ched Dr. Farnsworth to the city in
Miss Henrietta Pringle's Ford car, and he returned about one o'clock
with four more trained nurses. They were installed on board the
houseboat Annabel Lee, instead of at Parker's Beach as Cleggett had
originally intended, and the Red Cross flag was hoisted over that
vessel. Cleggett felt confident that the next battle would be
sanguinary in character, and, true to his humanitarian ideals, was
resolved to be fully prepared this time to care for as many people as
he might disable. Giuseppe Jones, who was quieter now, although at
times still irrationally babbling incendiary vers libre poems, was
removed to the Annabel Lee, where Miss Medley, quite worn out, turned
him over to a fresh nurse.
By the time the reinforcement of nurses had arrived the earthworks of
the good ship Jasper B. were completed, and, after a double portion of
stiff grog all around, Cleggett ordered all hands to lie down on the
deck for an hour's comfortable nap. He stood watch himself. Cleggett
had not slept much during the past forty-eight hours, but he was a man
of iron. Like King Henry Fifth of England, Cleggett found a certain
pleasure in watching while his troops slumbered. Cleggett and this
lively monarch had other points in common, although Cleggett, even in
his youth, would never have associated with a character so habitually
dissolute as Sir John Falstaff.
The construction of the trench was not without its effect upon the gang
of villains at Morris's. About nine in the morning Cleggett noticed
that he was under observation from the roof of the east verandah of the
road house. Loge and two of his ruffianly lieutenants were
scrutinizing the Cleggett flotilla and fortifications through their
binoculars. Cleggett, through his own glass, returned the compliment.
The three men were conducting an animated discussion. From their
gestures they seemed to be completely nonplussed by the entrenchments.
Watching their pantomime closely, Cleggett gathered that Loge was
endeavoring to enforce some point of view with regard to the Jasper B.
upon his two followers. Finally Loge, making a gesture towards
Cleggett with one hand, tapped himself several times on the forehead
with the other, his lips moving rapidly the while. The two other men
shrugged their shoulders and nodded, as if in agreement with Loge. The
insulting significance of the gesture was only too apparent. As
plainly as if he had heard the accom
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