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Page 10
Thus harried, that evening Binnie provided a dinner that almost reduced
Frederick to breaking-point. Only the fact that the M.O. was sitting
opposite gave him strength to refuse the soup and fish, to trifle with the
chicken and turn wearily from the sweet. As the savoury was being served he
caught a scrap of conversation across the table.
"... to the boat to see her off for demob.," the M.O. was saying to the
Padre. "Jolly nice girl--Jim Carruthers' daughter, you know."
Frederick pricked up his ears.
"I remember," said the Padre. "She used to be at 99 General."
There was no doubt who was the girl referred to. Frederick sat back in his
chair with a heavy sense of disappointment and loss. He felt acutely sorry
for himself. But presently above the pain in his heart there arose a
stronger and more compelling feeling.
"Corporal," he said, "I think after all I'll try one of those crab patties.
Or you might tell the waiter to bring in _two_."
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Conversationalist._ "EXTRAORDINARY CRIME WAVE WE'RE
HAVING--ER--AH--FOR THE TIME OF YEAR."]
* * * * *
PICTURES.
"Some likes picturs o' women" (said Bill) "an' some likes 'orses best,"
As he fitted a pair of fancy shackles on to his old sea-chest;
"But I likes picturs o' ships" (said he), "an' you can keep the rest.
"An' if I was a ruddy millionaire with dollars to burn that way,
Instead of a dead-broke sailorman as never saves his pay,
I'd go to some big paintin' guy, an' this is what I'd say:--
"'Paint me _The Cutty Sark_' (I'd say) 'or the old _Thermopyl�_,
Or _The Star of Peace_ as I sailed in once in my young days at sea,
Shipshape an' Blackwall fashion too, as a clipper ought to be.
"'An' you might do 'er outward bound, with a sky full o' clouds,
An' the tug just droppin' astern an' gulls flyin' in crowds,
An' the decks shiny-wet with rain an' the wind shakin' the shrouds.
"'Or else racin' up-Channel with a sou'-wester blowin',
Stuns'ls set aloft and alow an' a hoist o' flags showin',
An' a white bone between her teeth, so's you can see she's goin'.
"'Or you might do 'er off Cape Stiff in the 'igh latitudes yonder,
With her main-deck a smother of white an' her lee-rail dipping under,
And the big greybeards drivin' by an' breakin' aboard like thunder.
"'Or I'd like old Tuskar somewhere around--or Sydney 'eads, maybe,
Or Bar Light, or the Tail o' the Bank, or a glimp o' Circular Quay,
Or a junk or two, if she's tradin' East, to show it's the China Sea.
"'Nor I don't want no dabs o' paint as you can't tell what they are,
Whether they're shadders or fellers' faces or blocks or blobs o' tar,
But I want gear as looks like gear an' a spar that's like a spar.
"'An' I don't care if it's North or South, the Trades or the China Sea,
Shortened down or everythin' set, close-hauled or runnin' free;
You paint me a ship as is _like_ a ship an' that'll do for me.'"
C.F.S.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Old-fashioned Aunt._ "GOOD HEAVENS, CHILD! YOU'RE NOT GOING
OUT LIKE THAT? YOU LOOK LIKE A CHORUS-GIRL."
_Modern Maiden._ "OH, COME, AUNT! I DON'T LOOK AS HORRIBLY RESPECTABLE AS
THAT, SURELY?"]
* * * * *
EGYPTIAN DARKNESS.
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