American fiction -- 20th century; Sea stories; Short stories, American
Furlong hollers to tear out the tin-foil and bring it up to him. They
brought it up, and a couple of Slavs, who had been working the tallow
into the shape of condensing-plates--helped out by two electric fans
and a stream of ice-water playing on them--they wrap the tin-foil
around the tallow plates.
"Mould some more!" yells Furlong--"and keep mouldin' 'em!"
As fast as one set would melt, out they'd ship another. There was
plenty of tallow--those Russian ships they're greasy with tallow--and
dozens of cases of tobacco and Lord knows how many boxes of tea. It
was a stirring sight below, with a dozen or so wild Slavs in their
underclothes smashing things open with axes and tobacco and tea flying
around regardless. Every blessed Russian that had a samovar and could
get hold of hot water begins to make tea. There must have been a
division of them sitting around between decks--at two in the
morning--drinking hot tea and sweating like horses, for it was hotter
than--oh, but it was hot that night!
"More tallow plates!" yells Furlong.
They had a carpenter's mate drafted below, a Finlander with a good eye,
and he was cutting out swell plates with a chisel, and as fast as he
did they would wrap them in the tin-foil and the two Slavs would
squeeze them into place.
Sure-enough sea-going condensing-plates those tallow inventions of
Furlong's were, and they did the business till the chief engineer
reported he had steam up, and we started to put out. "And now," says
the flag-lieutenant to Furlong, "your noble exertions are to be
rewarded. You shall see how we shall catch that _Plantagenet_ ship!"
"And a good job," I says to Furlong. "I hope they blow her out of
water when they do get her." Which sets him to studying.
"Say, Cahalan," he asks, "you don't suppose they'd do that?"
"Why not?"
"They'd have to prove she sent the wireless messages. Even I couldn't
prove that any man aboard her ever sent a wireless message," says
Furlong, "let alone that they sent any to the Japs about us."
"No matter," I says. "Everybody aboard here believes she did. And you
know she did. And if you'd seen those wild Slavs prancing around
between decks awhile ago, I bet you some of 'em wouldn't wait too long
to slip out a torpedo surreptishus-like from the torpedo chamber."
Furlong lays down his head-gear and ponders awhile. "If I thought
there was any danger--say, Cahalan--suppose his wife--the wireless
chap's--is aboard, as she probably is?" He reaches for the key.
"What're you goin' to do now?" I asks.
"I'm going," he says, "if those home-made, unpatented tallow
condenser-plates will hold for just one more charge--I'm going to tell
the _Plantagenet_ that a Russian battle fleet is headin' her way and
for her to steam to the south'ard about as fast as she can go and to
keep on steaming."
He fills the bird-cage gadjet with green and blue flashes again and
kept filling it till the tallow plates melted into a pool of grease.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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