"The man still paid no attention. The foreman was speechless. In a few seconds the stooping man straightened up, and looking the foreman straight in the eye, calmly replied: 'He's dead.' This did not seem to faze the foreman in the least and he bellowed out: 'How do you know he is dead?' The man answered simply: 'I'm a doctor.' Then the foreman once again exploded: 'A doctor! Blawst my deadlights, a doctor! Well, if you're a doctor, what in h—— are you doing on a horse ship? You ought to be rolling pills for the highbrows.'
"The doctor never took his piercing look from the eye of the foreman. The foreman was now like an enraged bull. Spitting all over himself, he blustered out: 'Well, if he's dead, there is no doctor that can do him any good. A couple o' you black skunks over there,' addressing two negroes who were almost blanched to a bluish white and who were trembling nearby, 'get a-hold of him and drag 'im out of the way.' One of the negroes, with a leering grin, replied: 'I shipped on this here ship to handle hosses, and I don't allow nohow that it's my work to tote corpses around.'
"Just then the second foreman rushed over, gave the negro a push out of the way and, grabbing the heels of the dead man, pulled him away from the run. I turned away, sickened with disgust. He then took an empty oat-sack and spread it over the bloody head.
"Just then the clanging bell of an ambulance was heard and a white-clothed doctor, followed by two men with a stretcher, pushed their way through the crowd of horses and horsemen. He was accompanied by a policeman. The body was put into the ambulance and taken away, while the police officer went on board the ship.
"The pasty-faced doctor was holding onto the rail of the runway and coughing. I thought each gasp would be his last. The second foreman was talking to him, but the doctor paid no attention. Then the second foreman coolly measured his distance and swung on the point of his jaw. The doctor crumpled up and fell on the dock. At this cowardly and dastardly act, I saw red and made a leap at the foreman. An onrushing light flashed in front of me and a huge locomotive, going sixty miles an hour, hit me between the eyes; then, blackness. When I came to, I was lying in my bunk in the hold. I had an awful headache. Then everything came back to me with a flash. I could hear the gurgling of water against the ship's side and knew we were under way. Right then and there I decided never again, especially while aboard ship, to interfere with a foreman. Among that gang of human wrecks and cutthroats it was every man for himself, and the survival of the fittest. I had two beautiful black eyes, and my nose felt like a football.
"I went up on deck. The moon and stars were out and the twinkling lights of New York Harbor were gradually fading into the distance. Leaning over the rail were the chief foreman and the veterinarian, 'Doc' Casey, by name. I listened to their conversation. The chief foreman was talking:
"'Load horses? Why, that bunch of scum that they wished on me couldn't load lump sugar, one lump at a time. How Brown expects me to deliver 1300 horses into Bordeaux with this scurvy outfit, I don't know. We're lucky, I'm thinkin', if 500 o' them don't die. Why, there's not one o' the blighters knows which end of a horse eats hay. I tell you, Doc, your work is cut out for you. If, in a few days, you don't have a couple hundred cases of colic on your hands, then I'm a bloomin' liar.'
"'Doc' Casey answered:
"'Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Goorty, this is my third trip over and I have seen some tough bunches, but this one is the limit. I sure admit I have a job on my hands. It's too bad that Pinero let out on that young fellow from the Cavalry, because, in my mind, that was a pretty cowardly blow. He seemed to know how to handle horses. What do you say if I give him the job of Assistant Veterinarian? He's had six years' cavalry experience.'
"The foreman answered: