EMPTY CASKS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21582, 19 September 1935, Page 7 (Supplement)

EMPTY CASKS

General dismay was felt 8 in the Drew family when Johnny, the eldest son, came heme with the news that he had lost his job. This was a serious matter. Johnny had been the chief wage-earner since his father's death; and Mrs Drew, dishing up his supper in the kitchen that opened to a view of roof-tops and cranes, and sometimes the masts of a steamer creeping down-river to Gravesend, wondered how she would feed her family in the coming weeks. Johnny' himself seemed dazed at the blow. "It happened without warning," he explained, as he tried to make a show of eating potted meat. "Morgan came down to me on the Susan and gave me two weeks' pay. 'We shan't be wanting you any more.' he said. And that was all." "Didn't you ask for an explanation, then?" "I couldn't, mother. I was sort of taken by surprise. And Morgan's a dark-faced fellow." "How that man ever came to be chief stevedore of the old firm I don't know," said Mrs Drew decidedly. "Your poor father had no time for him; and he knew a man when he met one." "He used to say that Morgan was crooked," said Johnny slowly, "I wonder if he was right." "You've been noticing things, I suppose?" "No," replied Johnny evasively. "Just wondering." He would say no more; but the next afternoon he went down to the docks, and with a strange mixture of regret and anger watched an unknown man loading casks on to his beloved Susan. Susan was a large punt, known officially as Number 24, and named by Johnny out of the fullness of his affection for the square-nosed and flatbottomed craft. It had been his job to look after this punt, loading her with cargoes and travelling up the river in the tug-boat that towed her to Putney. Johnny had been born close to the river, in a narrow street in Whitefriars. He knew the barges and the tug-boats, and had crept adventurously on to steamers that came laden with timber from the Baltic coasts. It had been a happy day for him when he was appointed to a place in the stevedoring firm for which his father had worked. He loved the river, and knew the , winding course from Putney Bridge to the Pool of London better than most of the tug-boat captains. And now he had lost the Susan, and in these days there was not much chance of getting another job of the same kind. He came down to the riverside, in the busy section opposite the Tower of London. Freighters lay close together, and a swarm of punts and barges had drawn near to receive whatever cargo- was not destined for warehouses and bonded stores in the narrow streets nearby. Johnny saw that the Susan was being loaded with empty casks out of a small steamer from one of the Mediterranean ports. He watched the new man stacking the casks on the punt, and was soon critical of his methods. It hurt him to see his old job being handled so clumsily; and at the same time he could not help thinking that a word of advice might Ije acceptable. Most of all, however, he wanted to set foot on the Susan once more. Accordingly he jumped lightly on to the nearest punt and made his way with practised steps from craft to craft, leaping gaps of open Srate? and avoiding slings of cargo

(By Monte Holcroft)

until he stood at last on Punt 24. At close quarters the new man looked formidable. He was short and heavy-shouldered, and walked with his arms hanging loosely. His lace was rugged, and he had little dark eyes that roved with restless glances.

"What do you want?" 'he asked in a thick voice, raised almost to a shout as a donkey engine started up nearby. "It used to be my punt," shouted Johnny in reply. "I thought I might be able to show you a thing or two."

"Nothing doing! You can clear out as quick as you like." Johnny felt offended. "I only wanted to help you," he muttered. Anger rose in him.

"You look as if you need a little help. Those casks are placed the wrong way. You'll lose one or two of them overboard before you get to Battersea Bridge." He caught hold of one of the casks and turned it skilfully. "That's how you should pack them," he explained. The new man grew excited. "You leave those casks alone, young feller," he shouted. "And get out of here before I lay my hands on you!"

Johnny had caught hold of a second cask; but now he looked up' in surprise. "Hullo!" he said. "This cask isn't empty." He saw that the man was watching him with a dark and angry gaze, and as he turned to make his escape he noticed Morgan, the head stevedore, in the act of stepping en to the punt. The steamer's hull was between the punt and the shore, and other men nearby were too busy to notice what was happening. Something in Morgan's face and bearing warned him of danger, and he had half decided to jump into the river and swim for it when he was seized from behind, and a heavy blow struck him down. When Johnny opened his eyes agam he found himself lying, bound gagged, in the middle of the punt Casks rose about him on all sides, and he could tell by the whispering sound of waters and by the pulse of an engine a little wayahead, that the punt was going up

the river. He looked at the sky, and saw cloud and smoke eddying together into the blue mist which lies above the Thames in autumn. It was growing towards evening; in a little while it would be dark. He knew what had happened. His suspicions of Morgan had been confirmed. Rumours of smuggling had come up the river; only recently Johnny had heard that dangerous drugs were being brought into the country from a European port, and that somebody in one of the stevedoring firms was thought to be in league with the smugglers. Morgan had wanted to get rid of him so that he could put an accomplice in charge of the punt that was to take empty casks up the river. In one or two of these casks, he now believed, were packages of prepared opium. At Putney somebody would be waiting with a fast motor-car to 1 receive the "Stuff and rush -it to a distributing centre in the heart of London. Johnny lay quietly, in spite of the creeping cold. He knew every stage of the journey and could tell his whereabouts simply by shutting his eyes and listening. From one bank came the subdued sounds of traffic; on the other side was silence except for the rustling of small waves as the wake of the tugboat came slapping against the punt. Over there, then, would be the tree-lined margin of Battersea Park, In a little while he would hear, the faint throb of machinery from the

M great flour-mills whose chimneys i rose so far into mist and cloud. The thought came to him that a ■ police launch usually passed them in this part of the river. He lis- , tened carefully for its coming . knowing that unless he could . attract .attention in some way hp [ would be in grave danger when th? [ journey was over. Thil wal motive . altogether of himself. It angered him to know that his Roved • d& T wa £> the hands of evili But how was he to give warning' ' already" Ft &gg**-^n* ; & d «m e t srs l ß Sffi a cask. As far as he could fudee ■ he was lying against the out^rTi xnis was the side on whicli th» ' launch would pass th«a Hs « O Sd

hear it coming iiearer, and in a little while one of the river-police would call out a friendly greeting to the men on the tug-boat If he were to do anything, he must do it at once. His legs had been bound at the ankles, and it was not hard to raise them until his feet came to rest against the bulging middle of a cask. Then he pushed. The cask moved and swayed; and he pushed again, exerting his strength as the cask tottered towards the edge of the punt. In another moment it vanished, and there was the sound of a splash as a glimpse of the flour* mill chimneys filled a vacant space. From somewhere ahead there came a shout; and he hastened to put his feet against the next cask in the row. A minute' or two later this also went overboard: and by now he knew that the police launch was near at hand. He could hear a policeman shouting to the men on the tug-boat that they were losing their cargo, and his heart beat painfully as he heard a well-known voice making reply. The tug-boat was stopping, and the punt would be creeping close to its stern. Already the police launch was moving again; in another moment it would be continuing its journey downstream. There was now a gap along the side of the punt, and Johnny wriggled convulsively until he was close to it, hoping that the police would see him as they passed. But there came a thudding sound from the nose of the punt, and he knew that someone had jumped on to it from the tug-boat He turned his head in time to see Morgan moving towards him round the first tier of casks. Another moment and the man would have his hands upon him, dragging him out of sight into the centre of the punt Fear gave him a sudden strength; and as the grey hull of, the police launch slid into view a few yards away he rolled over and felt himself on the edge of the punt. Morgan was reaching towards him with outstretched hands; but the hands clawed empty air as Johnny plunged overboard. He came to the surface but could not make a move to save himself. The sound of waters ! was in his ears, and he was gasping for breath. He could hear a snouting from close at hand, and as he went under again there was a splash and a disturbance in the depths. Someone had dived from tTI launch * and in a few moments i^P n y was snatched from the suffocating darkness and brought, half-conscious, to the surface. . dived overboard and attempted to reach the embankment but a whistle was blown from lew atmch - and when he waded ?»« *L h * , found a policeman waiti"f to take,him fn charge. Tr* «™ mp i ice -?? uld not sw im, and was arrested without trouble. A policew»M»boanLed the tug-boat, and Z*rl an * hour a s< * uad ot police tahPiw, smgs mg on information th« W^ Mo 2 g fi n rounding up r„£ eads ? f the «ang. lator nn L. he £ rd of th ese details Sste't^f-w When at len S th he was r e J take interest in things ttoiTS.* f£ n ? e I ned chiefl y with the had g hLt hat th e Susan's good name hnarrt ?S n He was on thf d ri * e Punt when she went ud ttew£»« ° n her next triD, and herim«f r was - not separated from coat "2J& wea "ng a double-breasted hi w*nt £* ca ?v with a sh iny peak, smart n« mt ? the wheel-house of a toh?inM tug ' and knew himself to be indeed a man of the river.

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