actual details of the working of the various Departments in our elaborate and complicated system, though of course we have plenty of books upon the organizations of our Government as a whole and its Constitutional working. I hope you will find means of keeping the book up-to-date from time to time in new editions as frequent changes happen in a country growing so rapidly as yours. 1 am, Very truly yours, Frederic J. Haskin, Esq. JAMES BRYCE SEE COUPON ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE (I » \ II U Mias MAI MU PIXLEY, gloves were black with paint, so wsi her short skirt, and most everything about her. Hers is not a Job (or (ancy dresses end dainty white lingerie, but Maytue likes It Just the same, al though she likes pretty clothes, too. “1 make more money at It.'* ex plained Miss Plilny, “than most wo men school teachers, more than wo men factory workers, more than store clerks, and more than nlno-teuths of the girls who work in offices, and I am outdoors all (he time, and it s ex citing. ami 1 haven't uuy boss over me, and anyway. I like to do meu s work, and alway* did.” There were enough reasons to satisfy any person. ”1 was born ami raised on a farm,” con tinned tttsw H*ley. -gathering up her ropes and chains %»d things, (••and as long bao’i ss l can remembet I'd rather be out In Iho field with jfuther than In the houia with mother and my six slstern. lly the time I was ! 13 I could drive a train as well as any boy: and when I wis Ifi 1 could beat pa plowing: and durPig the winter time 1 ran the engine at pa’s grist mill. When we moved »o town pa took up smokestack painting, and naturally I took a great interest In it and used to help b’m with the ropes. Then his foot was hurt and he couldn't climb tbs high stacks so wall, and bad to hire a man at $4 a day. "One day ths fellow dldn t show up and 1 persuaded pa that 1 could da it— and I did. That was bow I began. "In tbe last four days, 1 hava ©laar ed sl9 and* only worked about all hours a day at that.” Ths tallest stack she has painted towered 106 fast above tbe ground, and she want up and down It several times as she tainted long strips from top to bottom. Miss Plxley has painted most of the smokestacks la southern Indiana and In LouisvtUa, Ky., In the laal three years. Explaining her working garb. »ha said: “At first I used te wear bleesa ere. but that attracted. much at tention; why. there taad to be crowds standing around all ths time watching me! Bo I took to wearing a short skirt, but still men act like watoblng a smokestack bolng painted le the most Interesting thing on earth.” “Don't you get. frightened way up there In tbe alrf' "Oh. no; I get lots worse scared dodging automobiles down on the ! street. The only tlice 1 get the least bit nervous Is when the wind is high, for then my seat blows out from the :stack, and l.hate to be careful that I] am not blown the boldlug wlrea and cut” Mias Plxley Is 23; she has two big air cant lea; she wanta to paint the highest smokestack in America, and she hopes & certain young farmer In soirtheastem Colorado will hurry up and get hla homestead claim In good working shape. Detroit Womoa lllea t*i I'ktlatrlvhla. Word has been received In Detroit of | the death, Tuesday, In Philadelphia, of Mrs Ilium he Kaatluirn Hamilton, wlfa of Oeorge T. Hamilton, director of tha Detroit School of Design. Hha had been 111 u long time. Hnlati the husband, on* child, Dorothy. IVs years old. sur vives. Mr. Hamilton came to Datrolt recently from Philadelphia. Peralana hava a different name foe each day In the month.