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i_ Aboard The C Crew of u Water-Logged SI By RALPI Tho Chilton Grange, a British tramp, lay at anchor in the harbor of New York. She was an uncouth, wail-siiled steamer of three thousand tons, with bridge and deckhouses rising like an island amidships, indistiguishable from a hunderd others of her kind that hardily roam the seas in search of trade. Captain Nelson Sackett sat at the desk in his mall cabin and tried to "write a letter to his wife. The task was not so pleasant as usual. His ?olid shoulders were hunched forward. the ruddy, interpid countenance was clouded, and he wiped a perspiring brow with his shirt sleeve after makiug several false starts with a sputtering pen. At length he managed to say what it sorely troubled htm to disclose, and then, with a readier mind, he wrote these closing words: You and I will laugh over this when I steam into the Mersey and you are waiting for me on the landing stage with the youngster holding fast to your hand. Bless him!?I that was a tine school report for an I eight-year-old that he sent me at Rio. I shall have some time to play I with him while the ship is in Lever-] jpool. I am loving you, Judith, the same as always, and I shall ever be Your fond and faithful husband. In haste to post the letter in the n \t, outbound mail, he sent a boat ashore with it, and went below to consult the chief engineer. When he returned to the deck, a small tug was making for the Chilton Clrange at top speed, frantically tlo.ciug its whistle to attract notice. As it foamed alongside Captain Saeketf saw standing in front of the wheelhouse a tall, smartly tailored young man with a pink and white complexion, unmistakably English, his smile frank and boyish. Flourishing his straw hat, the young man called up: "Not such an awful lot of time to (pare? what? They told me at the wharf that you had cleared for Liverpool. I should like to come aboard, if you please." He held a kit bag. and the two leather trunks in the how were obviously his property. The puzzled shipmaster bluntly replied: "You have chased the wrong vessel. Better have another try at it. Undismayed, the debonair young man calmly returned: "Not a bit of it. This is precise-j ly all right. The Chilton Grange is j what I want. Hoist this luggage, aboard, will you?" "Drunk or daffy," said Captain' fs'elson to his elderly first mate. "A '.person who mistakes us for a passenger boat has violent delusions." The voice of the young man Moated up to them in amiable expostulation : "I fancied you might, recognize me. Kvidently not. Stupid of me! I am Mr. Hayden Not-cross. you ( know. My father happens to own the Chilton Grange." Captain Sackett's mouth hung open while he stared down at the tug. Fhoades, the melancholy first mate, clung to the rail and forgot his er-1 rand. The seamen within earshot %cu -tied to the side to view the sensational stranger. "Yon are th?* son of Sir James Ttabh Norcross?" incredulously cried the skipper. "The only one there is, my dear nan. 1 ean't very well give you mv card until you let me aboard. I intend to sail with you. "You intend to sail with me? I: 'nn'l know about that. Of course if' you put it to me as an order; but?" The captain spoke slowly, his rather stolid features working with some hidden emotion. Crisply, with a touch of impatience, the heir of the great shipping house of Norcross exclaimed as he made for the side ladder: "Oh, I say, drop that nonsense! You and I will have to get on better than this. Please do as I tell you." With a shrug Captain Sackett ordered the trunks taken aboard, and noted that they bore the stenciled name of Hayden Norcross. Again engagingly affable, the young r tan remarked as be scrambled to the deck: 'It rather stumps you, I presume. I call it jolly good luck. It's the first time I ever booked myself in one of the governor's ships." Uncomfortable, reluctant, the captain strove to he courteous, and said as they walked forward: "I didn't mean to be short with you, sir; but I'm not at all anxious to carry you to England. It 1s not the sort of travel you are accustomed to, and?" "Oh. I shall have to learn the shipping business when I get home," | Tl ~" r Chilton Grange lip Mutinies in Mid-Ocean I D. PAINE laughed the other, "and this is a use-; , ful experience. I don't mind rough-' ing it." Captain Sackett's voice was unsteady as he asked: "How did the notion happen to seize you. Mr. Norcross?" "I have been globe-trotting (went out by way of Suez), having a look at the silly old world before putting my nose to the grindstone. Like a cheerful ass I neglected to reserve a room in a liner, and when I reached New York a few days ago ( every boat was jammed full?the summer rush of Americans. I was tired of lofing about, and by chance I spied a shipping item about the ( Chilton Grange?one of the Norcross freighters hv .tnve' .hmuxi tr> Liverpool in ballast. 'Here goes!' said I?and here I am." Hayden Narcross gazed about him as though well pleased with his choice of transportation. The decks were scrubbed white, the brasswork gleamed like gold, and the houses had been freshly painted. Her master did his best by the steamer, although Sir James Babb Norcross grumbled at the cost and pared the bills to the bone. "I call this ripping!" declared the young man. "Quite as if 1 were in my own yacht?no beastly crowd,J and a leisurely voyage. You musn'ti look so put out about it, Captain Sackett. I promise not to make a nuisance of myself.' "Very well, sir. You have the right to do as ou like. You are inviting yourself, please remember that. I shall try my best to give you a comfortable passage." "It is my own surprise party," was the cheerful rejoinder. "How long before we head for the open sea?" "Two or three hours. What about sending word to your father that you are in the Chilton Grange, Mr. | Norcross?" "I shall write at once," was the easy reply. "The letter will re&ch Liverpool ahead of us. What's the use of cabling?" "I am afraid today's mail has closed, but there will be another sailing this week. Aye, the letter will be in Kngland before we are. And you will be sure to mention that you asked yourself aboard and I objected?" "Still harping on the same string: ' exclaimed Hayden Norcross. "I solemnly swear to absolve you from from all part and share in my voyage." The captain showed an odd unwillingness. but this was doubtless n ( natural feeling of responsibility in me .u^c i?i so iniporiani a person- i age as the son of Sir James Babb ] Norcross. No rudeness was intended. | In lovely June weather the Chilton < Grange left port. Captain Nelson ; Sarkett had handled men for many years, and he appraised them i shrewdly. This youngster was gen- < orous. clean, unspoiled by golden for- ( tune. It was impossible to dislike ( him. At table in the cabin. Khoades and s the chief engineer, quiet, shy men. ? were not at their ease in the company of the owner's son. but he 1 could not be held blameworthy. His 1 was an effulgent name, and the bar- 1 tier of caste oppressed their honest I British souls. It was singular that ' his presence should not have aroused * their resentment, for they dumbly felt that the Norcross millions had 1 been sweated out of the ocean-carry- ' ing trade and that the titled owner in > Liverpool could afford to deal more t justly with his men and ships. < The passenger's appetite was < good, his digestion perfect, but the ! duce of it was that he could not seem ' to get enough to eat. A chap felt awkward about mentioning the fact. 1 but if he expected to control a few ' dozen steamers himself some day hej( really ought to find out a few 11 things. In auch a well-kept ship as I thia short rations, and rotten bad at that, seemed confoundedly queer. "I say, what's the program for feeding these boats?" he rang out to the skipper, who was in the chart-room. "What I mean is, how are they provisioned?" Captain Sackett grinned. Me had an unobtrusive sense of humor. Cntil ' now he had tactfully avoided ruf-j? fling the young man. ji "Most of the stuff is put aboard at * Liverpool," he told him, "excepting 1 a little fresh grub picked up from I port to port. The ship has an ex-" pense allowance. If a master ex-! ceeds it he goes into his own bally pockets to foot the difference." "Fly jove! I must speak to the i governor about It," ingeniously ex-lj IE LANCASTER NEWSTE claimed the son. "With so many large interests I fancy he has to leave this sort of things to an un-, derstrapper. He won't like it, I'm1 sure." "We don't like it," frankly confessed Captain Sackett. "It is hard to get men to stay in these ships. They have the name of starving their crews." "How absurd!" and the young man began to pace the deck. "Sir James J would be shocked. If you only knew him! He is the most open-handed, considerate old hoy in Liverpool? always founding or endowing something or other. And in his own home?why. he can never do enough for his people." The skipper withstood the provocation to say more. It was hopeless to try to make the son understand that the Sir James Ilabb Norcross he knew was not the man his shipmasters cursed behind his back. Rut In the captain's silent scrutiny Hayden Norcross detected something: like pity. He colored and spoke sharply. "You think my father is responsible for this outrageous provender. I should say you owe me an apology. ' "I can't quite fathom why," gravely replied Captain Sackett. "I have accused nobody. However, I like to 3ee a man stand up for his dad." This was the nearest they came to an issue until the Chilton Grange ran into a succession of gales, and it ceased to be a holiday lark of a voyage. Under lowering skies, over a sea gray and unheaved, she crept J sluggishly eastward, her speed falling off day by day. It had not been expected that at this season of the year she would have to struggle against shouting hean winds and 1 thundering combers. June was sup-i posed to be a halcyon month. The Atlantic pounded the laboring steamer with gigantic blows, and! across the well deck the waves hiss-j ed in frothing green floods. The I crew became spent and bruised and disheartened. Sleep and rest were I denied them. They damned the ship^ and the sea, crawling about in wet| rlothes. clinging to life lines and stanchions, or climbing from the fire-room to ease their burns and fill their tortured lungs with cool air. The bonds of discipline had held them silent as long as luck favored the voyage. Now Hayden Norcross heard them call his father uames to curate ones Dlood. And as thej weather turned even more menacing* they yelled jeerlngly at him when the; officers were not present to check them. I Their derisive gratification he- I cause he was in the same boat with them made him wince and shiver. | He tried to piece together the wind- i biown fragments of w hat they said. > His smooth pink cheek was a shade| paler and his eyes w ere troubled as ( tie shouted in Captain Sackett's ear: "1 can't stand much more from these filthy blackguards. Can't you put a stop to it? What are they jawing about? Am I a sort of Jonah? You might 'hink this ship was a floating coffin when she left Yew York harbor." | "Perhaps she was!" roared Papain Sackett as he watched a huge ea tumble over the bows while the hilton (irange quivered and groan-; d in every plate and beam. He looked wrinkled and old as he! oood braced on the bridge in his lripping oilskins. j "I tried to keep you out of it." i le added. "1 said all I could, all Ij .ins obliged to. Hut you had to pla> I his game with me. And bv what; lie barometer tells me God AlTiighty may take a hand in it before mndown!" His impassioned earnestness bewildered Ilayden Norcross, who had lot dreamed of danger. With the! uiperb egotism of his years and staion he believed it impossible that lisaster could befall when he was >u uniiru. i hp tumult of wind and] ?pa was terrifying, but what genuinely frightened him was the glimpse of nome mystery, sinister ind traglo, that had been purposely withheld from his knowledge The -aptain and the crew gave him the impression that the ship had been foredoomed. (Concluded in Next Issue i i AVI.VrOlt IIKTTKItS ItFdOKI) I*n ris, Sept. 27. (Via London.) Sub-Lieut. 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