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Tracy, Louis, 1863-1928

"The Captain of the Kansas"

What? Joey couldn't smile! Make a friend of a
fox-terrier and learn what a genuine, whole-hearted, delighted-to-see-you
grin he will favor you with: he can smile as unmistakably as he can yawn.
If deeper emotions peeped up in Courtenay's soul, he crushed them
resolutely. Men of the sea do not cultivate heroics. They leave
sentiment to those imaginative people who evolve eery visions of a storm
in the smug comfort of suburban villas. When the _Kansas_ lay on the
shoal Courtenay was certain that the ship was lost, or he would never
have dispatched some of his passengers and crew in the only boat
available. He acted to the best of his judgment then; he was acting
similarly now in abandoning the last resource of a raft in order to keep
the vessel on her present course. But, then or now, he paid no heed
whatever to the obvious fact that he and the second engineer, and at
least one of the male passengers, must be the last to quit the ship.
That was the code of all true sailor-men--the women first, then the male
passengers and crew followed by the officers, beginning at the junior in
rank.


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