The British Captain.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 June 1910, Page 4

The British Captain.

UK DIDN'T ALLOW TITO TURKS A.VV MHBKTY. Tin- , true Hi iton of tlie old school •'.i-i-.liiin.s adaptability to foreign ways i.-i :i vice iinil a .s'fjjii of a mongrel. Of this school I recently mot a hearty, it' unconscious, example in, a ;\Miii.tr.v alt'house. He w:i.s sitting alone bofore the fireplace, a stouit, dignified figure, with a glass of some beverage niiknnni nearly hid by the huge fist \v.''i'h held it. There was no hinbt iih'int 'him being a seafarer ; t ,, ." "eiiiJiiiKim-he" air of Jack iiu ■•■>!;■:; r 3 clothes floated all about him. P<iit he looked so extremely reSpeetn'ble that it caused me hardly a moment's surprise when I learned he h.iad lately retired from <a post uiujer the Ottoman Government. Tin , . Turks, i't appears, had been borrowing petty officers from the British Xavy to command some of their lightships, amd my friend had been i'-'.vlatcrl on the Bosphorus with nn Oriental crow fo.r the Inst three years. Tt had been a Roimtwiliat .".ilent period for him, as he was not .i linguist, but that did not seem to ha\o troubled ihim. THK PAY WAS GOOD. ■and as his inborn contempt for foreigners had ■lwniflined jntacit througlioint his expe-rience he did not suppose he ihad loslt aiiytliing by !)eing unahlo to ("ommuinVate with fcli-om except by .signs and half a dozen words. "Did you get on pretty well wi'tlli the men uiiider you?" T msked. "Oh, yes. Don't nllow a Tmrk in lib-rty -that's all. Tt don't do. They wasn't half so 'bad as the Greeks, though, not one ibalf." "f .supi]>rse they were very religious people?" "AccerdMig t:j what they calls religion 'they wias—very. Used to sav tilieir pravers seven, times a &iy.'\ "Did they have carpets and prostrite themselves on the deck " "Yrs, and tlwilt mmscnliow they '"imp to repent me once to the Piiph.ii. You .see, some of 'em used ■ho ccmie and pray outside my eaibiii door of an evening, and they don't like for no one to bolore 'em wilieii thev'rr' pmyiiw; h:it T wasn't a-going to he ste.pp;;l AXY OF THFJR NONSENSE. T oaime out one evening; .there was plenty fl'f rooin ito pass; 'I wanted to see if tho lights was buiiming all right. Well, they reported me U the Pashn. He sends for me fliici says I wasn't to hurt their religion* feelings; I wasn't to come out when they was a-prnying there. 'Now, Irak here,' F says to the dragoman, 'just yon tell the Posh.i T r.nime lier< to do my duty by that lightship That's what I came for, to see <if t'.wrn lights iburn rightly, and 1 wom't he stopped by any of theii huni'bug. Wlrat do (they want U come and pray before my caibin. dooi for? Haven't tliey tlirce-quaaiterj of the sh;ip forr.nrd oleiir.-to tlieir selves Why etin't they pray there! I'll not be put upin bv the sneak cWils; tell the Kneha tlwit. Woll, he .fold the Pasha, and In M.y«—'Pekkv.' that is 'All rigihit. He orclcii-ed them to pint tlieir ma* for.nard in future. "Some of 'om N triod tliat came oi witli. me, (fm7t" it didn't do see, they sa\&' y '\

THIO V MUST PR A V IWRTIKLIOR AT SIWSICT, not nil of 'em, that is, hut two 01 three as didiiU want to 'bo- interrupted at tlio.ir kiiittin'. Well, .sun,set was just the time as tlx* lamps 'ad to l>o lighted and J wouldn't stand it. When I see them going for their nia'ts 1 says ' Arrozoka,' that is, 'Are you ready?' And then, 'Pliutiuji,' that is, 'Lights up.' Tlioy 'ad to put off t-licir pravors a hit. "That was once they .reported mo to tiie Pasha. They reported nit three times altogether. The second time was this way. I couldn't out none of their measly food, so la-id in my own victuals when' I went ashore. That wasn't no more tlian once a month. Well, I've a taste for a hit 'of -baeon for breakfast, laml 'tw/asn't k(ng 'before I brought some off. T cooked it myself in 'iny cabin, but the smell got outside, and sure enough, they goes and reports .me to the Pasha. ffH bringing pig aboard. Oil, they can't nbfvar pig, you know. Well, as it- happened, the bacon I got ash'oro wasn't m> good, the.reifore T don't got 110 more of it. But it wasn't because of their report that 1 stopped. Oh, no. "The third time w.as this way. I brought off some SAUSAGE—SAVELOY 'that is—one week. Now, T always used to give the cook of my" victuals ii there was any left over. I'd cut some slices and leave 'em oil the pla.te and he'd fetch them off. Well, T cuts three rounds off the saveloy owe 'morning, and 'he takes them off, and what does he do hut keep them—not eat them, mind you, and carry 'em ashore and as kat theshop what it was made of. They said 'i>ork.' Then lie reported mt for giving tho men pig flesh to ea't.' At- this point the ex-o:titoman officer laid bis glass down on the floor and winked one of his heavy eyelids at mo. "Well, tlioy told the Saltan about it, and he gives .the throe rounds ! oi that savolov to his doctor to -analyse and he said -there wasn't no pork in it; lit was -beef! So they didn'f get much over me that time!' And yet some people are still surprised at England's success ini-man-agiing tho, Oriental!— London Letter, in tho Xew York Sun. I