diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702-0.txt | 1039 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 20192 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 118574 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702-h/23702-h.htm | 1277 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702-h/images/back-all-of-you.jpg | bin | 0 -> 50257 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702-h/images/hold-hard.jpg | bin | 0 -> 46626 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702.txt | 1038 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 23702.zip | bin | 0 -> 20087 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
11 files changed, 3370 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23702-0.txt b/23702-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..407117b --- /dev/null +++ b/23702-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1039 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A List To Starboard + 1909 + +Author: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Illustrator: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Release Date: December 3, 2007 [EBook #23702] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +A LIST TO STARBOARD + +By F. Hopkinson Smith + +1909 + + + + +I + +A short, square chunk of a man walked into a shipping office on the East +Side, and inquired for the Manager of the Line. He had kindly blue eyes, +a stub nose, and a mouth that shut to like a rat-trap, and stayed +shut. Under his chin hung a pair of half-moon whiskers which framed his +weather-beaten face as a spike collar frames a dog's. + +“You don't want to send this vessel to sea again,” blurted out the +chunk. “She ought to go to the dry-dock. Her boats haven't had a +brushful of paint for a year; her boilers are caked clear to her +top flues, and her pumps won't take care of her bilge water. Charter +something else and lay her up.” + +The Manager turned in his revolving chair and faced him. He was the +opposite of the Captain in weight, length, and thickness--a slim, +well-groomed, puffy-cheeked man of sixty with a pair of uncertain, badly +aimed eyes and a voice like the purr of a cat. + +“Oh, my dear Captain, you surely don't mean what you say. She is +perfectly seaworthy and sound. Just look at her inspection--” and he +passed him the certificate. + +“No--I don't want to see it! I know 'em by heart: it's a lie, whatever +it says. Give an inspector twenty dollars and he's stone blind.” + +The Manager laughed softly. He had handled too many rebellious captains +in his time; they all had a protest of some kind--it was either the +crew, or the grub, or the coal, or the way she was stowed. Then he added +softly, more as a joke than anything else: + +“Not afraid, are you, Captain?” + +A crack started from the left-hand corner of the Captain's mouth, +crossed a fissure in his face, stopped within half an inch of his stub +nose, and died out in a smile of derision. + +“What I'm afraid of is neither here nor there. There's cattle +aboard--that is, there will be by to-morrow night; and there's a lot of +passengers booked, some of 'em women and children. It isn't honest to +ship 'em and you know it! As to her boilers send for the Chief Engineer. +He'll tell you. You call it taking risks; I call it murder!” + +“And so I understand you refuse to obey the orders of the Board?--and +yet she's got to sail on the 16th if she sinks outside.” + +“When I refuse to obey the orders of the Board I'll tell the Board, not +you. And when I do tell 'em I'll tell 'em something else, and that is, +that this chartering of worn-out tramps, painting 'em up and putting 'em +into the Line, has got to stop, or there'll be trouble.” + +“But this will be her last trip, Captain. Then we'll overhaul her.” + +“I've heard that lie for a year. She'll run as long as they can insure +her and her cargo. As for the women and children, I suppose they don't +count--” and he turned on his heel and left the office. + +On the way out he met the Chief Engineer. + +“Do the best you can, Mike,” he said; “orders are we sail on the 16th.” + +***** + +On the fourth day out this conversation took place in the smoking-room +between a group of passengers. + +“Regular tub, this ship!” growled the Man-Who-Knew-It-All to the Bum +Actor. “Screw out of the water every souse she makes; lot of dirty +sailors skating over the decks instead of keeping below where they +belong; Chief Engineer loafing in the Captain's room every chance he +gets--there he goes now--and it's the second time since breakfast. And +the Captain is no better! And just look at the accommodations--three +stewards and a woman! What's that to look after thirty-five passengers? +Half the time I have to wait an hour to get something to eat--such as it +is. And my bunk wasn't made up yesterday until plumb night. That bunch +in the steerage must be having a hard time.” + +“We get all we pay for,” essayed the Travelling Man. “She ain't rigged +for cabin passengers, and the Captain don't want 'em. Didn't want +to take me--except our folks had a lot of stuff aboard. Had enough +passengers, he said.” + +“Well, he took the widow and her two kids”--continued the +Man-Who-Knew-It-All--“and they were the last to get aboard. Half the +time he's playing nurse instead of looking after his ship. Had 'em all +on the bridge yesterday.” + +“He _had_ to take 'em,” protested the Travelling Man. “She was put under +his charge by his owners--so one of the stewards told me.” + +“Oh!--_had to_, did he! Yes--I've been there before. No use +talking--this line's got to be investigated, and I'm going to do the +investigating as soon as I get ashore, and don't you forget it! What's +your opinion?” + +The Bum Actor made no reply. He had been cold and hungry too many days +and nights to find fault with anything. But for the generosity of a few +friends he would still be tramping the streets, sleeping where he could. +Three meals a day--four, if he wanted them--and a bed in a room all to +himself instead of being one in a row of ten, was heaven to him. What +the Captain, or the Engineer, or the crew, or anybody else did, was +of no moment, so he got back alive. As to the widow's children, he +had tried to pick up an acquaintance with them himself--especially +the boy--but she had taken them away when she saw how shabby were his +clothes. + +The Texas Cattle Agent now spoke up. He was a tall, raw-boned man, with +a red chin-whisker and red, weather-scorched face, whose clothing looked +as if it had been pulled out of shape in the effort to accommodate +itself to the spread of his shoulders and round of his thighs. His +trousers were tucked in his boots, the straps hanging loose. He +generally sat by himself in one corner of the cramped smoking-room, and +seldom took part in the conversation. The Bum Actor and he had exchanged +confidences the night before, and the Texan therefore felt justified in +answering in his friend's stead. + +“You're way off, friend,” he said to the Man-Who-Knew-It-All. “There +ain't nothin' the matter with the Line, nor the ship, nor the Captain. +This is my sixth trip aboard of her, and I know! They had a strike among +the stevedores the day we sailed, and then, too, we've got a scrub lot +of stokers below, and the Captain's got to handle 'em just so. That kind +gets ugly when anything happens. I had sixty head of cattle aboard here +on my last trip over, and some of 'em got loose in a storm, and there +was hell to pay with the crew till things got straightened out. I ain't +much on shootin' irons, but they came handy that time. I helped and I +know. Got a couple in my cabin now. Needn't tell me nothin' about the +Captain. He's all there when he's wanted, and it don't take him more'n a +minute, either, to get busy.” + +The door of the smoking-room opened and the object of his eulogy +strolled in. He was evidently just off the bridge, for the thrash of +the spray still glistened on his oilskins and on his gray, half-moon +whiskers. That his word was law aboard ship, and that he enforced it +in the fewest words possible, was evident in every line of his face +and every tone of his voice. If he deserved an overhauling it certainly +would not come from any one on board--least of all from Carhart--the +Man-Who-Knew-It-All. + +Loosening the thong that bound his so'wester to his chin, he slapped it +twice across a chair back, the water flying in every direction, and then +faced the room. + +“Mr. Bonner.” + +“Yes, sir,” answered the big-shouldered Texan, rising to his feet. + +“I'd like to see you for a minute,” and without another word the two men +left the room and made their way in silence down the wet deck to where +the Chief Engineer stood. + +“Mike, this is Mr. Bonner; you remember him, don't you? You can rely on +his carrying out any orders you give him. If you need another man let +him pick him out--” and he continued on to his cabin. + +Once there the Captain closed the door behind him, shutting out the +pound and swash of the sea; took from a rack over his bunk a roll of +charts, spread one on a table and with his head in his hands studied +it carefully. The door opened and the Chief Engineer again stood beside +him. The Captain raised his head. + +“Will Bonner serve?” he asked. + +“Yes, glad to, and he thinks he's got another man. He's what he calls +out his way a 'tenderfoot,' he says, but he's game and can be depended +on. Have you made up your mind where she'll cross?”--and he bent over +the chart. + +The Captain picked up a pair of compasses, balanced them for a moment in +his fingers, and with the precision of a seamstress threading a needle, +dropped the points astride a wavy line known as the steamer track. + +The engineer nodded: + +“That will give us about twenty-two hours leeway,” he said gravely, “if +we make twelve knots.” + +“Yes, if you make twelve knots: can you do it?” + +“I can't say; depends on that gang of shovellers and the way they +behave. They're a tough lot--jail-birds and tramps, most of 'em. If +they get ugly there ain't but one thing left; that, I suppose, you won't +object to.” + +The Captain paused for a moment in deep thought, glanced at the pin +prick in the chart, and said with a certain forceful meaning in his +voice: + +“No--not if there's no other way.” + +The Chief Engineer waited, as if for further reply, replaced his cap, +and stepped out into the wind. He had got what he came for, and he had +got it straight. + +With the closing of the door the Captain rolled up the chart, laid it +in its place among the others, readjusted the thong of his so'wester, +stopped for a moment before a photograph of his wife and child, looked +at it long and earnestly, and then mounted the stairs to the bridge. +With the exception that the line of his mouth had straightened and +the knots in his eyebrows tightened, he was, despite the smoking-room +critics, the same bluff, determined sea-dog who had defied the Manager +the week before. + + + + +II + +When Bonner, half an hour later, returned to the smoking-room (he, too, +had caught the splash of the sea, the spray drenching the rail), the Bum +Actor crossed over and took the seat beside him. The Texan was the only +passenger who had spoken to him since he came aboard, and he had already +begun to feel lonely. This time he started the conversation by brushing +the salt spray from the Agent's coat. + +“Got wet, didn't you? Too bad! Wait till I wipe it off,” and he dragged +a week-old handkerchief from his pocket. Then seeing that the Texan took +no notice of the attention, he added, “What did the Captain want?” + +The Texan did not reply. He was evidently absorbed in something outside +his immediate surroundings, for he continued to sit with bent back, his +elbows on his knees, his eyes on the floor. + +Again the question was repeated: + +“What did the Captain want? Nothing the matter, is there?” Fear had +always been his master--fear of poverty mostly--and it was poverty in +the worst form to others if he failed to get home. This thought had +haunted him night and day. + +“Yes and no. Don't worry--it'll all come out right. You seem nervous.” + +“I am. I've been through a lot and have almost reached the end of my +rope. Have you got a wife at home?” The Texan shook his head. “Well, +if you had you'd understand better than I can tell you. I have, and a +three-year-old boy besides. I'd never have left them if I'd known. +I came over under contract for a six months' engagement and we were +stranded in Pittsburg and had hard work getting back to New York. Some +of them are there yet. All I want now is to get home--nothing else will +save them. Here's a letter from her I don't mind showing you--you can +see for yourself what I'm up against. The boy never was strong.” + +The big Texan read it through carefully, handed it back without a +comment or word of sympathy, and then, with a glance around him, as if +in fear of being overheard, asked: + +“Can you keep your nerve in a mix-up?” + +“Do you mean a fight?” queried the Actor. + +“Maybe.” + +“I don't like fights--never did.” Anything that would imperil his safe +return was to be avoided. + +“I neither--but sometimes you've got to. Are you handy with a gun?” + +“Why?” + +“Nothing--I'm only asking.” + +Carhart, the Man-Who-Knew-It-All, here lounged over from his seat by the +table and dropped into a chair beside them, cutting short his reply. The +Texan gave a significant look at the Actor, enforcing his silence, and +then buried his face in a newspaper a month old. + +Carhart spread his legs, tilted his head back on the chair, slanted his +stiff-brim hat until it made a thatch for his nose, and began one of his +customary growls: to the room--to the drenched port-holes--to the brim +of his hat; as a half-asleep dog sometimes does when things have gone +wrong with him--or he dreams they have. + +“This ship reminds me of another old tramp, the _Persia_,” he drawled. +“Same scrub crew and same cut of a Captain. Hadn't been for two of the +passengers and me, we'd never got anywhere. Had a fire in the lower hold +in a lot of turpentine, and when they put that out we found her cargo +had shifted and she was down by the head about six feet. Then the crew +made a rush for the boats and left us with only four leaky ones to go +a thousand miles. They'd taken 'em all, hadn't been for me and another +fellow who stood over them with a gun.” + +The Bum Actor raised his eyes. + +“What happened then?” he asked in a nervous voice. + +“Oh, we pitched in and righted things and got into port at last. But the +Captain was no good; he'd a-left with the crew if we'd let him.” + +“Is the shifting of a cargo a serious matter?” continued the Actor. +“This is my second crossing and I'm not much up on such things.” + +“Depends on the weather,” interpolated a passenger. + +“And on how she's stowed,” continued Car-hart. “I've been mistrusting +this ship ain't plumb on her keel. You can tell that from the way she +falls off after each wave strikes her. I have been out on deck looking +things over and she seems to me to be down by the stern more than she +ought.” + +“Maybe she'll be lighter when more coal gets out of her,” suggested +another passenger. + +“Yes, but she's listed some to starboard. I watched her awhile this +morning. She ain't loaded right, or she's loaded _wrong,-purpose_. That +occurs sometimes with a gang of striking stevedores.” + +The noon whistle blew and the talk ended with the setting of everybody's +watch, except the Bum Actor's, whose timepiece decorated a shop-window +in the Bowery. + +***** + +That night one of those uncomfortable rumors, started doubtless by +Carhart's talk, shivered through the ship, its vibrations even reaching +the widow lying awake in her cabin. This said that some hundreds of +barrels of turpentine had broken loose and were smashing everything +below. If any one of them rolled into the furnaces an explosion would +follow which would send them all to eternity. That this absurdity was +immediately denied by the purser, who asserted with some vehemence that +there was not a gallon of turpentine aboard, did not wholly allay the +excitement, nor did it stifle the nervous anxiety which had now taken +possession of the passengers. + +As the day wore on several additional rumors joined those already +extant. One was dropped in the ear of the Texan by the Bum Actor as the +two stood on the upper deck watching the sea, which was rapidly falling. + +“I got so worried I thought I'd go down into the engine room myself,” + he whispered. “I'm just back. Something's wrong down there, or I'm +mistaken. I wish you'd go and find out. I knew that turpentine yarn was +a lie, but I wanted to be sure, so I thought I'd ask one of the stokers +who had come up for a little air. He was about to answer me when the +Chief Engineer came down from the bridge, where he had been talking to +the Captain, and ordered the man below before he had time to fill his +lungs. I waited a little while, hoping he or some of the crew would +come up again, and then I went down the ladder myself. When I got to the +first landing I came bump up against the Chief Engineer. He was standing +in the gangway fooling with a revolver he had in his hand as if he'd +been cleaning it. 'I'll have to ask you to get back where you came +from,' he said. 'This ain't no place for passengers'--and up I came. +What do you think it means? I'd get ugly, too, if he kept me in that +heat and never let me get a whiff of air. I tell you, that's an awful +place down there. Suppose you go and take a look. Your knowing the +Captain might make some difference.” + +“Were any of the stokers around?” “No--none of them. I didn't see a soul +but the Chief Engineer, and I didn't see him more than a minute.” + +The big Texan moved closer to the rail and again scrutinized the +sky-line. He had kept this up all the morning, his eye searching +the horizon as he moved from one side of the ship to the other. The +inspection over, he slipped his arm through the Actor's and started him +down the deck toward the Cattle Agent's cabin. When the two emerged the +Texan's face still wore the look which had rested on it since the +time the Captain had called him from the smoking-room. The Actor's +countenance, however, had undergone a change. All his nervous timidity +was gone; his lips were tightly drawn, the line of the jaw more +determined. He looked like a man who had heard some news which had first +steadied and then solidified him. These changes often overtake men of +sensitive, highly strung natures. + +On the way back they encountered the Captain accompanied by the Chief +Engineer. The two were heading for the saloon, the bugle having sounded +for luncheon. As they passed by with their easy, swinging gait, the +passengers watched them closely. If there was danger in the air these +two officers, of all men, would know it. The Captain greeted the Texan +with a significant look, waited until the Actor had been presented, +looked the Texan's friend over from head to foot, and then with a nod to +several of the others halted opposite a steamer chair in which sat the +widow and her two children--one a baby and the other a boy of four--a +plump, hugable little fellow, every inch of whose surface invited a +caress. + +“Please stay a minute and let me talk to you, Captain,” the widow +pleaded. “I've been so worried. None of these stories are true, are +they? There can't be any danger or you would have told me--wouldn't +you?” + +The Captain laughed heartily, so heartily that even the Chief Engineer +looked at him in astonishment. “What stories do you hear, my dear lady?” + +“That the steamer isn't loaded properly?” + +Again the Captain laughed, this time under the curls of the chubby boy +whom he had caught in his arms and was kissing eagerly. + +“Not loaded right?” he puffed at last when he got his breath. “Well, +well, what a pity! That yarn, I guess, comes from some of the navigators +in the smoking-room. They generally run the ship. Here, you little +rascal, turn out your toes and dance a jig for me. No--no--not that +way--this way-r-out with them! Here, let me show you. One--two--off +we go. Now the pigeon wing and the double twist and the rat-tat-tat, +rat-tat-tat--that's the way, my lad!” + +He had the boy's hands now, the child shouting with laughter, the +overjoyed mother clapping her hands as the big burly Captain with his +face twice as red from the exercise, danced back and forth across the +deck, the passengers forming a ring about them. + +“There!” sputtered the Captain, all out of breath from the exercise, as +he dropped the child back into the widow's arms. “Now all of you come +down to luncheon. The weather is getting better every minute. The glass +is rising and we are going to have a fine night.” + +Carhart, who had watched the whole performance with an ill-concealed +sneer on his face, muttered to the man next him: + +“What did I tell you? He's a pretty kind of a Captain, ain't he? He's +mashed on the widow just as I told you. Smoking-room yarn, is it? I bet +I could pick out half a dozen men right in them chairs who could run +the ship as well as he does. Maybe we'll have to take charge, after +all--don't you think so, Mr. Bonner?” + +The Texan smiled grimly: “I'll let you do the picking, Mr. Carhart--” + and with his hand on the Actor's arm, the two went below. + +A counter-current now swept through the ship. If anything was really +the matter the Captain would not be dancing jigs, nor would he leave +the bridge for his meals. This, like all other counter-currents--wave or +otherwise--tossed up a bobble of dispute when the two clashed. There +was no doubt about it: Carhart had been “talking through his +hat”--“shooting off his mouth”--the man was “a gas bag,” etc., etc. When +appeal for confirmation was made to the Texan and the Actor, who now +seemed inseparable, neither made reply. They evidently did not care to +be mixed up in what Bonner characterized with a grim smile as “more hot +air.” + +All through the meal the Captain kept up his good-natured mood; chatting +with the widow who sat on his right, the baby in her lap; making a pig +of a lemon and some tooth-picks for the boy, who had crawled up into +his arms; exchanging nods and smiles down the length of the table with +several new arrivals, or congratulating those nearest to him on their +recovery after the storm, ending by carrying both boy and baby to the +upper deck--so that he might “not forget how to handle” his own when he +got back, he laughed in explanation. + + + + +III + +Luncheon over, the passengers, many of whom had been continuously in +their berths, began to crowd the decks. These soon discovered that the +ship was not on an even keel; a fact confirmed when attention was called +to the slant of the steamer chairs and the roll of an orange toward the +scuppers. Explanation was offered by the Texan, who argued that the +wind had hauled, and being then abeam had given her a list to starboard. +This, while not wholly satisfactory to the more experienced, allayed +the fears of the women--there were two or three on board beside the +widow--who welcomed the respite from the wrench and stagger of the +previous hours. + +Attention was now drawn by a nervous passenger to a gang of sailors +under the First Officer, who were at work overhauling the boats on the +forward deck, immediately under the eyes of the Captain who had returned +to the bridge, as well as to an approaching wall of fog which, while he +was speaking, had blanketed the ship, sending two of the boat gang on +a run to the bow. The fog-horn also blew continuously, almost without +intermission. Now and then it too would give three short, sharp snorts, +as if of warning. + +The passengers had now massed themselves in groups, some touch of +sympathy, or previous acquaintance, or trait of courage but recently +discovered, having drawn them together. Again the Captain passed down +the deck. This time he stopped to light a cigarette from a passenger's +cigar, remarking as he did so that it was “as thick as pea soup on the +bridge, but he thought it would lighten before morning.” Then halting +beside the chair of an old lady who had but recently appeared on deck, +he congratulated her on her recovery and kept on his way to the boats. + +The widow, however, was still anxious. + +“What are they doing with the boats?” she asked, her eyes following the +Captain's disappearing figure. + +“Only overhauling them, madam,” spoke up the Texan, who had stationed +himself near her chair. + +“But isn't that unusual!” she inquired in a tremulous voice. + +“No, madam, just precaution, and always a safe one in a fog. Collision +comes so quick sometimes they don't have time even to clear the davits.” + +“But the sailors are carrying up boxes and kegs and putting them in +the boats; what's that for?” broke in another passenger, who had been +leaning over the forward rail. + +“Grub and water, I guess,” returned the Texan. “It's a thousand miles to +the nearest land, and there ain't no bakery on the way that I know of. +Can't be too careful when there's women and babies aboard, especially +little fellows like these--” and he ran his hand through the boy's +curls. “The Captain don't take no chances. That's what I like him for.” + +Again the current of hope submerged the current of despair. The slant of +the deck, however, increased, although the wind had gone down; so +much so that the steamer chairs had to be lashed to the iron hand-hold +skirting the wall of the upper cabins. So had the fog, which was now so +dense that it hid completely the work of the boat gang. + +With the passing of the afternoon and the approach of night, thus +deepening the gloom, there was added another and a new anxiety to the +drone of the fog-horn. This was a Coston signal which flashed from the +bridge, flooding the deck with light and pencilling masts and rigging in +lines of fire. These flashes kept up at intervals of five minutes, the +colors changing from time to time. + +An indefinable fear now swept through the vessel. The doubters and +scoffers from the smoking-room who stood huddled together near the +forward companion-way talked in whispers. The slant of the deck they +argued might be due to a shift of the cargo--a situation serious, but +not dangerous--but why burn Costons? The only men who seemed to be +holding their own, and who were still calm and undisturbed, were the +Texan and the Actor. These, during the conference, had moved toward the +flight of steps leading to the bridge and had taken their positions near +the bottom step, but within reach of the widow's chair. Once the Actor +loosened his coat and slipped in his hand as if to be sure of something +he did not want to lose. + +While this was going on the Captain left the bridge in charge of the +Second Officer and descended to his cabin. Reaching over his bunk, he +unhooked the picture of his wife and child, tore it from its frame, +looked at it intently for a moment, and then, with a sigh, slid it into +an inside pocket. This done, he stripped off his wet storm coat, thrust +his arms into a close-fitting reefing jacket, unhooked a holster from +its place, dropped its contents into his outside pocket, and walked +slowly down the flight of steps to where the Texan and the Actor stood +waiting. + +Then, facing the passengers, and in the same tone of voice with which he +would have ordered a cup of coffee from a steward, he said: + +“My friends, I find it necessary to abandon the ship. There is time +enough and no necessity for crowding. The boats are provisioned for +thirty days. The women and children will go first: this order will be +literally carried out; those who disobey it will have to be dealt with +in another way. This, I hope, you will not make necessary. I will also +tell you that I believe we are still within the steamer zone, although +the fog and weather have prevented any observation. Do you stay here, +madam. I'll come for you when I am ready--” and he laid his hand +encouragingly on the widow's arm. + +With this he turned to the Texan and the Actor: + +“You understand, both of you, do you not, Mr. Bonner? You and your +friend will guard the aft companion-way, and help the Chief Engineer +take care of the stokers and the steerage. I and the First Officer will +fill the boats.” + +The beginning of a panic is like the beginning of a fire: first a curl +of smoke licking through a closed sash, then a rush of flame, and then a +roar freighted with death. Its subduing is along similar lines: A sharp +command clearing the way, concentrated effort, and courage. + +Here the curl of smoke was an agonized shriek from an elderly woman who +fell fainting on the deck; the rush of flame was a wild surge of men +hurling themselves toward the boats, and the roar which meant death was +the frenzied throng of begrimed half-naked stokers and crazed emigrants +who were wedged in a solid mass in the companion-way leading to the +upper deck. The subduing was the same. + +[Illustration: Back, all of you ] + +“Back, all of you!” shouted the Engineer. “The first man who passes +that door without my permission I'll kill! Five of you at a time--no +crowding--keep 'em in line, Mr. Bonner--you and your friend!” + +The Texan and the Bum Actor were within three feet of him as he +spoke--the Texan as cool as if he were keeping count of a drove of +steers, except that he tallied with the barrel of a six-shooter instead +of a note-book and pencil. The Bum Actor's face was deathly white and +his pistol hand trembled a little, but he did not flinch. He ranged the +lucky ones in line farther along, and kept them there. “Anything to +get home,” he had told the Texan when he had slipped Bonner's other +revolver, an hour before, into his pocket. + +On the saloon deck the flame of fear was still raging, although the +sailors and the three stewards were so many moving automatons under +the First Officer's orders. The widow, with her baby held tight to her +breast, had not moved from where the Captain had placed her, nor had +she uttered a moan. The crisis was too great for anything but implicit +obedience. The Captain had kept his word, and had told her when danger +threatened; she must now wait for what God had in store for her. The boy +stood by the First Officer; he had clapped his hands and laughed when he +saw the first boat swung clear of the davits. + +Carhart was the color of ashes and could hardly articulate. He had edged +up close to the gangway where the boats were to be filled. Twice he had +tried to wedge himself between the First Officer and the rail and twice +had been pushed back--the last time with a swing that landed him against +a pile of steamer chairs. + +All this time the fog-horn had kept up its monotonous din, the Costons +flaring at intervals. The stoppage of either would only have added to +the terror now partly allayed by the Captain's encouraging talk, which +was picked up and repeated all over the ship. + +The first boat was now ready for passengers. + +“This way, madam--you first--” the Captain said to the widow. “You must +go alone with the baby, and I--” + +He did not finish the sentence. Something had caught his ear--something +that made him lunge heavily toward the rail, his eyes searching the +gloom, his hand cupped to his ear. + +“Hold hard, men!” he cried. “Keep still-all of you!” + +[Illustration: Hold hard men ] + +Out of the stillness of the night came the moan of a distant fog-horn. +This was followed by a wild cheer from the men at the boat davits. At +the same instant a dim, far-away light cut its way through the black +void, burned for a moment, and disappeared like a dying star. + +Another cheer went up. This time the watch on the foretop and the men +astride the nose sent it whirling through the choke and damp with an +added note of joy. + +The Captain turned to the widow. + +“That's her--that's the _St. Louis!_ I've been hoping for her all day, +and didn't give up until the fog shut in.” + +“And we can stay here!” + +“No--we haven't a moment to lose. Our fires are nearly out now. We've +been in a sinking condition for forty-eight hours. We sprung a leak +where we couldn't get at it, and our pumps are clogged. + +“Stand aside, men! All ready, madam! No, you can't manage them +both--give me the boy,--I'll bring him in the last boat.” + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + +***** This file should be named 23702-0.txt or 23702-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/0/23702/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23702-0.zip b/23702-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6343fe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702-0.zip diff --git a/23702-h.zip b/23702-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f29d28 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702-h.zip diff --git a/23702-h/23702-h.htm b/23702-h/23702-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0b0c33 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702-h/23702-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1277 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A List to Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A List To Starboard + 1909 + +Author: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Illustrator: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Release Date: December 3, 2007 [EBook #23702] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + A LIST TO STARBOARD + </h1> + <h2> + By F. Hopkinson Smith <br /><br /> 1909 <br /><br /> + </h2> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="hold-hard (45K)" src="images/hold-hard.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + List of Illustrations + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0001"> Back, All of You </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Hold Hard Men </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + A short, square chunk of a man walked into a shipping office on the East + Side, and inquired for the Manager of the Line. He had kindly blue eyes, a + stub nose, and a mouth that shut to like a rat-trap, and stayed shut. + Under his chin hung a pair of half-moon whiskers which framed his + weather-beaten face as a spike collar frames a dog's. + </p> + <p> + “You don't want to send this vessel to sea again,” blurted out the chunk. + “She ought to go to the dry-dock. Her boats haven't had a brushful of + paint for a year; her boilers are caked clear to her top flues, and her + pumps won't take care of her bilge water. Charter something else and lay + her up.” + </p> + <p> + The Manager turned in his revolving chair and faced him. He was the + opposite of the Captain in weight, length, and thickness—a slim, + well-groomed, puffy-cheeked man of sixty with a pair of uncertain, badly + aimed eyes and a voice like the purr of a cat. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, my dear Captain, you surely don't mean what you say. She is perfectly + seaworthy and sound. Just look at her inspection—” and he passed him + the certificate. + </p> + <p> + “No—I don't want to see it! I know 'em by heart: it's a lie, + whatever it says. Give an inspector twenty dollars and he's stone blind.” + </p> + <p> + The Manager laughed softly. He had handled too many rebellious captains in + his time; they all had a protest of some kind—it was either the + crew, or the grub, or the coal, or the way she was stowed. Then he added + softly, more as a joke than anything else: + </p> + <p> + “Not afraid, are you, Captain?” + </p> + <p> + A crack started from the left-hand corner of the Captain's mouth, crossed + a fissure in his face, stopped within half an inch of his stub nose, and + died out in a smile of derision. + </p> + <p> + “What I'm afraid of is neither here nor there. There's cattle aboard—that + is, there will be by to-morrow night; and there's a lot of passengers + booked, some of 'em women and children. It isn't honest to ship 'em and + you know it! As to her boilers send for the Chief Engineer. He'll tell + you. You call it taking risks; I call it murder!” + </p> + <p> + “And so I understand you refuse to obey the orders of the Board?—and + yet she's got to sail on the 16th if she sinks outside.” + </p> + <p> + “When I refuse to obey the orders of the Board I'll tell the Board, not + you. And when I do tell 'em I'll tell 'em something else, and that is, + that this chartering of worn-out tramps, painting 'em up and putting 'em + into the Line, has got to stop, or there'll be trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “But this will be her last trip, Captain. Then we'll overhaul her.” + </p> + <p> + “I've heard that lie for a year. She'll run as long as they can insure her + and her cargo. As for the women and children, I suppose they don't count—” + and he turned on his heel and left the office. + </p> + <p> + On the way out he met the Chief Engineer. + </p> + <p> + “Do the best you can, Mike,” he said; “orders are we sail on the 16th.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + On the fourth day out this conversation took place in the smoking-room + between a group of passengers. + </p> + <p> + “Regular tub, this ship!” growled the Man-Who-Knew-It-All to the Bum + Actor. “Screw out of the water every souse she makes; lot of dirty sailors + skating over the decks instead of keeping below where they belong; Chief + Engineer loafing in the Captain's room every chance he gets—there he + goes now—and it's the second time since breakfast. And the Captain + is no better! And just look at the accommodations—three stewards and + a woman! What's that to look after thirty-five passengers? Half the time I + have to wait an hour to get something to eat—such as it is. And my + bunk wasn't made up yesterday until plumb night. That bunch in the + steerage must be having a hard time.” + </p> + <p> + “We get all we pay for,” essayed the Travelling Man. “She ain't rigged for + cabin passengers, and the Captain don't want 'em. Didn't want to take me—except + our folks had a lot of stuff aboard. Had enough passengers, he said.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he took the widow and her two kids”—continued the + Man-Who-Knew-It-All—“and they were the last to get aboard. Half the + time he's playing nurse instead of looking after his ship. Had 'em all on + the bridge yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “He <i>had</i> to take 'em,” protested the Travelling Man. “She was put + under his charge by his owners—so one of the stewards told me.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!—<i>had to</i>, did he! Yes—I've been there before. No use + talking—this line's got to be investigated, and I'm going to do the + investigating as soon as I get ashore, and don't you forget it! What's + your opinion?” + </p> + <p> + The Bum Actor made no reply. He had been cold and hungry too many days and + nights to find fault with anything. But for the generosity of a few + friends he would still be tramping the streets, sleeping where he could. + Three meals a day—four, if he wanted them—and a bed in a room + all to himself instead of being one in a row of ten, was heaven to him. + What the Captain, or the Engineer, or the crew, or anybody else did, was + of no moment, so he got back alive. As to the widow's children, he had + tried to pick up an acquaintance with them himself—especially the + boy—but she had taken them away when she saw how shabby were his + clothes. + </p> + <p> + The Texas Cattle Agent now spoke up. He was a tall, raw-boned man, with a + red chin-whisker and red, weather-scorched face, whose clothing looked as + if it had been pulled out of shape in the effort to accommodate itself to + the spread of his shoulders and round of his thighs. His trousers were + tucked in his boots, the straps hanging loose. He generally sat by himself + in one corner of the cramped smoking-room, and seldom took part in the + conversation. The Bum Actor and he had exchanged confidences the night + before, and the Texan therefore felt justified in answering in his + friend's stead. + </p> + <p> + “You're way off, friend,” he said to the Man-Who-Knew-It-All. “There ain't + nothin' the matter with the Line, nor the ship, nor the Captain. This is + my sixth trip aboard of her, and I know! They had a strike among the + stevedores the day we sailed, and then, too, we've got a scrub lot of + stokers below, and the Captain's got to handle 'em just so. That kind gets + ugly when anything happens. I had sixty head of cattle aboard here on my + last trip over, and some of 'em got loose in a storm, and there was hell + to pay with the crew till things got straightened out. I ain't much on + shootin' irons, but they came handy that time. I helped and I know. Got a + couple in my cabin now. Needn't tell me nothin' about the Captain. He's + all there when he's wanted, and it don't take him more'n a minute, either, + to get busy.” + </p> + <p> + The door of the smoking-room opened and the object of his eulogy strolled + in. He was evidently just off the bridge, for the thrash of the spray + still glistened on his oilskins and on his gray, half-moon whiskers. That + his word was law aboard ship, and that he enforced it in the fewest words + possible, was evident in every line of his face and every tone of his + voice. If he deserved an overhauling it certainly would not come from any + one on board—least of all from Carhart—the + Man-Who-Knew-It-All. + </p> + <p> + Loosening the thong that bound his so'wester to his chin, he slapped it + twice across a chair back, the water flying in every direction, and then + faced the room. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Bonner.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir,” answered the big-shouldered Texan, rising to his feet. + </p> + <p> + “I'd like to see you for a minute,” and without another word the two men + left the room and made their way in silence down the wet deck to where the + Chief Engineer stood. + </p> + <p> + “Mike, this is Mr. Bonner; you remember him, don't you? You can rely on + his carrying out any orders you give him. If you need another man let him + pick him out—” and he continued on to his cabin. + </p> + <p> + Once there the Captain closed the door behind him, shutting out the pound + and swash of the sea; took from a rack over his bunk a roll of charts, + spread one on a table and with his head in his hands studied it carefully. + The door opened and the Chief Engineer again stood beside him. The Captain + raised his head. + </p> + <p> + “Will Bonner serve?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, glad to, and he thinks he's got another man. He's what he calls out + his way a 'tenderfoot,' he says, but he's game and can be depended on. + Have you made up your mind where she'll cross?”—and he bent over the + chart. + </p> + <p> + The Captain picked up a pair of compasses, balanced them for a moment in + his fingers, and with the precision of a seamstress threading a needle, + dropped the points astride a wavy line known as the steamer track. + </p> + <p> + The engineer nodded: + </p> + <p> + “That will give us about twenty-two hours leeway,” he said gravely, “if we + make twelve knots.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, if you make twelve knots: can you do it?” + </p> + <p> + “I can't say; depends on that gang of shovellers and the way they behave. + They're a tough lot—jail-birds and tramps, most of 'em. If they get + ugly there ain't but one thing left; that, I suppose, you won't object + to.” + </p> + <p> + The Captain paused for a moment in deep thought, glanced at the pin prick + in the chart, and said with a certain forceful meaning in his voice: + </p> + <p> + “No—not if there's no other way.” + </p> + <p> + The Chief Engineer waited, as if for further reply, replaced his cap, and + stepped out into the wind. He had got what he came for, and he had got it + straight. + </p> + <p> + With the closing of the door the Captain rolled up the chart, laid it in + its place among the others, readjusted the thong of his so'wester, stopped + for a moment before a photograph of his wife and child, looked at it long + and earnestly, and then mounted the stairs to the bridge. With the + exception that the line of his mouth had straightened and the knots in his + eyebrows tightened, he was, despite the smoking-room critics, the same + bluff, determined sea-dog who had defied the Manager the week before. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + When Bonner, half an hour later, returned to the smoking-room (he, too, + had caught the splash of the sea, the spray drenching the rail), the Bum + Actor crossed over and took the seat beside him. The Texan was the only + passenger who had spoken to him since he came aboard, and he had already + begun to feel lonely. This time he started the conversation by brushing + the salt spray from the Agent's coat. + </p> + <p> + “Got wet, didn't you? Too bad! Wait till I wipe it off,” and he dragged a + week-old handkerchief from his pocket. Then seeing that the Texan took no + notice of the attention, he added, “What did the Captain want?” + </p> + <p> + The Texan did not reply. He was evidently absorbed in something outside + his immediate surroundings, for he continued to sit with bent back, his + elbows on his knees, his eyes on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Again the question was repeated: + </p> + <p> + “What did the Captain want? Nothing the matter, is there?” Fear had always + been his master—fear of poverty mostly—and it was poverty in + the worst form to others if he failed to get home. This thought had + haunted him night and day. + </p> + <p> + “Yes and no. Don't worry—it'll all come out right. You seem + nervous.” + </p> + <p> + “I am. I've been through a lot and have almost reached the end of my rope. + Have you got a wife at home?” The Texan shook his head. “Well, if you had + you'd understand better than I can tell you. I have, and a three-year-old + boy besides. I'd never have left them if I'd known. I came over under + contract for a six months' engagement and we were stranded in Pittsburg + and had hard work getting back to New York. Some of them are there yet. + All I want now is to get home—nothing else will save them. Here's a + letter from her I don't mind showing you—you can see for yourself + what I'm up against. The boy never was strong.” + </p> + <p> + The big Texan read it through carefully, handed it back without a comment + or word of sympathy, and then, with a glance around him, as if in fear of + being overheard, asked: + </p> + <p> + “Can you keep your nerve in a mix-up?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean a fight?” queried the Actor. + </p> + <p> + “Maybe.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't like fights—never did.” Anything that would imperil his + safe return was to be avoided. + </p> + <p> + “I neither—but sometimes you've got to. Are you handy with a gun?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing—I'm only asking.” + </p> + <p> + Carhart, the Man-Who-Knew-It-All, here lounged over from his seat by the + table and dropped into a chair beside them, cutting short his reply. The + Texan gave a significant look at the Actor, enforcing his silence, and + then buried his face in a newspaper a month old. + </p> + <p> + Carhart spread his legs, tilted his head back on the chair, slanted his + stiff-brim hat until it made a thatch for his nose, and began one of his + customary growls: to the room—to the drenched port-holes—to + the brim of his hat; as a half-asleep dog sometimes does when things have + gone wrong with him—or he dreams they have. + </p> + <p> + “This ship reminds me of another old tramp, the <i>Persia</i>,” he + drawled. “Same scrub crew and same cut of a Captain. Hadn't been for two + of the passengers and me, we'd never got anywhere. Had a fire in the lower + hold in a lot of turpentine, and when they put that out we found her cargo + had shifted and she was down by the head about six feet. Then the crew + made a rush for the boats and left us with only four leaky ones to go a + thousand miles. They'd taken 'em all, hadn't been for me and another + fellow who stood over them with a gun.” + </p> + <p> + The Bum Actor raised his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “What happened then?” he asked in a nervous voice. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we pitched in and righted things and got into port at last. But the + Captain was no good; he'd a-left with the crew if we'd let him.” + </p> + <p> + “Is the shifting of a cargo a serious matter?” continued the Actor. “This + is my second crossing and I'm not much up on such things.” + </p> + <p> + “Depends on the weather,” interpolated a passenger. + </p> + <p> + “And on how she's stowed,” continued Car-hart. “I've been mistrusting this + ship ain't plumb on her keel. You can tell that from the way she falls off + after each wave strikes her. I have been out on deck looking things over + and she seems to me to be down by the stern more than she ought.” + </p> + <p> + “Maybe she'll be lighter when more coal gets out of her,” suggested + another passenger. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but she's listed some to starboard. I watched her awhile this + morning. She ain't loaded right, or she's loaded <i>wrong,-purpose</i>. + That occurs sometimes with a gang of striking stevedores.” + </p> + <p> + The noon whistle blew and the talk ended with the setting of everybody's + watch, except the Bum Actor's, whose timepiece decorated a shop-window in + the Bowery. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + That night one of those uncomfortable rumors, started doubtless by + Carhart's talk, shivered through the ship, its vibrations even reaching + the widow lying awake in her cabin. This said that some hundreds of + barrels of turpentine had broken loose and were smashing everything below. + If any one of them rolled into the furnaces an explosion would follow + which would send them all to eternity. That this absurdity was immediately + denied by the purser, who asserted with some vehemence that there was not + a gallon of turpentine aboard, did not wholly allay the excitement, nor + did it stifle the nervous anxiety which had now taken possession of the + passengers. + </p> + <p> + As the day wore on several additional rumors joined those already extant. + One was dropped in the ear of the Texan by the Bum Actor as the two stood + on the upper deck watching the sea, which was rapidly falling. + </p> + <p> + “I got so worried I thought I'd go down into the engine room myself,” he + whispered. “I'm just back. Something's wrong down there, or I'm mistaken. + I wish you'd go and find out. I knew that turpentine yarn was a lie, but I + wanted to be sure, so I thought I'd ask one of the stokers who had come up + for a little air. He was about to answer me when the Chief Engineer came + down from the bridge, where he had been talking to the Captain, and + ordered the man below before he had time to fill his lungs. I waited a + little while, hoping he or some of the crew would come up again, and then + I went down the ladder myself. When I got to the first landing I came bump + up against the Chief Engineer. He was standing in the gangway fooling with + a revolver he had in his hand as if he'd been cleaning it. 'I'll have to + ask you to get back where you came from,' he said. 'This ain't no place + for passengers'—and up I came. What do you think it means? I'd get + ugly, too, if he kept me in that heat and never let me get a whiff of air. + I tell you, that's an awful place down there. Suppose you go and take a + look. Your knowing the Captain might make some difference.” + </p> + <p> + “Were any of the stokers around?” “No—none of them. I didn't see a + soul but the Chief Engineer, and I didn't see him more than a minute.” + </p> + <p> + The big Texan moved closer to the rail and again scrutinized the sky-line. + He had kept this up all the morning, his eye searching the horizon as he + moved from one side of the ship to the other. The inspection over, he + slipped his arm through the Actor's and started him down the deck toward + the Cattle Agent's cabin. When the two emerged the Texan's face still wore + the look which had rested on it since the time the Captain had called him + from the smoking-room. The Actor's countenance, however, had undergone a + change. All his nervous timidity was gone; his lips were tightly drawn, + the line of the jaw more determined. He looked like a man who had heard + some news which had first steadied and then solidified him. These changes + often overtake men of sensitive, highly strung natures. + </p> + <p> + On the way back they encountered the Captain accompanied by the Chief + Engineer. The two were heading for the saloon, the bugle having sounded + for luncheon. As they passed by with their easy, swinging gait, the + passengers watched them closely. If there was danger in the air these two + officers, of all men, would know it. The Captain greeted the Texan with a + significant look, waited until the Actor had been presented, looked the + Texan's friend over from head to foot, and then with a nod to several of + the others halted opposite a steamer chair in which sat the widow and her + two children—one a baby and the other a boy of four—a plump, + hugable little fellow, every inch of whose surface invited a caress. + </p> + <p> + “Please stay a minute and let me talk to you, Captain,” the widow pleaded. + “I've been so worried. None of these stories are true, are they? There + can't be any danger or you would have told me—wouldn't you?” + </p> + <p> + The Captain laughed heartily, so heartily that even the Chief Engineer + looked at him in astonishment. “What stories do you hear, my dear lady?” + </p> + <p> + “That the steamer isn't loaded properly?” + </p> + <p> + Again the Captain laughed, this time under the curls of the chubby boy + whom he had caught in his arms and was kissing eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Not loaded right?” he puffed at last when he got his breath. “Well, well, + what a pity! That yarn, I guess, comes from some of the navigators in the + smoking-room. They generally run the ship. Here, you little rascal, turn + out your toes and dance a jig for me. No—no—not that way—this + way-r-out with them! Here, let me show you. One—two—off we go. + Now the pigeon wing and the double twist and the rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat—that's + the way, my lad!” + </p> + <p> + He had the boy's hands now, the child shouting with laughter, the + overjoyed mother clapping her hands as the big burly Captain with his face + twice as red from the exercise, danced back and forth across the deck, the + passengers forming a ring about them. + </p> + <p> + “There!” sputtered the Captain, all out of breath from the exercise, as he + dropped the child back into the widow's arms. “Now all of you come down to + luncheon. The weather is getting better every minute. The glass is rising + and we are going to have a fine night.” + </p> + <p> + Carhart, who had watched the whole performance with an ill-concealed sneer + on his face, muttered to the man next him: + </p> + <p> + “What did I tell you? He's a pretty kind of a Captain, ain't he? He's + mashed on the widow just as I told you. Smoking-room yarn, is it? I bet I + could pick out half a dozen men right in them chairs who could run the + ship as well as he does. Maybe we'll have to take charge, after all—don't + you think so, Mr. Bonner?” + </p> + <p> + The Texan smiled grimly: “I'll let you do the picking, Mr. Carhart—” + and with his hand on the Actor's arm, the two went below. + </p> + <p> + A counter-current now swept through the ship. If anything was really the + matter the Captain would not be dancing jigs, nor would he leave the + bridge for his meals. This, like all other counter-currents—wave or + otherwise—tossed up a bobble of dispute when the two clashed. There + was no doubt about it: Carhart had been “talking through his hat”—“shooting + off his mouth”—the man was “a gas bag,” etc., etc. When appeal for + confirmation was made to the Texan and the Actor, who now seemed + inseparable, neither made reply. They evidently did not care to be mixed + up in what Bonner characterized with a grim smile as “more hot air.” + </p> + <p> + All through the meal the Captain kept up his good-natured mood; chatting + with the widow who sat on his right, the baby in her lap; making a pig of + a lemon and some tooth-picks for the boy, who had crawled up into his + arms; exchanging nods and smiles down the length of the table with several + new arrivals, or congratulating those nearest to him on their recovery + after the storm, ending by carrying both boy and baby to the upper deck—so + that he might “not forget how to handle” his own when he got back, he + laughed in explanation. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> + <p> + Luncheon over, the passengers, many of whom had been continuously in their + berths, began to crowd the decks. These soon discovered that the ship was + not on an even keel; a fact confirmed when attention was called to the + slant of the steamer chairs and the roll of an orange toward the scuppers. + Explanation was offered by the Texan, who argued that the wind had hauled, + and being then abeam had given her a list to starboard. This, while not + wholly satisfactory to the more experienced, allayed the fears of the + women—there were two or three on board beside the widow—who + welcomed the respite from the wrench and stagger of the previous hours. + </p> + <p> + Attention was now drawn by a nervous passenger to a gang of sailors under + the First Officer, who were at work overhauling the boats on the forward + deck, immediately under the eyes of the Captain who had returned to the + bridge, as well as to an approaching wall of fog which, while he was + speaking, had blanketed the ship, sending two of the boat gang on a run to + the bow. The fog-horn also blew continuously, almost without intermission. + Now and then it too would give three short, sharp snorts, as if of + warning. + </p> + <p> + The passengers had now massed themselves in groups, some touch of + sympathy, or previous acquaintance, or trait of courage but recently + discovered, having drawn them together. Again the Captain passed down the + deck. This time he stopped to light a cigarette from a passenger's cigar, + remarking as he did so that it was “as thick as pea soup on the bridge, + but he thought it would lighten before morning.” Then halting beside the + chair of an old lady who had but recently appeared on deck, he + congratulated her on her recovery and kept on his way to the boats. + </p> + <p> + The widow, however, was still anxious. + </p> + <p> + “What are they doing with the boats?” she asked, her eyes following the + Captain's disappearing figure. + </p> + <p> + “Only overhauling them, madam,” spoke up the Texan, who had stationed + himself near her chair. + </p> + <p> + “But isn't that unusual!” she inquired in a tremulous voice. + </p> + <p> + “No, madam, just precaution, and always a safe one in a fog. Collision + comes so quick sometimes they don't have time even to clear the davits.” + </p> + <p> + “But the sailors are carrying up boxes and kegs and putting them in the + boats; what's that for?” broke in another passenger, who had been leaning + over the forward rail. + </p> + <p> + “Grub and water, I guess,” returned the Texan. “It's a thousand miles to + the nearest land, and there ain't no bakery on the way that I know of. + Can't be too careful when there's women and babies aboard, especially + little fellows like these—” and he ran his hand through the boy's + curls. “The Captain don't take no chances. That's what I like him for.” + </p> + <p> + Again the current of hope submerged the current of despair. The slant of + the deck, however, increased, although the wind had gone down; so much so + that the steamer chairs had to be lashed to the iron hand-hold skirting + the wall of the upper cabins. So had the fog, which was now so dense that + it hid completely the work of the boat gang. + </p> + <p> + With the passing of the afternoon and the approach of night, thus + deepening the gloom, there was added another and a new anxiety to the + drone of the fog-horn. This was a Coston signal which flashed from the + bridge, flooding the deck with light and pencilling masts and rigging in + lines of fire. These flashes kept up at intervals of five minutes, the + colors changing from time to time. + </p> + <p> + An indefinable fear now swept through the vessel. The doubters and + scoffers from the smoking-room who stood huddled together near the forward + companion-way talked in whispers. The slant of the deck they argued might + be due to a shift of the cargo—a situation serious, but not + dangerous—but why burn Costons? The only men who seemed to be + holding their own, and who were still calm and undisturbed, were the Texan + and the Actor. These, during the conference, had moved toward the flight + of steps leading to the bridge and had taken their positions near the + bottom step, but within reach of the widow's chair. Once the Actor + loosened his coat and slipped in his hand as if to be sure of something he + did not want to lose. + </p> + <p> + While this was going on the Captain left the bridge in charge of the + Second Officer and descended to his cabin. Reaching over his bunk, he + unhooked the picture of his wife and child, tore it from its frame, looked + at it intently for a moment, and then, with a sigh, slid it into an inside + pocket. This done, he stripped off his wet storm coat, thrust his arms + into a close-fitting reefing jacket, unhooked a holster from its place, + dropped its contents into his outside pocket, and walked slowly down the + flight of steps to where the Texan and the Actor stood waiting. + </p> + <p> + Then, facing the passengers, and in the same tone of voice with which he + would have ordered a cup of coffee from a steward, he said: + </p> + <p> + “My friends, I find it necessary to abandon the ship. There is time enough + and no necessity for crowding. The boats are provisioned for thirty days. + The women and children will go first: this order will be literally carried + out; those who disobey it will have to be dealt with in another way. This, + I hope, you will not make necessary. I will also tell you that I believe + we are still within the steamer zone, although the fog and weather have + prevented any observation. Do you stay here, madam. I'll come for you when + I am ready—” and he laid his hand encouragingly on the widow's arm. + </p> + <p> + With this he turned to the Texan and the Actor: + </p> + <p> + “You understand, both of you, do you not, Mr. Bonner? You and your friend + will guard the aft companion-way, and help the Chief Engineer take care of + the stokers and the steerage. I and the First Officer will fill the + boats.” + </p> + <p> + The beginning of a panic is like the beginning of a fire: first a curl of + smoke licking through a closed sash, then a rush of flame, and then a roar + freighted with death. Its subduing is along similar lines: A sharp command + clearing the way, concentrated effort, and courage. + </p> + <p> + Here the curl of smoke was an agonized shriek from an elderly woman who + fell fainting on the deck; the rush of flame was a wild surge of men + hurling themselves toward the boats, and the roar which meant death was + the frenzied throng of begrimed half-naked stokers and crazed emigrants + who were wedged in a solid mass in the companion-way leading to the upper + deck. The subduing was the same. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/back-all-of-you.jpg" alt="Back, All of You " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + “Back, all of you!” shouted the Engineer. “The first man who passes that + door without my permission I'll kill! Five of you at a time—no + crowding—keep 'em in line, Mr. Bonner—you and your friend!” + </p> + <p> + The Texan and the Bum Actor were within three feet of him as he spoke—the + Texan as cool as if he were keeping count of a drove of steers, except + that he tallied with the barrel of a six-shooter instead of a note-book + and pencil. The Bum Actor's face was deathly white and his pistol hand + trembled a little, but he did not flinch. He ranged the lucky ones in line + farther along, and kept them there. “Anything to get home,” he had told + the Texan when he had slipped Bonner's other revolver, an hour before, + into his pocket. + </p> + <p> + On the saloon deck the flame of fear was still raging, although the + sailors and the three stewards were so many moving automatons under the + First Officer's orders. The widow, with her baby held tight to her breast, + had not moved from where the Captain had placed her, nor had she uttered a + moan. The crisis was too great for anything but implicit obedience. The + Captain had kept his word, and had told her when danger threatened; she + must now wait for what God had in store for her. The boy stood by the + First Officer; he had clapped his hands and laughed when he saw the first + boat swung clear of the davits. + </p> + <p> + Carhart was the color of ashes and could hardly articulate. He had edged + up close to the gangway where the boats were to be filled. Twice he had + tried to wedge himself between the First Officer and the rail and twice + had been pushed back—the last time with a swing that landed him + against a pile of steamer chairs. + </p> + <p> + All this time the fog-horn had kept up its monotonous din, the Costons + flaring at intervals. The stoppage of either would only have added to the + terror now partly allayed by the Captain's encouraging talk, which was + picked up and repeated all over the ship. + </p> + <p> + The first boat was now ready for passengers. + </p> + <p> + “This way, madam—you first—” the Captain said to the widow. + “You must go alone with the baby, and I—” + </p> + <p> + He did not finish the sentence. Something had caught his ear—something + that made him lunge heavily toward the rail, his eyes searching the gloom, + his hand cupped to his ear. + </p> + <p> + “Hold hard, men!” he cried. “Keep still-all of you!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/hold-hard.jpg" alt="Hold Hard Men " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Out of the stillness of the night came the moan of a distant fog-horn. + This was followed by a wild cheer from the men at the boat davits. At the + same instant a dim, far-away light cut its way through the black void, + burned for a moment, and disappeared like a dying star. + </p> + <p> + Another cheer went up. This time the watch on the foretop and the men + astride the nose sent it whirling through the choke and damp with an added + note of joy. + </p> + <p> + The Captain turned to the widow. + </p> + <p> + “That's her—that's the <i>St. Louis!</i> I've been hoping for her + all day, and didn't give up until the fog shut in.” + </p> + <p> + “And we can stay here!” + </p> + <p> + “No—we haven't a moment to lose. Our fires are nearly out now. We've + been in a sinking condition for forty-eight hours. We sprung a leak where + we couldn't get at it, and our pumps are clogged. + </p> + <p> + “Stand aside, men! All ready, madam! No, you can't manage them both—give + me the boy,—I'll bring him in the last boat.” + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + +***** This file should be named 23702-h.htm or 23702-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/0/23702/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/23702-h/images/back-all-of-you.jpg b/23702-h/images/back-all-of-you.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58ee306 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702-h/images/back-all-of-you.jpg diff --git a/23702-h/images/hold-hard.jpg b/23702-h/images/hold-hard.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7809f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702-h/images/hold-hard.jpg diff --git a/23702.txt b/23702.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cc4117 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1038 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A List To Starboard + 1909 + +Author: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Illustrator: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Release Date: December 3, 2007 [EBook #23702] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +A LIST TO STARBOARD + +By F. Hopkinson Smith + +1909 + + + + +I + +A short, square chunk of a man walked into a shipping office on the East +Side, and inquired for the Manager of the Line. He had kindly blue eyes, +a stub nose, and a mouth that shut to like a rat-trap, and stayed +shut. Under his chin hung a pair of half-moon whiskers which framed his +weather-beaten face as a spike collar frames a dog's. + +"You don't want to send this vessel to sea again," blurted out the +chunk. "She ought to go to the dry-dock. Her boats haven't had a +brushful of paint for a year; her boilers are caked clear to her +top flues, and her pumps won't take care of her bilge water. Charter +something else and lay her up." + +The Manager turned in his revolving chair and faced him. He was the +opposite of the Captain in weight, length, and thickness--a slim, +well-groomed, puffy-cheeked man of sixty with a pair of uncertain, badly +aimed eyes and a voice like the purr of a cat. + +"Oh, my dear Captain, you surely don't mean what you say. She is +perfectly seaworthy and sound. Just look at her inspection--" and he +passed him the certificate. + +"No--I don't want to see it! I know 'em by heart: it's a lie, whatever +it says. Give an inspector twenty dollars and he's stone blind." + +The Manager laughed softly. He had handled too many rebellious captains +in his time; they all had a protest of some kind--it was either the +crew, or the grub, or the coal, or the way she was stowed. Then he added +softly, more as a joke than anything else: + +"Not afraid, are you, Captain?" + +A crack started from the left-hand corner of the Captain's mouth, +crossed a fissure in his face, stopped within half an inch of his stub +nose, and died out in a smile of derision. + +"What I'm afraid of is neither here nor there. There's cattle +aboard--that is, there will be by to-morrow night; and there's a lot of +passengers booked, some of 'em women and children. It isn't honest to +ship 'em and you know it! As to her boilers send for the Chief Engineer. +He'll tell you. You call it taking risks; I call it murder!" + +"And so I understand you refuse to obey the orders of the Board?--and +yet she's got to sail on the 16th if she sinks outside." + +"When I refuse to obey the orders of the Board I'll tell the Board, not +you. And when I do tell 'em I'll tell 'em something else, and that is, +that this chartering of worn-out tramps, painting 'em up and putting 'em +into the Line, has got to stop, or there'll be trouble." + +"But this will be her last trip, Captain. Then we'll overhaul her." + +"I've heard that lie for a year. She'll run as long as they can insure +her and her cargo. As for the women and children, I suppose they don't +count--" and he turned on his heel and left the office. + +On the way out he met the Chief Engineer. + +"Do the best you can, Mike," he said; "orders are we sail on the 16th." + +***** + +On the fourth day out this conversation took place in the smoking-room +between a group of passengers. + +"Regular tub, this ship!" growled the Man-Who-Knew-It-All to the Bum +Actor. "Screw out of the water every souse she makes; lot of dirty +sailors skating over the decks instead of keeping below where they +belong; Chief Engineer loafing in the Captain's room every chance he +gets--there he goes now--and it's the second time since breakfast. And +the Captain is no better! And just look at the accommodations--three +stewards and a woman! What's that to look after thirty-five passengers? +Half the time I have to wait an hour to get something to eat--such as it +is. And my bunk wasn't made up yesterday until plumb night. That bunch +in the steerage must be having a hard time." + +"We get all we pay for," essayed the Travelling Man. "She ain't rigged +for cabin passengers, and the Captain don't want 'em. Didn't want +to take me--except our folks had a lot of stuff aboard. Had enough +passengers, he said." + +"Well, he took the widow and her two kids"--continued the +Man-Who-Knew-It-All--"and they were the last to get aboard. Half the +time he's playing nurse instead of looking after his ship. Had 'em all +on the bridge yesterday." + +"He _had_ to take 'em," protested the Travelling Man. "She was put under +his charge by his owners--so one of the stewards told me." + +"Oh!--_had to_, did he! Yes--I've been there before. No use +talking--this line's got to be investigated, and I'm going to do the +investigating as soon as I get ashore, and don't you forget it! What's +your opinion?" + +The Bum Actor made no reply. He had been cold and hungry too many days +and nights to find fault with anything. But for the generosity of a few +friends he would still be tramping the streets, sleeping where he could. +Three meals a day--four, if he wanted them--and a bed in a room all to +himself instead of being one in a row of ten, was heaven to him. What +the Captain, or the Engineer, or the crew, or anybody else did, was +of no moment, so he got back alive. As to the widow's children, he +had tried to pick up an acquaintance with them himself--especially +the boy--but she had taken them away when she saw how shabby were his +clothes. + +The Texas Cattle Agent now spoke up. He was a tall, raw-boned man, with +a red chin-whisker and red, weather-scorched face, whose clothing looked +as if it had been pulled out of shape in the effort to accommodate +itself to the spread of his shoulders and round of his thighs. His +trousers were tucked in his boots, the straps hanging loose. He +generally sat by himself in one corner of the cramped smoking-room, and +seldom took part in the conversation. The Bum Actor and he had exchanged +confidences the night before, and the Texan therefore felt justified in +answering in his friend's stead. + +"You're way off, friend," he said to the Man-Who-Knew-It-All. "There +ain't nothin' the matter with the Line, nor the ship, nor the Captain. +This is my sixth trip aboard of her, and I know! They had a strike among +the stevedores the day we sailed, and then, too, we've got a scrub lot +of stokers below, and the Captain's got to handle 'em just so. That kind +gets ugly when anything happens. I had sixty head of cattle aboard here +on my last trip over, and some of 'em got loose in a storm, and there +was hell to pay with the crew till things got straightened out. I ain't +much on shootin' irons, but they came handy that time. I helped and I +know. Got a couple in my cabin now. Needn't tell me nothin' about the +Captain. He's all there when he's wanted, and it don't take him more'n a +minute, either, to get busy." + +The door of the smoking-room opened and the object of his eulogy +strolled in. He was evidently just off the bridge, for the thrash of +the spray still glistened on his oilskins and on his gray, half-moon +whiskers. That his word was law aboard ship, and that he enforced it +in the fewest words possible, was evident in every line of his face +and every tone of his voice. If he deserved an overhauling it certainly +would not come from any one on board--least of all from Carhart--the +Man-Who-Knew-It-All. + +Loosening the thong that bound his so'wester to his chin, he slapped it +twice across a chair back, the water flying in every direction, and then +faced the room. + +"Mr. Bonner." + +"Yes, sir," answered the big-shouldered Texan, rising to his feet. + +"I'd like to see you for a minute," and without another word the two men +left the room and made their way in silence down the wet deck to where +the Chief Engineer stood. + +"Mike, this is Mr. Bonner; you remember him, don't you? You can rely on +his carrying out any orders you give him. If you need another man let +him pick him out--" and he continued on to his cabin. + +Once there the Captain closed the door behind him, shutting out the +pound and swash of the sea; took from a rack over his bunk a roll of +charts, spread one on a table and with his head in his hands studied +it carefully. The door opened and the Chief Engineer again stood beside +him. The Captain raised his head. + +"Will Bonner serve?" he asked. + +"Yes, glad to, and he thinks he's got another man. He's what he calls +out his way a 'tenderfoot,' he says, but he's game and can be depended +on. Have you made up your mind where she'll cross?"--and he bent over +the chart. + +The Captain picked up a pair of compasses, balanced them for a moment in +his fingers, and with the precision of a seamstress threading a needle, +dropped the points astride a wavy line known as the steamer track. + +The engineer nodded: + +"That will give us about twenty-two hours leeway," he said gravely, "if +we make twelve knots." + +"Yes, if you make twelve knots: can you do it?" + +"I can't say; depends on that gang of shovellers and the way they +behave. They're a tough lot--jail-birds and tramps, most of 'em. If +they get ugly there ain't but one thing left; that, I suppose, you won't +object to." + +The Captain paused for a moment in deep thought, glanced at the pin +prick in the chart, and said with a certain forceful meaning in his +voice: + +"No--not if there's no other way." + +The Chief Engineer waited, as if for further reply, replaced his cap, +and stepped out into the wind. He had got what he came for, and he had +got it straight. + +With the closing of the door the Captain rolled up the chart, laid it +in its place among the others, readjusted the thong of his so'wester, +stopped for a moment before a photograph of his wife and child, looked +at it long and earnestly, and then mounted the stairs to the bridge. +With the exception that the line of his mouth had straightened and +the knots in his eyebrows tightened, he was, despite the smoking-room +critics, the same bluff, determined sea-dog who had defied the Manager +the week before. + + + + +II + +When Bonner, half an hour later, returned to the smoking-room (he, too, +had caught the splash of the sea, the spray drenching the rail), the Bum +Actor crossed over and took the seat beside him. The Texan was the only +passenger who had spoken to him since he came aboard, and he had already +begun to feel lonely. This time he started the conversation by brushing +the salt spray from the Agent's coat. + +"Got wet, didn't you? Too bad! Wait till I wipe it off," and he dragged +a week-old handkerchief from his pocket. Then seeing that the Texan took +no notice of the attention, he added, "What did the Captain want?" + +The Texan did not reply. He was evidently absorbed in something outside +his immediate surroundings, for he continued to sit with bent back, his +elbows on his knees, his eyes on the floor. + +Again the question was repeated: + +"What did the Captain want? Nothing the matter, is there?" Fear had +always been his master--fear of poverty mostly--and it was poverty in +the worst form to others if he failed to get home. This thought had +haunted him night and day. + +"Yes and no. Don't worry--it'll all come out right. You seem nervous." + +"I am. I've been through a lot and have almost reached the end of my +rope. Have you got a wife at home?" The Texan shook his head. "Well, +if you had you'd understand better than I can tell you. I have, and a +three-year-old boy besides. I'd never have left them if I'd known. +I came over under contract for a six months' engagement and we were +stranded in Pittsburg and had hard work getting back to New York. Some +of them are there yet. All I want now is to get home--nothing else will +save them. Here's a letter from her I don't mind showing you--you can +see for yourself what I'm up against. The boy never was strong." + +The big Texan read it through carefully, handed it back without a +comment or word of sympathy, and then, with a glance around him, as if +in fear of being overheard, asked: + +"Can you keep your nerve in a mix-up?" + +"Do you mean a fight?" queried the Actor. + +"Maybe." + +"I don't like fights--never did." Anything that would imperil his safe +return was to be avoided. + +"I neither--but sometimes you've got to. Are you handy with a gun?" + +"Why?" + +"Nothing--I'm only asking." + +Carhart, the Man-Who-Knew-It-All, here lounged over from his seat by the +table and dropped into a chair beside them, cutting short his reply. The +Texan gave a significant look at the Actor, enforcing his silence, and +then buried his face in a newspaper a month old. + +Carhart spread his legs, tilted his head back on the chair, slanted his +stiff-brim hat until it made a thatch for his nose, and began one of his +customary growls: to the room--to the drenched port-holes--to the brim +of his hat; as a half-asleep dog sometimes does when things have gone +wrong with him--or he dreams they have. + +"This ship reminds me of another old tramp, the _Persia_," he drawled. +"Same scrub crew and same cut of a Captain. Hadn't been for two of the +passengers and me, we'd never got anywhere. Had a fire in the lower hold +in a lot of turpentine, and when they put that out we found her cargo +had shifted and she was down by the head about six feet. Then the crew +made a rush for the boats and left us with only four leaky ones to go +a thousand miles. They'd taken 'em all, hadn't been for me and another +fellow who stood over them with a gun." + +The Bum Actor raised his eyes. + +"What happened then?" he asked in a nervous voice. + +"Oh, we pitched in and righted things and got into port at last. But the +Captain was no good; he'd a-left with the crew if we'd let him." + +"Is the shifting of a cargo a serious matter?" continued the Actor. +"This is my second crossing and I'm not much up on such things." + +"Depends on the weather," interpolated a passenger. + +"And on how she's stowed," continued Car-hart. "I've been mistrusting +this ship ain't plumb on her keel. You can tell that from the way she +falls off after each wave strikes her. I have been out on deck looking +things over and she seems to me to be down by the stern more than she +ought." + +"Maybe she'll be lighter when more coal gets out of her," suggested +another passenger. + +"Yes, but she's listed some to starboard. I watched her awhile this +morning. She ain't loaded right, or she's loaded _wrong,-purpose_. That +occurs sometimes with a gang of striking stevedores." + +The noon whistle blew and the talk ended with the setting of everybody's +watch, except the Bum Actor's, whose timepiece decorated a shop-window +in the Bowery. + +***** + +That night one of those uncomfortable rumors, started doubtless by +Carhart's talk, shivered through the ship, its vibrations even reaching +the widow lying awake in her cabin. This said that some hundreds of +barrels of turpentine had broken loose and were smashing everything +below. If any one of them rolled into the furnaces an explosion would +follow which would send them all to eternity. That this absurdity was +immediately denied by the purser, who asserted with some vehemence that +there was not a gallon of turpentine aboard, did not wholly allay the +excitement, nor did it stifle the nervous anxiety which had now taken +possession of the passengers. + +As the day wore on several additional rumors joined those already +extant. One was dropped in the ear of the Texan by the Bum Actor as the +two stood on the upper deck watching the sea, which was rapidly falling. + +"I got so worried I thought I'd go down into the engine room myself," +he whispered. "I'm just back. Something's wrong down there, or I'm +mistaken. I wish you'd go and find out. I knew that turpentine yarn was +a lie, but I wanted to be sure, so I thought I'd ask one of the stokers +who had come up for a little air. He was about to answer me when the +Chief Engineer came down from the bridge, where he had been talking to +the Captain, and ordered the man below before he had time to fill his +lungs. I waited a little while, hoping he or some of the crew would +come up again, and then I went down the ladder myself. When I got to the +first landing I came bump up against the Chief Engineer. He was standing +in the gangway fooling with a revolver he had in his hand as if he'd +been cleaning it. 'I'll have to ask you to get back where you came +from,' he said. 'This ain't no place for passengers'--and up I came. +What do you think it means? I'd get ugly, too, if he kept me in that +heat and never let me get a whiff of air. I tell you, that's an awful +place down there. Suppose you go and take a look. Your knowing the +Captain might make some difference." + +"Were any of the stokers around?" "No--none of them. I didn't see a soul +but the Chief Engineer, and I didn't see him more than a minute." + +The big Texan moved closer to the rail and again scrutinized the +sky-line. He had kept this up all the morning, his eye searching +the horizon as he moved from one side of the ship to the other. The +inspection over, he slipped his arm through the Actor's and started him +down the deck toward the Cattle Agent's cabin. When the two emerged the +Texan's face still wore the look which had rested on it since the +time the Captain had called him from the smoking-room. The Actor's +countenance, however, had undergone a change. All his nervous timidity +was gone; his lips were tightly drawn, the line of the jaw more +determined. He looked like a man who had heard some news which had first +steadied and then solidified him. These changes often overtake men of +sensitive, highly strung natures. + +On the way back they encountered the Captain accompanied by the Chief +Engineer. The two were heading for the saloon, the bugle having sounded +for luncheon. As they passed by with their easy, swinging gait, the +passengers watched them closely. If there was danger in the air these +two officers, of all men, would know it. The Captain greeted the Texan +with a significant look, waited until the Actor had been presented, +looked the Texan's friend over from head to foot, and then with a nod to +several of the others halted opposite a steamer chair in which sat the +widow and her two children--one a baby and the other a boy of four--a +plump, hugable little fellow, every inch of whose surface invited a +caress. + +"Please stay a minute and let me talk to you, Captain," the widow +pleaded. "I've been so worried. None of these stories are true, are +they? There can't be any danger or you would have told me--wouldn't +you?" + +The Captain laughed heartily, so heartily that even the Chief Engineer +looked at him in astonishment. "What stories do you hear, my dear lady?" + +"That the steamer isn't loaded properly?" + +Again the Captain laughed, this time under the curls of the chubby boy +whom he had caught in his arms and was kissing eagerly. + +"Not loaded right?" he puffed at last when he got his breath. "Well, +well, what a pity! That yarn, I guess, comes from some of the navigators +in the smoking-room. They generally run the ship. Here, you little +rascal, turn out your toes and dance a jig for me. No--no--not that +way--this way-r-out with them! Here, let me show you. One--two--off +we go. Now the pigeon wing and the double twist and the rat-tat-tat, +rat-tat-tat--that's the way, my lad!" + +He had the boy's hands now, the child shouting with laughter, the +overjoyed mother clapping her hands as the big burly Captain with his +face twice as red from the exercise, danced back and forth across the +deck, the passengers forming a ring about them. + +"There!" sputtered the Captain, all out of breath from the exercise, as +he dropped the child back into the widow's arms. "Now all of you come +down to luncheon. The weather is getting better every minute. The glass +is rising and we are going to have a fine night." + +Carhart, who had watched the whole performance with an ill-concealed +sneer on his face, muttered to the man next him: + +"What did I tell you? He's a pretty kind of a Captain, ain't he? He's +mashed on the widow just as I told you. Smoking-room yarn, is it? I bet +I could pick out half a dozen men right in them chairs who could run +the ship as well as he does. Maybe we'll have to take charge, after +all--don't you think so, Mr. Bonner?" + +The Texan smiled grimly: "I'll let you do the picking, Mr. Carhart--" +and with his hand on the Actor's arm, the two went below. + +A counter-current now swept through the ship. If anything was really +the matter the Captain would not be dancing jigs, nor would he leave +the bridge for his meals. This, like all other counter-currents--wave or +otherwise--tossed up a bobble of dispute when the two clashed. There +was no doubt about it: Carhart had been "talking through his +hat"--"shooting off his mouth"--the man was "a gas bag," etc., etc. When +appeal for confirmation was made to the Texan and the Actor, who now +seemed inseparable, neither made reply. They evidently did not care to +be mixed up in what Bonner characterized with a grim smile as "more hot +air." + +All through the meal the Captain kept up his good-natured mood; chatting +with the widow who sat on his right, the baby in her lap; making a pig +of a lemon and some tooth-picks for the boy, who had crawled up into +his arms; exchanging nods and smiles down the length of the table with +several new arrivals, or congratulating those nearest to him on their +recovery after the storm, ending by carrying both boy and baby to the +upper deck--so that he might "not forget how to handle" his own when he +got back, he laughed in explanation. + + + + +III + +Luncheon over, the passengers, many of whom had been continuously in +their berths, began to crowd the decks. These soon discovered that the +ship was not on an even keel; a fact confirmed when attention was called +to the slant of the steamer chairs and the roll of an orange toward the +scuppers. Explanation was offered by the Texan, who argued that the +wind had hauled, and being then abeam had given her a list to starboard. +This, while not wholly satisfactory to the more experienced, allayed +the fears of the women--there were two or three on board beside the +widow--who welcomed the respite from the wrench and stagger of the +previous hours. + +Attention was now drawn by a nervous passenger to a gang of sailors +under the First Officer, who were at work overhauling the boats on the +forward deck, immediately under the eyes of the Captain who had returned +to the bridge, as well as to an approaching wall of fog which, while he +was speaking, had blanketed the ship, sending two of the boat gang on +a run to the bow. The fog-horn also blew continuously, almost without +intermission. Now and then it too would give three short, sharp snorts, +as if of warning. + +The passengers had now massed themselves in groups, some touch of +sympathy, or previous acquaintance, or trait of courage but recently +discovered, having drawn them together. Again the Captain passed down +the deck. This time he stopped to light a cigarette from a passenger's +cigar, remarking as he did so that it was "as thick as pea soup on the +bridge, but he thought it would lighten before morning." Then halting +beside the chair of an old lady who had but recently appeared on deck, +he congratulated her on her recovery and kept on his way to the boats. + +The widow, however, was still anxious. + +"What are they doing with the boats?" she asked, her eyes following the +Captain's disappearing figure. + +"Only overhauling them, madam," spoke up the Texan, who had stationed +himself near her chair. + +"But isn't that unusual!" she inquired in a tremulous voice. + +"No, madam, just precaution, and always a safe one in a fog. Collision +comes so quick sometimes they don't have time even to clear the davits." + +"But the sailors are carrying up boxes and kegs and putting them in +the boats; what's that for?" broke in another passenger, who had been +leaning over the forward rail. + +"Grub and water, I guess," returned the Texan. "It's a thousand miles to +the nearest land, and there ain't no bakery on the way that I know of. +Can't be too careful when there's women and babies aboard, especially +little fellows like these--" and he ran his hand through the boy's +curls. "The Captain don't take no chances. That's what I like him for." + +Again the current of hope submerged the current of despair. The slant of +the deck, however, increased, although the wind had gone down; so +much so that the steamer chairs had to be lashed to the iron hand-hold +skirting the wall of the upper cabins. So had the fog, which was now so +dense that it hid completely the work of the boat gang. + +With the passing of the afternoon and the approach of night, thus +deepening the gloom, there was added another and a new anxiety to the +drone of the fog-horn. This was a Coston signal which flashed from the +bridge, flooding the deck with light and pencilling masts and rigging in +lines of fire. These flashes kept up at intervals of five minutes, the +colors changing from time to time. + +An indefinable fear now swept through the vessel. The doubters and +scoffers from the smoking-room who stood huddled together near the +forward companion-way talked in whispers. The slant of the deck they +argued might be due to a shift of the cargo--a situation serious, but +not dangerous--but why burn Costons? The only men who seemed to be +holding their own, and who were still calm and undisturbed, were the +Texan and the Actor. These, during the conference, had moved toward the +flight of steps leading to the bridge and had taken their positions near +the bottom step, but within reach of the widow's chair. Once the Actor +loosened his coat and slipped in his hand as if to be sure of something +he did not want to lose. + +While this was going on the Captain left the bridge in charge of the +Second Officer and descended to his cabin. Reaching over his bunk, he +unhooked the picture of his wife and child, tore it from its frame, +looked at it intently for a moment, and then, with a sigh, slid it into +an inside pocket. This done, he stripped off his wet storm coat, thrust +his arms into a close-fitting reefing jacket, unhooked a holster from +its place, dropped its contents into his outside pocket, and walked +slowly down the flight of steps to where the Texan and the Actor stood +waiting. + +Then, facing the passengers, and in the same tone of voice with which he +would have ordered a cup of coffee from a steward, he said: + +"My friends, I find it necessary to abandon the ship. There is time +enough and no necessity for crowding. The boats are provisioned for +thirty days. The women and children will go first: this order will be +literally carried out; those who disobey it will have to be dealt with +in another way. This, I hope, you will not make necessary. I will also +tell you that I believe we are still within the steamer zone, although +the fog and weather have prevented any observation. Do you stay here, +madam. I'll come for you when I am ready--" and he laid his hand +encouragingly on the widow's arm. + +With this he turned to the Texan and the Actor: + +"You understand, both of you, do you not, Mr. Bonner? You and your +friend will guard the aft companion-way, and help the Chief Engineer +take care of the stokers and the steerage. I and the First Officer will +fill the boats." + +The beginning of a panic is like the beginning of a fire: first a curl +of smoke licking through a closed sash, then a rush of flame, and then a +roar freighted with death. Its subduing is along similar lines: A sharp +command clearing the way, concentrated effort, and courage. + +Here the curl of smoke was an agonized shriek from an elderly woman who +fell fainting on the deck; the rush of flame was a wild surge of men +hurling themselves toward the boats, and the roar which meant death was +the frenzied throng of begrimed half-naked stokers and crazed emigrants +who were wedged in a solid mass in the companion-way leading to the +upper deck. The subduing was the same. + +[Illustration: Back, all of you ] + +"Back, all of you!" shouted the Engineer. "The first man who passes +that door without my permission I'll kill! Five of you at a time--no +crowding--keep 'em in line, Mr. Bonner--you and your friend!" + +The Texan and the Bum Actor were within three feet of him as he +spoke--the Texan as cool as if he were keeping count of a drove of +steers, except that he tallied with the barrel of a six-shooter instead +of a note-book and pencil. The Bum Actor's face was deathly white and +his pistol hand trembled a little, but he did not flinch. He ranged the +lucky ones in line farther along, and kept them there. "Anything to +get home," he had told the Texan when he had slipped Bonner's other +revolver, an hour before, into his pocket. + +On the saloon deck the flame of fear was still raging, although the +sailors and the three stewards were so many moving automatons under +the First Officer's orders. The widow, with her baby held tight to her +breast, had not moved from where the Captain had placed her, nor had +she uttered a moan. The crisis was too great for anything but implicit +obedience. The Captain had kept his word, and had told her when danger +threatened; she must now wait for what God had in store for her. The boy +stood by the First Officer; he had clapped his hands and laughed when he +saw the first boat swung clear of the davits. + +Carhart was the color of ashes and could hardly articulate. He had edged +up close to the gangway where the boats were to be filled. Twice he had +tried to wedge himself between the First Officer and the rail and twice +had been pushed back--the last time with a swing that landed him against +a pile of steamer chairs. + +All this time the fog-horn had kept up its monotonous din, the Costons +flaring at intervals. The stoppage of either would only have added to +the terror now partly allayed by the Captain's encouraging talk, which +was picked up and repeated all over the ship. + +The first boat was now ready for passengers. + +"This way, madam--you first--" the Captain said to the widow. "You must +go alone with the baby, and I--" + +He did not finish the sentence. Something had caught his ear--something +that made him lunge heavily toward the rail, his eyes searching the +gloom, his hand cupped to his ear. + +"Hold hard, men!" he cried. "Keep still-all of you!" + +[Illustration: Hold hard men ] + +Out of the stillness of the night came the moan of a distant fog-horn. +This was followed by a wild cheer from the men at the boat davits. At +the same instant a dim, far-away light cut its way through the black +void, burned for a moment, and disappeared like a dying star. + +Another cheer went up. This time the watch on the foretop and the men +astride the nose sent it whirling through the choke and damp with an +added note of joy. + +The Captain turned to the widow. + +"That's her--that's the _St. Louis!_ I've been hoping for her all day, +and didn't give up until the fog shut in." + +"And we can stay here!" + +"No--we haven't a moment to lose. Our fires are nearly out now. We've +been in a sinking condition for forty-eight hours. We sprung a leak +where we couldn't get at it, and our pumps are clogged. + +"Stand aside, men! All ready, madam! No, you can't manage them +both--give me the boy,--I'll bring him in the last boat." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + +***** This file should be named 23702.txt or 23702.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/0/23702/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23702.zip b/23702.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9b46cb --- /dev/null +++ b/23702.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75ddc0c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #23702 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23702) |
