diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/68943-0.txt | 1049 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/68943-0.zip | bin | 19241 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/68943-h.zip | bin | 534967 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/68943-h/68943-h.htm | 1158 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/68943-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 275103 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/68943-h/images/illus-001.jpg | bin | 262888 -> 0 bytes |
9 files changed, 17 insertions, 2207 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf 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..6b58a3a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68943 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68943) diff --git a/old/68943-0.txt b/old/68943-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 86bf467..0000000 --- a/old/68943-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1049 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The voice in the fog, by Henry -Leverage - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The voice in the fog - -Author: Henry Leverage - -Release Date: September 9, 2022 [eBook #68943] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOICE IN THE FOG *** - - - - - -The Voice in the Fog - -by Henry Leverage - - -The _Seriphus_ was a ten thousand ton, straight bow ocean tanker, and -her history was the common one of Clyde-built ships--a voyage here -and a passage there, charters by strange oil companies, petrol for -Brazil, crude petroleum that went to Asia (for anointment purposes -among the heathen) and once there was a hurried call to some -unpronounceable Aegean port where the _Seriphus_ acted against the -Turks in their flare-up after the Great War. - -The ordinary and usual--the up and down the trade routes--passed away -from the _Seriphus_ when Ezra Morgan, senior captain in the service -of William Henningay and Son, took over the tanker and drove her bow -into strange Eastern seas, loading with oil at California and -discharging cargo in a hundred unknown ports. - -Of Ezra Morgan it was said that he had the daring of a Norseman and -the thrift of a Maine Yankee; he worked the _Seriphus_ for everything -the tanker could give William Henningay and Son; he ranted against -the outlandish people of the Orient and traded with them, on the -side, for all that he could gain for his own personal benefit. - -Trading skippers and engineers with an inclination toward increasing -wage by rum-running and smuggling were common in the Eastern service. -Ezra Morgan’s rival in that direction aboard the _Seriphus_ ruled the -engine-room and took pride in declaring that every passage was a gold -mine for the skipper and himself. - -The chief engineer of the _Seriphus_ saw no glory in steam, save -dollars; he mopped up oil to save money. His name was Paul Richter--a -brutal-featured man given to boasting about his daughter, ashore, and -what a lady he was making of her. - -Paul Richter--whom Morgan hated and watched--was far too skilled in -anything pertaining to steam and its ramifications to be removed from -his position aboard the _Seriphus_. Henningay, Senior, believed in -opposing forces on his many tankers--it led to rivalry and -efficiency, instead of close-headedness and scheming against owners. - -The _Seriphus_, after a round passage to Laichau Bay, which is in the -Gulf of Pechili, returned to San Francisco and was dry-docked near -Oakland, for general overhauling. - -Richter, after making an exact and detailed report to Henningay, Jr., -visited the opera, banked certain money he had made on the -round-passage, then went south to his daughter’s home. He found -trouble in the house; Hylda, his daughter, had a heart affair with a -marine electrician, Gathright by name, a young man with a meager wage -and unbounded ambition. - -Through the Seven Seas, from the time of his Bavarian wife’s death, -from cancer of the breast, Richter, chief engineer of the _Seriphus_, -had sweated, slaved, saved and smuggled contraband from port in order -to say: - -“This is my daughter! _Look at her!_” - -Now, as Richter discovered, Hylda, twenty-seven years of age, -somewhat prim and musical, had given her promise to an electrician -whom the engineer believed was not fit to dust her shoes. Richter, -used to breaking and thrashing coolie oilers, ordered Gathright from -the house and locked up his daughter. - -She cried for seven days. Gathright was seen in town. Richter’s rage -gave way to an engineer’s calculation. - -“What for I study in University and college? Why do I hold -certificates? I fix Gathright!” - -No oil was smoother than Richter’s well-laid plan; he sent Hylda away -and met Gathright. - -“All right about my daughter,” he told the electrician. “You go one -voyage with me--we’ll see Henningay--I’ll fix you up so that you can -draw one hundred and fifty dollars in wage, with a rating as -electrician aboard the _Seriphus_.” - -Gathright went with Richter to San Francisco. They recrossed the Bay, -without seeing Henningay, Jr., and, at dusk, climbed over the shoring -timbers and went aboard the _Seriphus_. Richter’s voice awoke echoes -in the deserted ship and dry-dock: - -“Come, I show you my dynamo and motors. We go to the boiler-room -first, where the pumps are.” - -The boiler-room, forward the engine-room of the tanker, was a place -of many snakelike pipes, valves, sea-plates and oily seepage from the -feedtanks. The _Seriphus_ was a converted oil-burner, having been -built before crude petroleum was used for steaming purposes. Three -double-end Scotch boilers made the steam that drove the tanker’s -triple-expansion engine. - -Richter knew the way down to the boiler-room, blindfolded. He struck -matches, however, to guide Gathright, and remarked that the newer -ships of Henningay’s fleet had a storage-battery reserve for lighting -purposes when the dynamo ceased running. - -Gathright, somewhat suspicious of Hylda’s father, took care to keep -two steps behind the chief-engineer. They reached and ducked under -the bulkhead beam where the door connected the engine-room with the -boiler-room. Richter found a flashlamp, snapped it on, swung its rays -around and about as if showing Gathright his new duties. - -“There’s a motor-driven feed-pump,” he said. “Something’s the matter -with the motor’s commutator. It sparks under load--can you fix it -up?” - -There was a professional challenge in the chief engineer’s voice; -Gathright forgot caution, got down on his knees, leaned toward the -motor and ran one finger over the commutator bars. They seemed -polished and free from carbon. - -Richter reversed his grip on the flashlamp, swung once, twice, and -smashed the battery-end of the lamp down on Gathright’s head, just -over the top of the electrician’s right ear. - -Gathright fell as if pole-axed and dropped with his hands twitching -on a metal plate. - -Striking a match, Richter surveyed the electrical engineer. - -“Good!” he grunted. “Now I put you where nobody’ll ever look--unless -I give the order.” - - * * * * * - -A stump of candle, stuck by wax to a feed-pipe, allowed Richter -illumination sufficient to work by. Swearing, sweating, listening -once, he fitted a spanner to bolt-heads on a man-plate in the spare -boiler and removed the stubborn bolts until the plate clanged at his -feet. - -Gathright was a slender man, easy to insert through the man-hole; -Richter had no trouble at all lifting the electrician and thrusting -him out of sight. - -It seemed to the engineer, as he hesitated, that Hylda’s lover moaned -once and filled the boiler with a hollow sound. - -Hesitation passed; and Richter swallowed his superstitious fears, put -back the man-hole plate, bolted it tighter than it ever was before, -almost stripping the threads, and stepped back, mopping his brow with -the sleeve of a shore-coat. - -There was nothing very unusual in Richter’s further actions that -evening. The ship-keeper, who came aboard at daylight, long before -the dry-dock men began work, noticed a wet shore-hose, a thin plume -of steam aft the tanker’s squat funnel, and there was a trailing line -of smoke drifting aslant the _Seriphus’_ littered deck. - -“Been testing that spare boiler,” explained Richter, when the -ship-keeper ducked through the bulkhead door. “I think it’s tight an’ -unsealed, but th’ starboard one will need new tubes and general -cleaning. Get me some soap--I want to wash up.” - -Richter dried his hands on a towel, tossed it toward the motor-driven -feedpump, then, when he left the boiler-room, his glance ranged from -the tightly-bolted man-hole cover up to a gauge on a steam-pipe. The -gauge read seventy-pounds--sufficient to parboil a heavier man than -Hylda’s lover. - -“I think that was a good job,” concluded the first engineer of the -_Seriphus_. - -The second engineer of the tanker, a Scot with a burr on his voice -like a file rasping the edge of a plate, stood watching Richter -balance himself as the stout chief came along a shoring-beam. - -“I mark ye ha’ steam up,” commented the Scotchman, when Richter -climbed over the dry dock’s walk. - -“Yes, in the spare boiler.” - -Mr. S. V. Fergerson tapped a pipe on his heel. - -“I made an inspection, myself, of that, not later than yesterday -forenoon. She was tight as a drum an’ free from scale. I left th’ -man-hole--” - -“Damn badly gasketed!” growled Richter. - -Ferguson started to explain something; but the chief was in a hurry -to get away from sight of the _Seriphus_. There was a memory on the -tanker that required a drink or two in order to bring forgetfulness. -Richter gave the Scot an order that admitted of no answering back. - -“Go aboard an’ blow off steam! That boiler’s all right!” - -A roar, when Richter strode past the dry-dock’s sheds, caused him to -wheel around and listen. Ferguson, according to orders, was blowing -off the steam from the spare boiler. - -Something, perhaps water or waste, clogged the pipe; and the escaping -vapor whistled; sputtered, and rose to a high piercing note that -sounded to the chief’s irritated nerves like the cry of a soul in -agony. The note died, resumed its piercing screeching. Richter’s arm -and hand shook when he mopped his brow and drew a wet sleeve down -with an angry motion. - -In fancy the noise that came from the _Seriphus’_ starboard side, -echoed and deflated by the hollow dock, was Gathright calling for -Hylda. Richter covered his ears and staggered away. - - * * * * * - -Ezra Morgan hastened such repairs as were required for making the -_Seriphus_ ready for sea; the tanker left the dry-dock, steamed out -the Golden Gate, and took aboard oil at a Southern California port. - -All tanks, a well-lashed deck load of eased lubricant--consigned to a -railroad in Manchuri--petroleum for the furnaces, brought the -_Seriphus_ down to the Plimsoll Mark; she drove from shore and -crossed the Pacific where, at three God-forsaken Eastern roadsteads, -she unloaded and made agents for the oil-purchasers happy with -shipments delivered on time. - -The romance of caravan routes, and pale kerosene lamps burning in -Tartar tents, escaped both Ezra Morgan and Richter; they went about -their business of changing American and English minted gold for -certain contrabands much wanted in the States. The chief engineer -favored gum-opium as a road to riches; Ezra dealt in liquors and -silks, uncut gems and rare laces. - -Fortunately for the chief engineer’s peace of mind, the spare, -double-end Scotch boiler was not used on the Russian voyage. -Gathright was forgotten and Hylda, safe in an eastern music school, -was not likely to take up with another objectionable lover. Richter, -relieved of a weight, went about the engine-room and boiler-room -humming a score of tunes, all set to purring dynamos, clanking pumps, -and musical crossheads. - -At mid-Paciflc, on a second voyage--this time to an oilless country, -if ever there were one, Mindanao--a frightened water-tender came -through the bulkhead door propelled by scalding steam, and there was -much to do aboard the _Seriphus_. The port boiler had blown out a -tube; the spare, midship boiler was filled with fresh water and the -oil-jets started. - -Richter, stripped to the waist, it being one hundred and seventeen -degrees hot on deck, drove his force to superhuman effort. Ezra -Morgan, seven hours after the accident, had the steam and speed he -ordered, in no uncertain tones, through the bridge speaking-tube. - -Fergerson, a quiet man always, had occasion, the next day, to enter -the chief’s cabin, where Richter sat writing a letter to Hylda, which -he expected to post via a homeward bound ship. Richter glared at the -second engineer. - -“That spare boiler--” began Fergerson. - -“What of it?” - -“Well, mon, it’s been foamin’ an’ a gauge-glass broke, an’ there’s -something wrong wi’ it.” - -“We can’t repair th’ port boiler until we reach Mindanao.” - -Fergerson turned to go. - -“Ye have m’ report,” he said acidly. “That boiler’s bewitched, or -somethin’.” - -“Go aft!” snarled Richter, who resumed writing his letter. - -He hesitated once, chewed on the end of the pen, tried to frame the -words he wanted to say to Hylda. Then he went on: - - “--expect to return to San Francisco within thirty-five days. - Keep up your music--forget Gathright--I’ll get you a good man, - with straight shoulders and a big fortune, when I come back and - have time to look around.” - -Richter succeeded in posting the letter, along with the Captain’s -mail, when the _Seriphus_ spoke a Government collier that afternoon -and sheered close enough to toss a package aboard. Ezra Morgan leaned -over the bridge-rail and eyed the smudge of smoke and plume of steam -that came from the tanker’s squat funnel. He called for Richter, who -climbed the bridge-ladder to the captain’s side. - -“We’re only logging nine, point five knots,” said Ezra Morgan. “Your -steam is low--it’s getting lower. What’s th’ matter? Saving oil?” - -“That spare boiler is foaming,” the chief explained. - -“Damn you and your spare boiler! What business had you leaving San -Francisco with a defective boiler? Your report to Mr. Henningay -stated that everything was all right in engine-room and boiler-room.” - -“Foam comes from soap or--something else in the water.” - -“Something else--” - -Richter got away from Ezra Morgan on a pretense of going below to the -boiler-room. Instead of going below, however, he went aft and leaned -over the taffrail. Somehow or other, he feared that spare boiler and -the consequence of conscience. - -Limping, with three-quarters of the necessary steam pressure, the -_Seriphus_ reached Mindanao and was forced to return to California -without repairs to the port boiler. While repairs, new tubes and -tube-sheet were put in place by boilersmiths, Richter saw his -daughter, who had come west from music school. - -The change in her was pronounced; she spoke not at all of Gathright, -whose disappearance she could not understand; and Richter, keen where -his daughter was concerned, realized that her thinness and -preoccupation was on account of the missing electrician. - -“I get you a fine fellow,” he promised Hylda. - -He brought several eligible marine engineers to the house. Hylda -snubbed them and cried in secret. - -An urgent telegram called Richter back to the _Seriphus_. He made two -long voyages, one down Chili-way, the other half around the world, -before the tanker’s bow was turned toward California. Much time had -elapsed from the night he had thrust Gathright into the spare boiler -and turned on the oil-jets beneath its many tubes. Once, in -Valparaiso, an under-engineer pointed out red rust leaking from the -gauge-glass of the spare boiler. - -“Looks like blood,” commented this engineer. - -Richter scoffed, but that afternoon he drank himself stupid on -kummel, obtained from an engineer’s club ashore. Another time, just -after the tanker left the port of Aden on her homebound passage, a -stowaway crawled out from beneath the cold boiler and gave Richter -the fright of his life. - -“Why, mon,” said Fergerson, who was present in the boiler-room, -“that’s only a poor wisp o’ an Arab.” - -“I thought it was a ghost,” blabbered Richter. - -Barometer pressure rose when the _Seriphus_ neared mid-Pacific. Ezra -Morgan predicted a typhoon before the tanker was on the longitude of -Guam. Long rollers came slicing across the _Seriphus’_ bow, drenched -the forecastle, filled the ventilators and flooded the boiler-room. - -Richter went below, braced himself in the rolling engine-room, -listened to his engines clanking their sturdy song, then waddled over -the gratings and ducked below the beam that marked the bulkhead door. -An oiler in high rubber boots lunged toward the chief engineer. - -“There’s something inside th’ spare boiler!” shouted the man. “Th’ -boiler-room crew won’t work, sir.” - -Richter waded toward a frightened group all of whom were staring at -the spare boiler. A hollow rattling sounded when the tanker heaved -and pitched--as if some one were knocking bony knuckles againt the -stubborn iron plates. - -“A loose bolt,” whispered Richter. “Keep th’ steam to th’ mark, or -I’ll wipe a Stillson across th’ backs of all of you,” he added in a -voice that they could hear and understand. - -Superstition, due to the menacing storm and high barometer, the -uncanny noises in the racked boiler-room, Richter’s bullying manner, -put fear in the hearts of the deck crew. Oil-pipes clogged, pumps -refused to work, valves stuck and could scarcely be moved. - -“I’ve noo doot,” Fergerson told his Chief, “there’s a ghost taken up -its abode wi’ us.” - -Richter drank quart after quart of trade-gin. - - * * * * * - -The barometer became unsteady, the sky hazy, the air melting hot, and -a low, rugged cloud bank appeared over the _Seriphus’_ port bow. - -Down fell the barometer, a half-inch, almost, and the avalanche of -rain and wind that struck the freighter was as if Thor was hammering -her iron plates. - -Ezra Morgan, unable to escape from the typhoon’s center, prepared to -ride out the storm by bringing the _Seriphus_ up until she had the -sea on the bow, and he had held her there by going half speed ahead. -A night of terror ruled the tanker; the decks were awash, stays -snapped, spume rose and dashed over the squat funnel aft the bridge. - -Morning, red-hued, with greenish patches, revealed a harrowed ocean, -waves of tidal height, and astern lay a battered hulk--a freighter, -dismasted, smashed, going down slowly by the bow. - -“A Japanese tramp,” said Ezra Morgan. “Some _Marau_ or other, out of -the Carolines bound for Yokohama.” - -Richter, stupid from trade-gin was on the bridge with the Yankee -skipper. - -“We can’t help her,” the engineer said heavily. “I think we got all -we can do to save ourselves.” - -Ezra Morgan entertained another opinion. The storm had somewhat -subsided, and the wind was lighter, but the waves were higher than -ever he had known them. They broke over the doomed freighter like -surf on a reef. - -“Yon’s a distress signal flying,” said Ezra Morgan. “There’s a few -seamen aft that look like drowned rats. We’ll go before th’ sea--I’ll -put th’ sea abaft th’ beam, an we’ll outboard oil enough to lower a -small boat an’ take those men off that freighter.” - -The maneuver was executed, the screw turned slowly, oil was poured -through the waste-pipes and spread magically down the wind until the -freighter’s deck, from aft the forehouse, could be seen above the -waves. - -Over the patch of comparative calm oars dipped, and a mate, in charge -of the small boat lowered from the _Seriphus_, succeeded in getting -off the survivors who were clinging to the freighter’s taffrail. - -The small boat lived in a sea that had foundered big ships. It -returned to the tanker’s bow; and the four men, bruised, broken, all -half-dead from immersion, were hoisted to the forepeak and taken aft. -Two were Japanese sailors and two were Americans--a wireless operator -and an engineer. The engineer had a broken leg which required -setting, and the wireless operator was in a bad fix; wreckage had -stove in his features, and twisted his limbs. - -Ezra Morgan was a rough and ready surgeon-doctor; he turned the -_Seriphus_ over to the first mate and made a sick room out of -Richter’s cabin. The chief protested. - -“Get below to your damn steam!” roared Ezra Morgan. “You hated to see -me bring aboard these poor seamen; you said I wasted fuel oil; your -breath smells like a gin-mill. Below with you, sir!” - -The engine-room and boiler-room of the tanker, she being in water -ballast, was not unlike an inferno; the first mate, acting on Ezra -Morgan’s instructions, drove the _Seriphus_ at three-quarter speed -into a series of head-on waves; the ship rolled and yawed, tossed, -settled down astern, then her screw raced in mingled foam and brine. - -Richter’s stomach belched gas; he became sea-sick, climbed into a -foul-smelling “ditty-box” of a cabin, aft the engine-room, and -attempted to sleep off the effect of the gin. Picture-post-cards; -mostly of actresses, a glaring electric over the bunk, oil and water -swishing the metal deck below, and the irritating clank of -irregular-running engines drove sleep away from him. - -Fergerson, the silent second engineer, came into the “ditty-box” at -eight bells, or four o’clock. Fergerson’s thumb jerked forward. - -“I’ll have t’ use that spare boiler,” said he. - -“What’s th’ matter now?” - -“Feed-pipes clogged in starb’ard one, sir.” - -“Use it,” said Richter. - -Steam was gotten up on the spare, double-end Scotch boiler; the -starboard boiler was allowed to cool; Fergerson, despite the tanker’s -rolling motion, succeeded in satisfying Ezra Morgan by keeping up the -three-quarter speed set by the skipper. - -Richter sobered when the last of the trade-gin was gone; the -_Seriphus_ was between Guam and ’Frisco; the heavy seas encountered -were the afterkick of the simoon. - -Rolling drunkenly, from habit, the chief went on the bridge and asked -about getting back his comfortable cabin aft. Ezra Morgan gave him no -satisfaction. - -“Better stay near your boilers,” advised the captain. “Everything’s -gone to hell, sir, since you changed from kummel to gin!” - -“Are not th’ injured seamen well yet?” - -“Th’ wireless chap’s doing all right--but th’ engineer of that -Japanese freighter is hurt internally. You can’t have that cabin, -this side of San Francisco.” - -“What were two Americans doing in that cheap service?” - -Ezra Morgan glanced sharply at Richter. - -“Everybody isn’t money mad--like you. There’s many a good engineer, -and mate, too, in th’ Japanese Merchant Marine. Nippon can teach us a -thing or two--particularly about keeping Scotch boilers up to th’ -steaming point.” - -This cut direct sent Richter off the bridge; he encountered a -bandaged and goggled survivor of the freighter’s wreck at the head of -the engine-room ladder. The wireless operator, leaning on a crutch -whittled by a bo’sain, avoided Richter, who pushed him roughly aside -and descended the ladder, backward. - -White steam, lurid oaths, Scotch anathema from the direction of the -boiler-room, indicated more trouble. Fergerson came from forward and -bumped into Richter, so thick was the escaping vapor. - -“Out o’ my way, mon,” the second engineer started to say, then -clamped his teeth on his tongue. - -“What’s happened, now!” queried Richter. - -“It’s that wicked spare boiler--she’s aleak an’ foamin,’ an’ there’s -water in th’ fire-boxes.” - -Richter inclined his bullet shaped head; he heard steam hissing and -oilers cursing the day they had signed on the _Seriphus_. A blast -when a gasket gave way, hurtled scorched men between Richter and -Fergerson; a whine sounded from the direction of the boiler-room; the -whine rose to an unearthly roar: Richter saw a blanket of white vapor -floating about the engine’s cylinders. This vapor, to his muddled -fancy, seemed to contain the figure of a man wrapped in a winding -shroud. - -He clapped both hands over his eyes, hearing above the noise of -escaping steam a call so distinct it chilled his blood. - -“_Hylda!_” - - * * * * * - -Now there was that in the ghostly voice that brought Richter’s -gin-swollen brain to the realization of the thing he had done in -disposing of Gathright by bolting him in the spare boiler. - -No good luck had followed that action; Hylda was still disconsolate; -trade and smuggling was at a low ebb; there was talk, aboard and -ashore, of reducing engineers’ and skippers’ wage to the bone. - -Richter had a Teutonic stubbornness; Ezra Morgan had certainly turned -against his chief engineer; the thing to do was to lay the ghostly -voice, make what repairs were necessary in the boiler-room, and give -the tanker’s engines the steam they needed in order to make a quick -return passage to San Francisco and please the Henningays. - -An insane rage mastered Richter--the same red vision he had -experienced when he threw Gathright out of his daughter’s house. He -lowered his bullet head, brushed the curling vapors from his eyes, -and plunged through the bulkhead door, bringing up in scalding steam -before the after end of the midship, or spare boiler. - -Grotesquely loomed all three boilers. They resembled humped camels -kneeling in a narrow shed by some misty river. Steam in quantity came -hissing from the central camel; out of the furnace-doors, from a -feed-pipe’s packing, around a flange where the gauge-glass was -riveted. - -The _Seriphus_ climbed a long Pacific roller, steadied, then rocked -in the trough between seas; iron plates, gratings, flue-cleaners, -scrapers, clattered around Richter who felt the flesh on neck and -wrist rising into water blisters. - -No one had thought to close the globe-valve in the oil supply line, -or to extinguish the fires beneath the spare and leaking boiler. -Richter groped through a steam cloud, searching for the handwheel on -the pipe line. All the metal he touched was simmering hot. - -A breath of sea air came down a ventilator; Richter gulped this air -and tried to locate the globe-valve with the iron wheel. Vision -cleared, he saw the red and open mouth of the central camel--the -flannel-like flames and he heard, through toothed bars a voice -calling, “Hylda!” - -Fergerson and a water tender dragged their chief from the boiler room -by the heels; blistered, with the skin peeled from his features, -Richter’s eyes resembled hot coals in their madness. Blabbering -nonsense, the engineer gave one understandable order: - -“Put out th’ fire, draw th’ water, search inside th’ spare -boiler--there’s something there, damit!” - -Ezra Morgan came below, while the spare boiler was cooling, and -entered Richter’s temporary cabin--the “ditty-box” with the play -actresses’ pictures glued everywhere. Fergerson had applied rude -doctoring--gauze bandages soaked in petroleum--on face and arms. - -“What’s th’ matter, man?” asked Ezra Morgan. “Have you gone mad?” - -“I heard some one calling my daughter, Hylda.” - -“Where do you keep your gin?” - -“It’s gone! Th’ voice was there inside th’ spare boiler. Did -Fergerson look; did he find a skeleton, or--” - -Ezra Morgan pinched Richter’s left arm, jabbed home a hypodermic -containing morphine, and left the chief engineer to sleep out his -delusions. Fergerson came to the “ditty-box” some watches later. -Richter sat up. - -“What was in th’ spare boiler?” asked the chief. - -“Scale, soda, a soapy substance.” - -“Nothing else?” - -“Why, mon, that’s enough to make her foam.” - -Richter dropped back on the bunk and closed his lashless eyes. - -“Suppose a man, a stowaway, had crawled through th’ aft man-hole, an’ -died inside th’ boiler? Would that make it foam--make th’ soapy -substance?” - -“When could any stowaway do that?” - -Richter framed his answer craftily: “Say it was done when th’ -_Seriphus_ was at Oakland that time th’ boilers were repaired in -dry-dock.” - -Fergerson drew on his memory. “Th’ time, mon, ye went aboard an’ -tested th’ spare boiler? Th’ occasion when ye took th’ trouble to rig -up a shore-hose in order to fill th’ boiler wi’ water?” - -“Yes.” - -“Did ye ha’ a man-hole plate off th’ boiler?” - -“I removed th’ after-end plate, then went for th’ hose. We had no -steam up, you remember, and our feed-pumps are motor-driven.” - -“Ye think a mon might ha’ crawled through to th’ boiler during your -absence?” - -“Yes!” - -“Ye may b’ right--but if one did he could ha’ escaped by th’ fore -man-hole plate. I had that off, an’ wondered who put it back again so -carelessly. Ye know th’ boiler is a double-ender--wi’ twa man-holes.” - -Richter was too numbed to show surprise. Fergerson left the -“ditty-box” and pulled shut the door. The tanker, under reduced -steam, made slow headway toward San Francisco. - -One morning, a day out from soundings, the chief engineer awoke, felt -around in the gloom, and attempted to switch on the electric light. - -He got up and threw his legs over the edge of the bunk. A man sat -leaning against the after plate. Richter blinked; the man, from the -goggles on him and the crutch that lay across his knees, was the -wireless operator who had been rescued from a sea grave. - -“No need for light,” said the visitor in a familiar voice. “You can -guess who I am, Richter.” - -“A ghost!” said the chief. “Gathright’s ghost! Come to haunt me!” - -“Not exactly to haunt you. I assure you I am living flesh--somewhat -twisted, but living. I got out of that midship boiler, while you were -bolting me in so securely. I waited until you went on deck for a -hose, and replaced the after man-hole cover. I was stunned and lay -hidden aboard for two days. Then I looked for Hylda. She was gone. I -shipped as electrician for a port in Japan. I knocked around a -bit--at radio work for the Japanese. It was chance that the -_Seriphus_ should have picked me up from the _Nippon Maru.”_ - -“That voice calling for Hylda,” cried Richter. - -“Was a little reminder that I sent through the boiler-room -ventilator; I knew you were down there, Richter.” - -The marine engineer switched on the electric light. - -“What do you want?” he whined to Gathright. - -“Hylda--your daughter!” - -Paul Richter covered his eyes. - -“If she will atone for the harm I have done you, Gathright, she is -yours with her father’s blessing.” - - -[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the June 1923 issue of -Weird Tales magazine.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOICE IN THE FOG *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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 an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. 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 -www.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 unprotected by copyright law 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 other than 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 in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (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 website -(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 the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager 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 -works not protected by U.S. copyright law 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 1.F.3. 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 MERCHANTABILITY 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 are 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 information page at -www.gutenberg.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. 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 business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread 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 www.gutenberg.org/donate - -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: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty 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 not protected by copyright 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 website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website 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/old/68943-0.zip b/old/68943-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 61f96d3..0000000 --- a/old/68943-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68943-h.zip b/old/68943-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a7022ef..0000000 --- a/old/68943-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68943-h/68943-h.htm b/old/68943-h/68943-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 2cc5ac3..0000000 --- a/old/68943-h/68943-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1158 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8" /> - <title>The Project Gutenberg Ebook of The Voice in the Fog, by Henry Leverage</title> - <link rel='icon' href='images/cover.jpg' type='image/x-cover' /> - <style> - body { margin-left:8%;margin-right:8%; } - p { text-indent:1.15em; margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:0.1em; text-align:justify; } - .caption { text-indent:0; font-size: smaller; padding:0.5em 0; text-align:center; } - .figcenter { margin:1em auto; } - div.chapter { page-break-before:always; margin-bottom:2em; } - div.page { page-break-before:always; margin:4em auto; } - h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.2em; margin:2em auto 1em auto; } - .tn { font-size:0.9em; border:1px solid silver; margin-top:1.8em; - margin-left:8%; width:80%; padding:0.4em 2%; background-color: #DDDDEE; } - .tn p { text-indent:0; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The voice in the fog, by Henry Leverage</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The voice in the fog</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Henry Leverage</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 9, 2022 [eBook #68943]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOICE IN THE FOG ***</div> -<h1>The Voice in the Fog</h1> -<div style='text-align:center'>by Henry Leverage</div> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:50%; max-width:1565px'> - <img src='images/illus-001.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -</div> - -<p>The <i>Seriphus</i> was a ten thousand ton, straight bow ocean tanker, and -her history was the common one of Clyde-built ships—a voyage here and -a passage there, charters by strange oil companies, petrol for -Brazil, crude petroleum that went to Asia (for anointment purposes -among the heathen) and once there was a hurried call to some -unpronounceable Aegean port where the <i>Seriphus</i> acted against the -Turks in their flare-up after the Great War.</p> - -<p>The ordinary and usual—the up and down the trade routes—passed away -from the <i>Seriphus</i> when Ezra Morgan, senior captain in the service -of William Henningay and Son, took over the tanker and drove her bow -into strange Eastern seas, loading with oil at California and -discharging cargo in a hundred unknown ports.</p> - -<p>Of Ezra Morgan it was said that he had the daring of a Norseman and -the thrift of a Maine Yankee; he worked the <i>Seriphus</i> for everything -the tanker could give William Henningay and Son; he ranted against -the outlandish people of the Orient and traded with them, on the -side, for all that he could gain for his own personal benefit.</p> - -<p>Trading skippers and engineers with an inclination toward increasing -wage by rum-running and smuggling were common in the Eastern service. -Ezra Morgan’s rival in that direction aboard the <i>Seriphus</i> ruled the -engine-room and took pride in declaring that every passage was a gold -mine for the skipper and himself.</p> - -<p>The chief engineer of the <i>Seriphus</i> saw no glory in steam, save -dollars; he mopped up oil to save money. His name was Paul Richter—a -brutal-featured man given to boasting about his daughter, ashore, and -what a lady he was making of her.</p> - -<p>Paul Richter—whom Morgan hated and watched—was far too skilled in -anything pertaining to steam and its ramifications to be removed from -his position aboard the <i>Seriphus</i>. Henningay, Senior, believed in -opposing forces on his many tankers—it led to rivalry and efficiency, -instead of close-headedness and scheming against owners.</p> - -<p>The <i>Seriphus</i>, after a round passage to Laichau Bay, which is in the -Gulf of Pechili, returned to San Francisco and was dry-docked near -Oakland, for general overhauling.</p> - -<p>Richter, after making an exact and detailed report to Henningay, Jr., -visited the opera, banked certain money he had made on the -round-passage, then went south to his daughter’s home. He found -trouble in the house; Hylda, his daughter, had a heart affair with a -marine electrician, Gathright by name, a young man with a meager wage -and unbounded ambition.</p> - -<p>Through the Seven Seas, from the time of his Bavarian wife’s death, -from cancer of the breast, Richter, chief engineer of the <i>Seriphus</i>, -had sweated, slaved, saved and smuggled contraband from port in order -to say:</p> - -<p>“This is my daughter! <i>Look at her!</i>”</p> - -<p>Now, as Richter discovered, Hylda, twenty-seven years of age, -somewhat prim and musical, had given her promise to an electrician -whom the engineer believed was not fit to dust her shoes. Richter, -used to breaking and thrashing coolie oilers, ordered Gathright from -the house and locked up his daughter.</p> - -<p>She cried for seven days. Gathright was seen in town. Richter’s rage -gave way to an engineer’s calculation.</p> - -<p>“What for I study in University and college? Why do I hold -certificates? I fix Gathright!”</p> - -<p>No oil was smoother than Richter’s well-laid plan; he sent Hylda away -and met Gathright.</p> - -<p>“All right about my daughter,” he told the electrician. “You go one -voyage with me—we’ll see Henningay—I’ll fix you up so that you can -draw one hundred and fifty dollars in wage, with a rating as -electrician aboard the <i>Seriphus</i>.”</p> - -<p>Gathright went with Richter to San Francisco. They recrossed the Bay, -without seeing Henningay, Jr., and, at dusk, climbed over the shoring -timbers and went aboard the <i>Seriphus</i>. Richter’s voice awoke echoes -in the deserted ship and dry-dock:</p> - -<p>“Come, I show you my dynamo and motors. We go to the boiler-room -first, where the pumps are.”</p> - -<p>The boiler-room, forward the engine-room of the tanker, was a place -of many snakelike pipes, valves, sea-plates and oily seepage from the -feedtanks. The <i>Seriphus</i> was a converted oil-burner, having been -built before crude petroleum was used for steaming purposes. Three -double-end Scotch boilers made the steam that drove the tanker’s -triple-expansion engine.</p> - -<p>Richter knew the way down to the boiler-room, blindfolded. He struck -matches, however, to guide Gathright, and remarked that the newer -ships of Henningay’s fleet had a storage-battery reserve for lighting -purposes when the dynamo ceased running.</p> - -<p>Gathright, somewhat suspicious of Hylda’s father, took care to keep -two steps behind the chief-engineer. They reached and ducked under -the bulkhead beam where the door connected the engine-room with the -boiler-room. Richter found a flashlamp, snapped it on, swung its rays -around and about as if showing Gathright his new duties.</p> - -<p>“There’s a motor-driven feed-pump,” he said. “Something’s the matter -with the motor’s commutator. It sparks under load—can you fix it -up?”</p> - -<p>There was a professional challenge in the chief engineer’s voice; -Gathright forgot caution, got down on his knees, leaned toward the -motor and ran one finger over the commutator bars. They seemed -polished and free from carbon.</p> - -<p>Richter reversed his grip on the flashlamp, swung once, twice, and -smashed the battery-end of the lamp down on Gathright’s head, just -over the top of the electrician’s right ear.</p> - -<p>Gathright fell as if pole-axed and dropped with his hands twitching -on a metal plate.</p> - -<p>Striking a match, Richter surveyed the electrical engineer.</p> - -<p>“Good!” he grunted. “Now I put you where nobody’ll ever look—unless -I give the order.”</p> - -<hr style='border:none; color:inherit; margin-top:1em;' /> - -<p>A stump of candle, stuck by wax to a feed-pipe, allowed Richter -illumination sufficient to work by. Swearing, sweating, listening -once, he fitted a spanner to bolt-heads on a man-plate in the spare -boiler and removed the stubborn bolts until the plate clanged at his -feet.</p> - -<p>Gathright was a slender man, easy to insert through the man-hole; -Richter had no trouble at all lifting the electrician and thrusting -him out of sight.</p> - -<p>It seemed to the engineer, as he hesitated, that Hylda’s lover moaned -once and filled the boiler with a hollow sound.</p> - -<p>Hesitation passed; and Richter swallowed his superstitious fears, put -back the man-hole plate, bolted it tighter than it ever was before, -almost stripping the threads, and stepped back, mopping his brow with -the sleeve of a shore-coat.</p> - -<p>There was nothing very unusual in Richter’s further actions that -evening. The ship-keeper, who came aboard at daylight, long before -the dry-dock men began work, noticed a wet shore-hose, a thin plume -of steam aft the tanker’s squat funnel, and there was a trailing line -of smoke drifting aslant the <i>Seriphus’</i> littered deck.</p> - -<p>“Been testing that spare boiler,” explained Richter, when the -ship-keeper ducked through the bulkhead door. “I think it’s tight an’ -unsealed, but th’ starboard one will need new tubes and general -cleaning. Get me some soap—I want to wash up.”</p> - -<p>Richter dried his hands on a towel, tossed it toward the motor-driven -feedpump, then, when he left the boiler-room, his glance ranged from -the tightly-bolted man-hole cover up to a gauge on a steam-pipe. The -gauge read seventy-pounds—sufficient to parboil a heavier man than -Hylda’s lover.</p> - -<p>“I think that was a good job,” concluded the first engineer of the -<i>Seriphus</i>.</p> - -<p>The second engineer of the tanker, a Scot with a burr on his voice -like a file rasping the edge of a plate, stood watching Richter -balance himself as the stout chief came along a shoring-beam.</p> - -<p>“I mark ye ha’ steam up,” commented the Scotchman, when Richter -climbed over the dry dock’s walk.</p> - -<p>“Yes, in the spare boiler.”</p> - -<p>Mr. S. V. Fergerson tapped a pipe on his heel.</p> - -<p>“I made an inspection, myself, of that, not later than yesterday -forenoon. She was tight as a drum an’ free from scale. I left th’ -man-hole—”</p> - -<p>“Damn badly gasketed!” growled Richter.</p> - -<p>Ferguson started to explain something; but the chief was in a hurry -to get away from sight of the <i>Seriphus</i>. There was a memory on the -tanker that required a drink or two in order to bring forgetfulness. -Richter gave the Scot an order that admitted of no answering back.</p> - -<p>“Go aboard an’ blow off steam! That boiler’s all right!”</p> - -<p>A roar, when Richter strode past the dry-dock’s sheds, caused him to -wheel around and listen. Ferguson, according to orders, was blowing -off the steam from the spare boiler.</p> - -<p>Something, perhaps water or waste, clogged the pipe; and the escaping -vapor whistled; sputtered, and rose to a high piercing note that -sounded to the chief’s irritated nerves like the cry of a soul in -agony. The note died, resumed its piercing screeching. Richter’s arm -and hand shook when he mopped his brow and drew a wet sleeve down -with an angry motion.</p> - -<p>In fancy the noise that came from the <i>Seriphus’</i> starboard side, -echoed and deflated by the hollow dock, was Gathright calling for -Hylda. Richter covered his ears and staggered away.</p> - -<hr style='border:none; color:inherit; margin-top:1em;' /> - -<p>Ezra Morgan hastened such repairs as were required for making the -<i>Seriphus</i> ready for sea; the tanker left the dry-dock, steamed out -the Golden Gate, and took aboard oil at a Southern California port.</p> - -<p>All tanks, a well-lashed deck load of eased lubricant—consigned to a -railroad in Manchuri—petroleum for the furnaces, brought the -<i>Seriphus</i> down to the Plimsoll Mark; she drove from shore and -crossed the Pacific where, at three God-forsaken Eastern roadsteads, -she unloaded and made agents for the oil-purchasers happy with -shipments delivered on time.</p> - -<p>The romance of caravan routes, and pale kerosene lamps burning in -Tartar tents, escaped both Ezra Morgan and Richter; they went about -their business of changing American and English minted gold for -certain contrabands much wanted in the States. The chief engineer -favored gum-opium as a road to riches; Ezra dealt in liquors and -silks, uncut gems and rare laces.</p> - -<p>Fortunately for the chief engineer’s peace of mind, the spare, -double-end Scotch boiler was not used on the Russian voyage. -Gathright was forgotten and Hylda, safe in an eastern music school, -was not likely to take up with another objectionable lover. Richter, -relieved of a weight, went about the engine-room and boiler-room -humming a score of tunes, all set to purring dynamos, clanking pumps, -and musical crossheads.</p> - -<p>At mid-Paciflc, on a second voyage—this time to an oilless country, -if ever there were one, Mindanao—a frightened water-tender came -through the bulkhead door propelled by scalding steam, and there was -much to do aboard the <i>Seriphus</i>. The port boiler had blown out a -tube; the spare, midship boiler was filled with fresh water and the -oil-jets started.</p> - -<p>Richter, stripped to the waist, it being one hundred and seventeen -degrees hot on deck, drove his force to superhuman effort. Ezra -Morgan, seven hours after the accident, had the steam and speed he -ordered, in no uncertain tones, through the bridge speaking-tube.</p> - -<p>Fergerson, a quiet man always, had occasion, the next day, to enter -the chief’s cabin, where Richter sat writing a letter to Hylda, which -he expected to post via a homeward bound ship. Richter glared at the -second engineer.</p> - -<p>“That spare boiler—” began Fergerson.</p> - -<p>“What of it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, mon, it’s been foamin’ an’ a gauge-glass broke, an’ there’s -something wrong wi’ it.”</p> - -<p>“We can’t repair th’ port boiler until we reach Mindanao.”</p> - -<p>Fergerson turned to go.</p> - -<p>“Ye have m’ report,” he said acidly. “That boiler’s bewitched, or -somethin’.”</p> - -<p>“Go aft!” snarled Richter, who resumed writing his letter.</p> - -<p>He hesitated once, chewed on the end of the pen, tried to frame the -words he wanted to say to Hylda. Then he went on:</p> - -<p style='margin:0.5em 1em; font-style:italic;'>“—expect to return -to San Francisco within thirty-five days. Keep up your music—forget -Gathright—I’ll get you a good man, with straight shoulders and a big -fortune, when I come back and have time to look around.”</p> - -<p>Richter succeeded in posting the letter, along with the Captain’s -mail, when the <i>Seriphus</i> spoke a Government collier that afternoon -and sheered close enough to toss a package aboard. Ezra Morgan leaned -over the bridge-rail and eyed the smudge of smoke and plume of steam -that came from the tanker’s squat funnel. He called for Richter, who -climbed the bridge-ladder to the captain’s side.</p> - -<p>“We’re only logging nine, point five knots,” said Ezra Morgan. “Your -steam is low—it’s getting lower. What’s th’ matter? Saving oil?”</p> - -<p>“That spare boiler is foaming,” the chief explained.</p> - -<p>“Damn you and your spare boiler! What business had you leaving San -Francisco with a defective boiler? Your report to Mr. Henningay -stated that everything was all right in engine-room and boiler-room.”</p> - -<p>“Foam comes from soap or—something else in the water.”</p> - -<p>“Something else—”</p> - -<p>Richter got away from Ezra Morgan on a pretense of going below to the -boiler-room. Instead of going below, however, he went aft and leaned -over the taffrail. Somehow or other, he feared that spare boiler and -the consequence of conscience.</p> - -<p>Limping, with three-quarters of the necessary steam pressure, the -<i>Seriphus</i> reached Mindanao and was forced to return to California -without repairs to the port boiler. While repairs, new tubes and -tube-sheet were put in place by boilersmiths, Richter saw his -daughter, who had come west from music school.</p> - -<p>The change in her was pronounced; she spoke not at all of Gathright, -whose disappearance she could not understand; and Richter, keen where -his daughter was concerned, realized that her thinness and -preoccupation was on account of the missing electrician.</p> - -<p>“I get you a fine fellow,” he promised Hylda.</p> - -<p>He brought several eligible marine engineers to the house. Hylda -snubbed them and cried in secret.</p> - -<p>An urgent telegram called Richter back to the <i>Seriphus</i>. He made two -long voyages, one down Chili-way, the other half around the world, -before the tanker’s bow was turned toward California. Much time had -elapsed from the night he had thrust Gathright into the spare boiler -and turned on the oil-jets beneath its many tubes. Once, in -Valparaiso, an under-engineer pointed out red rust leaking from the -gauge-glass of the spare boiler.</p> - -<p>“Looks like blood,” commented this engineer.</p> - -<p>Richter scoffed, but that afternoon he drank himself stupid on -kummel, obtained from an engineer’s club ashore. Another time, just -after the tanker left the port of Aden on her homebound passage, a -stowaway crawled out from beneath the cold boiler and gave Richter -the fright of his life.</p> - -<p>“Why, mon,” said Fergerson, who was present in the boiler-room, -“that’s only a poor wisp o’ an Arab.”</p> - -<p>“I thought it was a ghost,” blabbered Richter.</p> - -<p>Barometer pressure rose when the <i>Seriphus</i> neared mid-Pacific. Ezra -Morgan predicted a typhoon before the tanker was on the longitude of -Guam. Long rollers came slicing across the <i>Seriphus’</i> bow, drenched -the forecastle, filled the ventilators and flooded the boiler-room.</p> - -<p>Richter went below, braced himself in the rolling engine-room, -listened to his engines clanking their sturdy song, then waddled over -the gratings and ducked below the beam that marked the bulkhead door. -An oiler in high rubber boots lunged toward the chief engineer.</p> - -<p>“There’s something inside th’ spare boiler!” shouted the man. -“Th’ boiler-room crew won’t work, sir.”</p> - -<p>Richter waded toward a frightened group all of whom were staring at -the spare boiler. A hollow rattling sounded when the tanker heaved -and pitched—as if some one were knocking bony knuckles againt the -stubborn iron plates.</p> - -<p>“A loose bolt,” whispered Richter. “Keep th’ steam to th’ mark, or -I’ll wipe a Stillson across th’ backs of all of you,” he added in a -voice that they could hear and understand.</p> - -<p>Superstition, due to the menacing storm and high barometer, the -uncanny noises in the racked boiler-room, Richter’s bullying manner, -put fear in the hearts of the deck crew. Oil-pipes clogged, pumps -refused to work, valves stuck and could scarcely be moved.</p> - -<p>“I’ve noo doot,” Fergerson told his Chief, “there’s a ghost taken up -its abode wi’ us.”</p> - -<p>Richter drank quart after quart of trade-gin.</p> - -<hr style='border:none; color:inherit; margin-top:1em;' /> - -<p>The barometer became unsteady, the sky hazy, the air melting hot, and -a low, rugged cloud bank appeared over the <i>Seriphus’</i> port bow.</p> - -<p>Down fell the barometer, a half-inch, almost, and the avalanche of -rain and wind that struck the freighter was as if Thor was hammering -her iron plates.</p> - -<p>Ezra Morgan, unable to escape from the typhoon’s center, prepared to -ride out the storm by bringing the <i>Seriphus</i> up until she had the -sea on the bow, and he had held her there by going half speed ahead. -A night of terror ruled the tanker; the decks were awash, stays -snapped, spume rose and dashed over the squat funnel aft the bridge.</p> - -<p>Morning, red-hued, with greenish patches, revealed a harrowed ocean, -waves of tidal height, and astern lay a battered hulk—a freighter, -dismasted, smashed, going down slowly by the bow.</p> - -<p>“A Japanese tramp,” said Ezra Morgan. “Some <i>Marau</i> or other, out of -the Carolines bound for Yokohama.”</p> - -<p>Richter, stupid from trade-gin was on the bridge with the Yankee -skipper.</p> - -<p>“We can’t help her,” the engineer said heavily. “I think we got all -we can do to save ourselves.”</p> - -<p>Ezra Morgan entertained another opinion. The storm had somewhat -subsided, and the wind was lighter, but the waves were higher than -ever he had known them. They broke over the doomed freighter like -surf on a reef.</p> - -<p>“Yon’s a distress signal flying,” said Ezra Morgan. “There’s a few -seamen aft that look like drowned rats. We’ll go before th’ sea—I’ll -put th’ sea abaft th’ beam, an we’ll outboard oil enough to lower a -small boat an’ take those men off that freighter.”</p> - -<p>The maneuver was executed, the screw turned slowly, oil was poured -through the waste-pipes and spread magically down the wind until the -freighter’s deck, from aft the forehouse, could be seen above the -waves.</p> - -<p>Over the patch of comparative calm oars dipped, and a mate, in charge -of the small boat lowered from the <i>Seriphus</i>, succeeded in getting -off the survivors who were clinging to the freighter’s taffrail.</p> - -<p>The small boat lived in a sea that had foundered big ships. It -returned to the tanker’s bow; and the four men, bruised, broken, all -half-dead from immersion, were hoisted to the forepeak and taken aft. -Two were Japanese sailors and two were Americans—a wireless operator -and an engineer. The engineer had a broken leg which required -setting, and the wireless operator was in a bad fix; wreckage had -stove in his features, and twisted his limbs.</p> - -<p>Ezra Morgan was a rough and ready surgeon-doctor; he turned the -<i>Seriphus</i> over to the first mate and made a sick room out of -Richter’s cabin. The chief protested.</p> - -<p>“Get below to your damn steam!” roared Ezra Morgan. “You hated to see -me bring aboard these poor seamen; you said I wasted fuel oil; your -breath smells like a gin-mill. Below with you, sir!”</p> - -<p>The engine-room and boiler-room of the tanker, she being in water -ballast, was not unlike an inferno; the first mate, acting on Ezra -Morgan’s instructions, drove the <i>Seriphus</i> at three-quarter speed -into a series of head-on waves; the ship rolled and yawed, tossed, -settled down astern, then her screw raced in mingled foam and brine.</p> - -<p>Richter’s stomach belched gas; he became sea-sick, climbed into a -foul-smelling “ditty-box” of a cabin, aft the engine-room, and -attempted to sleep off the effect of the gin. Picture-post-cards; -mostly of actresses, a glaring electric over the bunk, oil and water -swishing the metal deck below, and the irritating clank of -irregular-running engines drove sleep away from him.</p> - -<p>Fergerson, the silent second engineer, came into the “ditty-box” at -eight bells, or four o’clock. Fergerson’s thumb jerked forward.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have t’ use that spare boiler,” said he.</p> - -<p>“What’s th’ matter now?”</p> - -<p>“Feed-pipes clogged in starb’ard one, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Use it,” said Richter.</p> - -<p>Steam was gotten up on the spare, double-end Scotch boiler; the -starboard boiler was allowed to cool; Fergerson, despite the tanker’s -rolling motion, succeeded in satisfying Ezra Morgan by keeping up the -three-quarter speed set by the skipper.</p> - -<p>Richter sobered when the last of the trade-gin was gone; the -<i>Seriphus</i> was between Guam and ’Frisco; the heavy seas encountered -were the afterkick of the simoon.</p> - -<p>Rolling drunkenly, from habit, the chief went on the bridge and asked -about getting back his comfortable cabin aft. Ezra Morgan gave him no -satisfaction.</p> - -<p>“Better stay near your boilers,” advised the captain. “Everything’s -gone to hell, sir, since you changed from kummel to gin!”</p> - -<p>“Are not th’ injured seamen well yet?”</p> - -<p>“Th’ wireless chap’s doing all right—but th’ engineer of that -Japanese freighter is hurt internally. You can’t have that cabin, -this side of San Francisco.”</p> - -<p>“What were two Americans doing in that cheap service?”</p> - -<p>Ezra Morgan glanced sharply at Richter.</p> - -<p>“Everybody isn’t money mad—like you. There’s many a good engineer, -and mate, too, in th’ Japanese Merchant Marine. Nippon can teach us a -thing or two—particularly about keeping Scotch boilers up to th’ -steaming point.”</p> - -<p>This cut direct sent Richter off the bridge; he encountered a -bandaged and goggled survivor of the freighter’s wreck at the head of -the engine-room ladder. The wireless operator, leaning on a crutch -whittled by a bo’sain, avoided Richter, who pushed him roughly aside -and descended the ladder, backward.</p> - -<p>White steam, lurid oaths, Scotch anathema from the direction of the -boiler-room, indicated more trouble. Fergerson came from forward and -bumped into Richter, so thick was the escaping vapor.</p> - -<p>“Out o’ my way, mon,” the second engineer started to say, then -clamped his teeth on his tongue.</p> - -<p>“What’s happened, now!” queried Richter.</p> - -<p>“It’s that wicked spare boiler—she’s aleak an’ foamin,’ an’ there’s -water in th’ fire-boxes.”</p> - -<p>Richter inclined his bullet shaped head; he heard steam hissing and -oilers cursing the day they had signed on the <i>Seriphus</i>. A blast -when a gasket gave way, hurtled scorched men between Richter and -Fergerson; a whine sounded from the direction of the boiler-room; the -whine rose to an unearthly roar: Richter saw a blanket of white vapor -floating about the engine’s cylinders. This vapor, to his muddled -fancy, seemed to contain the figure of a man wrapped in a winding -shroud.</p> - -<p>He clapped both hands over his eyes, hearing above the noise of -escaping steam a call so distinct it chilled his blood.</p> - -<p>“<i>Hylda!</i>”</p> - -<hr style='border:none; color:inherit; margin-top:1em;' /> - -<p>Now there was that in the ghostly voice that brought Richter’s -gin-swollen brain to the realization of the thing he had done in -disposing of Gathright by bolting him in the spare boiler.</p> - -<p>No good luck had followed that action; Hylda was still disconsolate; -trade and smuggling was at a low ebb; there was talk, aboard and -ashore, of reducing engineers’ and skippers’ wage to the bone.</p> - -<p>Richter had a Teutonic stubbornness; Ezra Morgan had certainly turned -against his chief engineer; the thing to do was to lay the ghostly -voice, make what repairs were necessary in the boiler-room, and give -the tanker’s engines the steam they needed in order to make a quick -return passage to San Francisco and please the Henningays.</p> - -<p>An insane rage mastered Richter—the same red vision he had -experienced when he threw Gathright out of his daughter’s house. He -lowered his bullet head, brushed the curling vapors from his eyes, -and plunged through the bulkhead door, bringing up in scalding steam -before the after end of the midship, or spare boiler.</p> - -<p>Grotesquely loomed all three boilers. They resembled humped camels -kneeling in a narrow shed by some misty river. Steam in quantity came -hissing from the central camel; out of the furnace-doors, from a -feed-pipe’s packing, around a flange where the gauge-glass was -riveted.</p> - -<p>The <i>Seriphus</i> climbed a long Pacific roller, steadied, then rocked -in the trough between seas; iron plates, gratings, flue-cleaners, -scrapers, clattered around Richter who felt the flesh on neck and -wrist rising into water blisters.</p> - -<p>No one had thought to close the globe-valve in the oil supply line, -or to extinguish the fires beneath the spare and leaking boiler. -Richter groped through a steam cloud, searching for the handwheel on -the pipe line. All the metal he touched was simmering hot.</p> - -<p>A breath of sea air came down a ventilator; Richter gulped this air -and tried to locate the globe-valve with the iron wheel. Vision -cleared, he saw the red and open mouth of the central camel—the -flannel-like flames and he heard, through toothed bars a voice -calling, “Hylda!”</p> - -<p>Fergerson and a water tender dragged their chief from the boiler room -by the heels; blistered, with the skin peeled from his features, -Richter’s eyes resembled hot coals in their madness. Blabbering -nonsense, the engineer gave one understandable order:</p> - -<p>“Put out th’ fire, draw th’ water, search inside th’ spare -boiler—there’s something there, damit!”</p> - -<p>Ezra Morgan came below, while the spare boiler was cooling, and -entered Richter’s temporary cabin—the “ditty-box” with the play -actresses’ pictures glued everywhere. Fergerson had applied rude -doctoring—gauze bandages soaked in petroleum—on face and arms.</p> - -<p>“What’s th’ matter, man?” asked Ezra Morgan. “Have you gone mad?”</p> - -<p>“I heard some one calling my daughter, Hylda.”</p> - -<p>“Where do you keep your gin?”</p> - -<p>“It’s gone! Th’ voice was there inside th’ spare boiler. Did -Fergerson look; did he find a skeleton, or—”</p> - -<p>Ezra Morgan pinched Richter’s left arm, jabbed home a hypodermic -containing morphine, and left the chief engineer to sleep out his -delusions. Fergerson came to the “ditty-box” some watches later. -Richter sat up.</p> - -<p>“What was in th’ spare boiler?” asked the chief.</p> - -<p>“Scale, soda, a soapy substance.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing else?”</p> - -<p>“Why, mon, that’s enough to make her foam.”</p> - -<p>Richter dropped back on the bunk and closed his lashless eyes.</p> - -<p>“Suppose a man, a stowaway, had crawled through th’ aft man-hole, an’ -died inside th’ boiler? Would that make it foam—make th’ soapy -substance?”</p> - -<p>“When could any stowaway do that?”</p> - -<p>Richter framed his answer craftily: “Say it was done when th’ -<i>Seriphus</i> was at Oakland that time th’ boilers were repaired in -dry-dock.”</p> - -<p>Fergerson drew on his memory. “Th’ time, mon, ye went aboard an’ -tested th’ spare boiler? Th’ occasion when ye took th’ trouble to rig -up a shore-hose in order to fill th’ boiler wi’ water?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Did ye ha’ a man-hole plate off th’ boiler?”</p> - -<p>“I removed th’ after-end plate, then went for th’ hose. We had no -steam up, you remember, and our feed-pumps are motor-driven.”</p> - -<p>“Ye think a mon might ha’ crawled through to th’ boiler during your -absence?”</p> - -<p>“Yes!”</p> - -<p>“Ye may b’ right—but if one did he could ha’ escaped by th’ fore -man-hole plate. I had that off, an’ wondered who put it back again so -carelessly. Ye know th’ boiler is a double-ender—wi’ twa man-holes.”</p> - -<p>Richter was too numbed to show surprise. Fergerson left the -“ditty-box” and pulled shut the door. The tanker, under reduced -steam, made slow headway toward San Francisco.</p> - -<p>One morning, a day out from soundings, the chief engineer awoke, felt -around in the gloom, and attempted to switch on the electric light.</p> - -<p>He got up and threw his legs over the edge of the bunk. A man sat -leaning against the after plate. Richter blinked; the man, from the -goggles on him and the crutch that lay across his knees, was the -wireless operator who had been rescued from a sea grave.</p> - -<p>“No need for light,” said the visitor in a familiar voice. “You can guess -who I am, Richter.”</p> - -<p>“A ghost!” said the chief. “Gathright’s ghost! Come to haunt me!”</p> - -<p>“Not exactly to haunt you. I assure you I am living flesh—somewhat -twisted, but living. I got out of that midship boiler, while you were -bolting me in so securely. I waited until you went on deck for a -hose, and replaced the after man-hole cover. I was stunned and lay -hidden aboard for two days. Then I looked for Hylda. She was gone. I -shipped as electrician for a port in Japan. I knocked around a -bit—at radio work for the Japanese. It was chance that the -<i>Seriphus</i> should have picked me up from the <i>Nippon Maru.”</i></p> - -<p>“That voice calling for Hylda,” cried Richter.</p> - -<p>“Was a little reminder that I sent through the boiler-room -ventilator; I knew you were down there, Richter.”</p> - -<p>The marine engineer switched on the electric light.</p> - -<p>“What do you want?” he whined to Gathright.</p> - -<p>“Hylda—your daughter!”</p> - -<p>Paul Richter covered his eyes.</p> - -<p>“If she will atone for the harm I have done you, Gathright, she is -yours with her father’s blessing.”</p> - -<div class="tn"> - Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in - the June 1923 issue of <em>Weird Tales</em> magazine. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOICE IN THE FOG ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div> -<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div> -<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ 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™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -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™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ 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™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law 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™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ 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™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ 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: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (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™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ 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™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(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™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ 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.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • 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™ - 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™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • 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. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ 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 1.F.3. 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -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™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ 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™ 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 information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -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. -</div> - -</div> -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/68943-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/68943-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f44e474..0000000 --- a/old/68943-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68943-h/images/illus-001.jpg b/old/68943-h/images/illus-001.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8e9e68c..0000000 --- a/old/68943-h/images/illus-001.jpg +++ /dev/null |
