erdeck
voice. "Who, may I ask, are you?"

"You may," I replied. "I'm a God-fearing sailor man who is doing the
best he can to keep nice and clean in spite of the uncalled for
intervention of a red-faced oaf of a plumber person who should know
better than to stand around watching him."

[Illustration: "I'M A GOD-FEARING SAILOR MAN WHO IS DOING THE BEST HE
CAN TO KEEP CLEAN"]

"Don't take on so, George," said one of the women whom I suspected of
edging around in order to get a better view of me, "the poor young man
is a sailor--where is your patriotism?"

"Yes," broke in the other woman, edging around on the other side,
"he's one of our sailor boys. Treat him nice."

"Patriotic, I am," roared George wrathfully, "but not to the extent of
condoning and looking lightly upon such a flagrant breach of decency
as this semi-nude, so-called sailor has committed in our midst."

"If you'd give me a couple of Thrift Stamps," I suggested, "I might be
able to come out from behind this blooming barrage."

"Shameless," exploded the man.

"Not at all," I replied, "in the olden days it was quite customary for
young gentlemen and elderly stout ones like yourself, for instance, to
drop in at the best caves with very much less on than I have without
any one considering their conduct in any degree irregular. In fact,
the ladies of this time were no better themselves, it being deemed
highly proper for them to appear in some small bit of stuff and nobody
thought the worst of it at all. Take the early days of the fifteenth
century B.C.--"

At this point in my eloquent address a young child, who had hitherto
escaped my attention, took it upon herself to swing on the line with
the result that it parted with a snap and my last vestige of
protection came fluttering to the roof. For one tense moment I stood
gazing into the dilated eyes of those before me. Then with surprising
presence of mind, I sprang to a ladder that led to the water tank,
swarmed up it with the agility of a cat and lowered myself with a gasp
of despair into the cold, cold water of the tank. From this place of
security I gazed down on the man who had been responsible for my
unfortunate plight. I felt myself sinned against, and the longer I
remained in that water, up to my neck, the more I felt my wrongs. I
gave voice to them. I said bitter, abusive things to the man.

"Clear the quarter deck," I shouted, "get aft, or, by gad, I'll come
fluttering down there on your fla