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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1917-05-04, Page 6hes Name; Or, The Adventures of Captain Fraser CHAPTER XXI.—(Cont'd.) kindly eyes watched him go ashore, "You wait," said the youth, sharp- ly.. "If you've made me waste eighteen - pence, Timmy," said a stout A.B. "He must ha' meant another bot - named Jones, "the Lord ha' mercy on tie," said Jones, as the cook came you, 'cos I won't." slowly up again with a bottle contain - The cook, who was clinging to the ing one dose. ladder with his head level with the "There ain't another," said the deck, gave an excited gasp. "Tim's cook; "he's 'alf off 'is 'ed." all right," he said; "loot; there." There was a pained silence. "We Tha last words were perked out of must toss for it,' said Jones, at length; him by reason of the weight of his "that is, unless you chaps don't want friends, who were now leaning on it." him, breathing heavily under the "Toss," said three voices speaking stress of strong excitement. Ben as one, was on deck again, and in an obvious- Jones sighed, and the coins were ly unconcerned manner was display- produced. The prize fell to Tim, and ing a silk hat of a great height to all he leaned against the windlass and who cared to look. The mate's ap- slowly poured the yellow liquid into pearance alone, without the flags his mug, which dressed the schooner, would "There's more than I thought there have indicated a festival, was," remarked Mr. Jones, in sue - Three or four laborers sunning prise. themselves on the quay were much "Bottles is deceiving," said the impressed, and regarded him stolidly; cook. a fisherman, persuming upon the fact "It ain't the fust toss as Tim 'as that they both earned their living on, won," said the third man, darkly. the water, ventured tv address him.. i The ordinary seaman made no re - "Now, then," said Jones, as he took: ply but, stepping over to the water. something reverently from an empty; cans, added with great care a little bunk, "who's going up fust?" ) water. "I ain't," said Tim, 1 "Here's your 'ealth, chaps," he said, "Wot about you, cookie?" said good -naturally, as he drank, "and may Jones, ; you never want a drink." "Well, wot about me?" demanded' "You've never drunk all that, the other, I Tim?" said Mr, Jones, anxiously, "I thought p'r'aphs you'd like to 1 Tins shook his head. "There's too lead the way," said Mr. Jones, mildly. ' much to drink all at once," he said, "You thought wrong, then," said gravely, and sat, with the mug on his the cook, shortly, knee, gazing ashore, "It's warm - "It was just a compliment," urged .ing me all over," he mused. "I never Mr. Jones, , tasted sich whisky afore. I'm in a "I don't like flattery," said the gentle glow." cook; "never did." i So was the cook; a glow which in - Mr. Jones sighed and shook his head creased to fever heat as the youth irresolutely. The other A.B. patted raised the mug to his lips again, and him on the back. . slowly drained it and handed it to him "'lou look a fair bloomin' treat," he to wash up. Bair, heartily. "You go up fust; you. A. little later the men went ashore, look as though you've slep' in one and strolling aimlessly up and down almost." the road, passed the time in waiting "None o' your larks, you know," for the ceremony, and making sudden remarked Mr. Jonas, with suspicious dashes after small boys who were sourness; "no backing out of it and throwing at their hats and hitting leavin' me there by myself ." ; their heads. There was a chorus of virtuous but' Seabridge itself was quiet, but Mrs• profane indignation. It was so in. Banks's house was in a state of fer- dignant that Mr. Jones apologised,ment. Ladies with pins in their and stood for some time regarding the mouths wandered about restlessly un - article in his hand with the face of til, coming into the orbit of one of the a small child eyeing a large powder. brides, they stuck one or two into her Then he clapped it on his head and and then drew back to behold the ef- went on deck. !feet. Miss Banks, in w1 to satin, The mate was just talking to the moved about stilly; Mrs. e :rch, in fisherman about an uncle of his (born heliotrope, glanced restlessly up the since his promotion) who had com» road every time she'got near the win - mended a brig, when his voice failed' dow, �e]ye�neeetal .lee eaz d 1:., Q er7C1r:eeess?;: easeIa. 5.ils rely. 3zr z ci+.4... a,,t- aais:•^az:rflady; .'emit seaman wit.; �ad just come up; at length, "both of you. All you've on deck. On the stout seaman's face got to do now is to wait for the gentle - was the Iook of one who sees a vision: men." many miles off; on the stout seaman's! It was whispered that Mr. Gibson's bead was a high hat of antique pat delay was due to the fact that he had tern which had suffered in the brush- gone up for Captain Barber, and as ing. To avoid the mate's eye he fold. time passed a certain restlessness be - ed his arms, and, leaning over the side, came apparent in the assembly, and gazed across the river. Words tree- sympathetic glances were thrown in bled on the mate's lips, but they died the direction of Mrs, Church. Places away in a squeak as a little -top -hat- at the window were at a premium, ted procession of three issued coyly and several guests went as far as the from the forecastle, and, ranging it- garden gate and looked up the road. self beside Mr. Jones, helped him to Still no Captain Barber. 1 r The cook went down for the whisk, and Tim, diving into the forecastle, brought up four mugs. ook across the river. "It's time they were here," said "I never did," said the fisherman. Mrs. Banks at last, in a stern voice. 'What are we a -coming to?" There was a flutter at the gate, and a pretty girl hellog with her eyes that the parties of the other part were in sight. A minute or two lat- er they came into sight of the win - Mean ley Sot, sir?" asked Jones, in dow. Captain Barber, clad in beauti- surprise.t ful raiment, headed the cortege, the "Top -hats," said the mate, choking. !rear of which was brought up by the The four turned and regarded him i crew of the Foam, and a cloud of light skirmishers which hovered on their flanks. As they drew near, it was noticed that Captain Barber's face was "For the weddin' sir," said Jones, very pale, and his hands trembled, but as though that explained everything. ' he entered the house with a firm step "You take 'em off," said the mate, sharply. "I won't let you wear 'em." 1 beg your pardin," said Jones, with great politeness, "we got these 'ere 'ats for the weddin', and' we're a-goin' to wear 'em." He took the offending article off and brushed it tenderly with his coat- aleeve, while the furious mate looked He received the full measure accorded stssauli and battery at the other three. to a very distinguished convert, and, 'tfm, whose hat came well down over taking a chair placed against the wall, his eyes, felt comparatively safe; but surveyed the company with the air of the cook, conscious that his perched a small boy who has strayed into a lightly on the top of his head, drew hostile alley. back a pace. Then he uttered an ex- A little natural curiosity found vent. clamation as Captain Nibletts, who "Now, what first put it into your was officiating as best man, came hue- head to get married?" asked one fair riedly down the cliff. inquirer. "Hats ?" said the little skipper, dis- "Mrs. Church," said the ex -mariner, engaging himself from the mate's simply, grasp, as he carie aboard. "Yes, I "Iles of course" said the matron; don't rnind." "but was it love at ast sight, or 'Slid "Wot about Cap'n Barber?" de- it grow on you before you knew it?" mended the mate, impressively, Captain Barber blushed. "It grow - "If they was pudding -basins 'e ed on me afore I knew it," lie replied, wouldn't mind, said Nibletts, testily; fervently,, "he's that nervous 'e don't know what (To be continued.) 'e's doing hardly. 1`Ie was raving like a madman for five minutes cos 'e couldn't fasten his collar, and then.I Military Precision. found he'd forgot to put his shirt on. He don't care." A. colonel in the French army who He hurried down to the cabin and had a great eye for neatness hut not then carne bustling up again. His much of an ear for music took oc- small face was strained with worry, casion one day to compliment his and the crew eyed him respectfully, as. bandmaster on the appearance of his he came forward and dealt out white men. "Their uniforms are neat," a satin favors. "Cap'n Barker '11 be all right with said the Colonel, "and their instru- you looking arter 'Ira, sir," said Jones, inerts are nicely polished and kept in with strong conviction, order, but there is one improvement "That he will," said the cook, nod- that I must insist upon." 'cling. here's some whisky in a bottle iti What is that, Colnel?" r my locker, cook," said Ninlatts, danc- "You must train your risen when ing hbo'tit nervously; "give the hands they perform, to lift their fingers all e'.o drink oath, cook. Only one, at exactly the same time and at regal inla(I," -ar intervals on their instruinente, so.-. 'l. he men thanked him and with orie, two, one, two!"' The mate did not stay to inform him. He walked hastily to the quartette, and, bursting with rage, asked Jones what he meant by it. stolidly, keeping as close together as possible for the sake of moral support and the safety of their head -gear and requvead no assistance. Of his reception there was never for a moment any doubt. Youi.g matrons smiled and shook their heads at him, middle-aged matrons took him by the hand, while old ladies committed them- selves to the statement that they had seen matrimony in his eye for years COULD BRITAIN HAVE STOOD ALONE ? HAD GEIIMANX' MAIi!E WAR 0 OUR EMPIRE ALONE, Authority on Naval and Miilitar Power Comes to Satisfactory Conclusion, A thoughtful writer in one of the leading London papers said the other day: "The outstanding discovery in international affairs has been ;that no one country is now strong enough to stand alone.. . . Great Britain would have been defeated, or at least severe- ly handled, had she stood alone." Is that statement a fact, or is it a fallacy? If it is a fact, it is full of unrest for the future, in spite of our close ties with our allies; but if it is a fallacy, itrmeans the invulnerability of our "tight little island" and of the Empire of which it is the headquar- ters as well as the Motherland, writes a British military expert. • Ways and Means, N y Let us suppose, then, that, instead of attacking France and Russia, the Germanic Powers of- Central Europe hacl laid themselves .out to annex the British Empire, and to do nothing else, and that the other nations of Eu- rope had determined to keep out of the scrap and rest content with keeping the ring, how would the game stand to -day? After two and a half years of war, would the Empire have crumpled up, would Germany be top dog, and would Australia and Canada and South Af- rica, as well as our vast Indian domin- ions, be under the rule of the, Prussian Dunker ? In • the first place, how would the Germanic Powers have set about the task of getting at us? What methods which they have failed to adopt dur- ing the past thirty months, or, adopt- ing, have failed to make effective, would have presented themselves? Let us note some of the enemies' disabilities. The first is that the invasion of Bel- gium would not have taken place, for this would be a war against Britain alone, and therefore presupposes the neutrality of Belgium. France also ; would be out of the fight, and there- fore the main danger to this country would be non -existent --namely, the possibility of the occupation of .-the ::irronoas =ports:. �..__.:.-• . - .. The Navy's Affair. The only exits from the :Central: Powers would have been the Heligo- land Bight, the Skagerack, the Adri- atic, and, supposing Turkey in the case as at present—a doubtful suppo- sition with Russia out of the fight-- the Dardanelles, Does anyone doubt the ability of the British Navy, especially after the exhibition of its almost superhuman might displayed during the past thirty months, to keep these narrow sea -ways from being crossed on forced by anything but submarines? E want every farmer in Canada to have a a copy of our latest edition of "What the Farmer can do with Concrete." ft will be sent absolutely free to any farmer who writes for it. Write us fo•day CANADA CEMENT COMPANY LIMITED 88 Herald Building MONTREAL ing an Army of five million men, and, in addition, another two or three mil- lions detached from ordinary voca- tions for the supply of the Army with all the necessaries of war. Now, if Britain had been alone against the Central Powers, this tre- mendous armament would not only not have been necessary, but would be actually hampering. There would then have been no question of landing an army on the Continent of Europe. We shoud be just as much precluded from breaking neutrality as the Central Empires, so that, as far as the soil of the enemy is concerned, we should be no more able to land an army than we are to -clay. The necessities of the e would be met by the establishment and arming of a sufficient force to repel an inva- sion in the form of a raid, with a good margin to spare for any mishap to the Fleet, for it goes without saying that if the Fleet is defeated this Em- pire falls automatically, and thkiasis of this article is the proved invinci- bility of the British Fleet. Battlefield :Wanted. Thus a million men would have been the limit of our requirements—or, to make assurance doubly sure, say a couple of millions—for the purpose of home defence, the guarding of the road to Egypt and the road to the Per- sian Gulf. Even our food supply would be less precarious than at present, for the Dardanelles would not be closed to Russia, whilst, having coanneende_ stf the Mediterraneaii, Italy. and France would be our almoners almost as in. normal times, as they would be out of the combat, and therefore able to trade with us. Thus, as we could not be starved on land or beaten at sea, how would the Central Empires so defeat us as to put an end to the British Empire, or even seriously threaten its existence? Whale Versus Elephant. As a matter of fact, as Bismarck said, a war between Germany and Britain is like a battle between the vhale and the elephant; and, while we ould not stand aside and see France To -day the grass grows on the dock walls of Hamburg and Cuxhaven, not because the French Fleet, gallant though it is, or the Italian or Russian Fleets are in possession of the North Sea, but simply and solely because the British Fleet is there. Would it or could it be otherwise supposing we stood alone? No "Starving Out" Then we come to this: that the only method of an offensive against this country and the Empire at Iarge must not be via the high seas, but via the high roads—where there are any! How would the Central Empires have managed this feat? What mir- acle—and they have done all they knew in this war—would have sufficed to beat England on land and capture her far-flung Empire? It may be objected that the Ger- manic Powers would have been diffi- cult to blockade effectually, and that objection is sound. They would have had all the Continent of Europe to buy from, as long as they had the money to buy with; but our Fleet could have prevented, as it prevents to -day, any overseas goods from reaching the Central Powers, and also have re- stricted all neutrals to the goods res quirecl for their own consumption. The result would be that the block- ade would be a much longer job, and would probably never succeed in bringing the war to an end "on its own," as it may presumably succeed as things are at this moment, But it may be further objected that this indefinite prolongation of the war would be ruinous to Britain, inasmuch s she would be economically unable to stand the strain, say, of a ten years' war. Cause of Strain. But to that the answer is simple. What has caused the immense strain upon the resources of this country and Empire? Two things mainly, The necessity of financing and munitioning our allies, and the rinsing and equip- ping and trans and triaintain:» overrun and Germany established all along the line of the Channel, a de- claration of war against ourselves alone would have been infinitely less serious. And this consideration brings us to the inevitable conclusion that, as fax as we are concerned, the chief term in the peace we all hope for in the near future must be a forced limitation of the naval strength of the Central Em- pires to such ships of war as they re- quire for the protection of their coasts and harbors. wrsiee ttaaaltsa- rent. oaaa bats FIKE.B.• CATALOGUE showing our full line of Bicycles for Men and Women, Boys and Girls-- lires, Coaster Brakes, Wheels, Inner Tubes, Lamps, Bells, Cyclorneters, Saddles, Bquipntent and Parte for Bicycles. You can bny your supplies from us at wholesale prices. T. W. BOYD & SON, 27 Notre Dame Street West, Montreal. A fraternal and insurance society that rateetsite members io accordance with the )ntarto Government Standard. Sick and end benefits optionaL Authorized to obtain members and chaster lodgrsin every Province ix Canada. Purely Canadian, cafe. sound and ocono. micas: If there is no locel log a of Chosen Friends in your district, apply direct to eny of the, following officers; ih.J. W, Edwards, M.P. W. 1'. Montague, Grand Councillor. Grand Recorder, W. i , Campbell, .1. H. Holl, M.D., Grand Organizer. Grand Medical Ex. WHY TIDE CZAR OF RUSSIA FABLED HAD AFFECTION OE' MILLIONS OF HIS PEOPLE Nicholas Sacrificed His Throne Be- cause He Could Not Control German Influences Suppressed education, tragic pov- erty, anarchism, the arrogance of the rich, and, latterly, Rasputin and pro- Germanism—these' are a few of the "dark forces" from which Russia is now freeing herself. Naturally, no blow aimed at these "dark forces" could fail to involve the Czar, but it is a mistake to argue from this that the Czar himself was the special target of the Russian re- bellion. Perhaps, if certain influ- ences beyond his personal control had not made his power (or, rather, the power exercised through him) so menacing, Nicholas H. might have es- ctped from his present fate. He came safely through the terrible times which followed the Japanese War, and millions of Russians love aim to -day as well as they loved him in 1905. Crushing the Poor. But, in this case, some future ruler would have suffered, for Russia has been working up to her present pitch, gradually and surely, ever since the dawn of European education, We may well rub our eyes and ask why the Russian people have taken so kng to work out their salvation—why education is so astonishingly slow? Russia, in some respects, has ambled along two or three centuries behind her European companions, The reason is this: The Russian autocrats have not alfowed the poor to be educated! Sonie hotion of the extraordinary ignorance prevailing in Russia may be gained from the fact that only seventeen years ago but one- fifth of the Army recruits could read and write. The autocrats believed that the ignorance of the people spelt their own safety. But it spelt also innumerable bloody rebellions, led by men whose minds were starved Iike their bodies, bomb outrages, and hor- rible murders. A Terrified Czar. No better example of the truism that a Czar carries his life in his beards could • be 'quoted than tilliffeeei ander II., the grandfather of Nicholas, He did a great deal for Russia, his most notable work being the emanci- pation of the serfs -23,000,000 souls. And here is a catalogue of his re- ward: He was shot at in 1879. The bullet missed. Later, in the same year, a train in which he was believed to be traveling was blown up by a mint', He escaped through his precaution of having "duplicate" trains run. A year afterwarcls he had another Ts- ape—this time from a violent oxplo- ion of dynamite below his apartments ri the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg. And the following year he war killed by a bomb, thrown at him in the streets. Small wonder that Alexander III,, who followed him, kept himself practi- cally a prisoner in his palate through fear of the Nihilists. He waw not assassinated, but many attempts were made on his life, as they have been made also on the life of Nichola`, • Exiled for Kindness. Russians are now discovering- the danger of ignorance. A benevolent landowner who tried to encourage education among his people was re- garded with suspicion, and was often sent to Siberia. Imagine such a thing in this country, if you can! Pic- ture the owner of a big estate in Scot- land being sent to prison because he supplied funds for local education! If Nicholas had been able to shake off such traditional handicaps as these, he would truly have been a very great man. The affection he has always shown for his people, and the manner in which he has mixed with thein, sug- gests that his intentions have been really good. Often he donned ordin- ary clothing and wandered amongst his humble subjel.ts, who conversed with hits freely without the slightest knowledge that they were talking to their "little father." But his load was too heavy. And that strange vagabond, Rasputin, did much to keep it so. Rasputin's in - finance over the Empress was one of the most astonishing influences in the history of the world, What he re- quired done he conveyed to her ear, and she, in turn, informed the Czar. Nicholas is reported to have said once that he would sooner let Rasputin have his way than face his wife in hysterics. 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