The engineer had work to do, fitting a sort of drain to carry off the water that condensed in the low-pressure cylinder. Keighley was kept interested by the rumors of bad blood between the Fire Commissioner and “the Boss”—or the Boss’s creature, the Little Mayor. But the men had nothing but the shining of brasses and the washing of hose to occupy their few working moments, and nothing but the exhausted interest of newspapers and dominoes to pass their long idle hours. They did not lend any but a languid ear to the reports of the department intrigues, now that Keighley had fought the “Jiggers” to a standstill. They had decided to let that matter rest until their superiors took it up again.
And then, one warm morning, when “Shine” and Sturton were sitting on the deck of the Hudson, in the shade of the wheelhouse—eating apples which they had picked out of the scum of chips and driftwood under the boat’s quarter—something happened that proved, in its final issue, to have a vital influence in ending the whole “Jigger” trouble, so far as the Hudson and its crew were concerned, although the actual incident itself involved only “Shine.”
He had been complaining of the life they had been leading. “I’m sick o’ this. Sick o’ the whole rotten bus’ness. Sick o’ doin’ time in this dang pen, like a convic’.”
The boat was as hot as an ironclad, with her metal fittings and cement deck; but if “Shine” and Sturton went into the pierhouse with their fruit, they would have to divide it with the other members of the crew; and they had elected to endure the heat rather than lose the apples.
“Turk” knuckled the end of his crooked nose, turned over his apple with deliberation, and crunched off a fresh bite. “Whasmatterith it?” he asked thickly.
“It’s rotten!” “Shine” growled. “Rotten! That’s what’s the matter with it. It’s too much scrubbin’ brasses—an’ stan’in’ watches—an’ playin’ footy dominoes—an’ havin’ nuthin’ to do.”
“It’s better ’n truckin’,” Sturton said—remembering the laborious days he had spent hooking packing-cases and hoisting bales. “It’s the easiest money I ever made.”
“Over yuh go now!”
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