LST (925) - Naval Cruise Book

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offer. And he saith unto them that they must seek and must find the four best lawyers in the land, the ones who were now at sea, known as Bolin, Davis, B. E., McDermott and Schmidt, and they must beseech them to do all in their power to have the organizers and the agitators ex- iled from Usa so that peace might return. And straightway the honest citizens didst seek these sea-lawyers as wise man White had bade them to do, but they could not find them for the lawyers were still at sea. I These things did Miller and Nun- ziato tell me and more did they say: that if only they had been elected, things would not be as they now were in Usa, and they should not be, for only two people were satisfied, Mascoli and Freese. And then it came to pass that the two great physicians, Sanderlin and Berkeley entered in and sat down and didst eat, and Berkley saith unto me that he had just delivered a child for the great Alchemist, Verchot, and it could be seen by the motherly pangs of agony which Berkeley sheweth that it had been an ordeal for him. And when we had all assuaged our thirst with the juices of the jun- gle, Sanderlin didst hear me speak of my search for the three Great Prophets, and he rejoiceth, and told me of his meeting with the six apos- tles who were even now spreading the good word. Coatney, lustis, jen- sen, Martin, Moon and Harding were they called, and they were filled with the spirit, for they had obtained some somewhere, and they were led in their journeys by their trustworthy guides, Thorton and Clemons, and they were protected by the strong shepherd Bubak, and they felt no pangs of anguish. r t But suddenly we were alarmed, not by the thunder nor by lightning, but by the entry of the Royal Guard, led by the all powerful Davis who was dressed in full regalia with manygold stripes down both sleeves, and he had with him his dependable men, Schneider, Stella and Gordon, those same trustworthy cohorts who had been with him lo these twenty years. And Davis was searching for the il- legal snake charmer, Gradisher, and his silent partner, Smith, for they had made off with the Crystal Ball of the Great Ullrich, and the Great Ullrich was now lost and could not find the star in the heavens to follow, and he had called upon the astrologers Cun- ningham and Whitfield to guide him. But Davis didst not find the illegal snake charmer, Gradisher, nor his silent partner, Smith, and behold, as he didst turn to depart there didst approach him a saintly father who was in misery at the loss of his prod- igal sons. And Shaw didst tell, Davis how dearly he loved his sons Crestol, Alm and Hutchinson, and wouldst have Fisher electrocute the fatted calf and wouldst prepare a feast for all the people of Usa if only his sons could be found and returned to him. So Davis summoneth his three scribes, Bunce, Zeiss and Flynn, and didst have them record all these de- tails that he might search for them and return them to him. And after Davis and his three loyal followers had departed there didst enter in three fishermen named Hagadone, Koskinimei and Bryan, and they were accompanied by three fillers- of the soil named Kutz, Iensen, and Cooper, and they didst carry their wares for they wished to sell them. And they dealt with four men who were pointed out to me as executives, and they were called Andrews, Mazrum, Light- ner, and jenkins and they all exe-

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didst carry small sections ot lead pipe, and l was told that these were men of the new world, called union organizers. And they were called Bailey, B o g er s and Taggart, and they were. ' My conversation was enlightened by two strangers who sat down with me and didst sup with me, and they didst speak as wise men but they were not, for they were politicians, and they were named Miller and Nunziato. They didst tell me of all manner of evil things which had come to pass in Usa since the arriv- al of these three sinister ones and their ten helpers who were called agitators, and were named Brown, Dailey, Eschenbrenner, Ferguson, l-less, Kovacevich, Ol'Brien, Weiss and Green. They had surrounded the elephant race track and had beaten the elephant track owners, Ashton and Sedlitz, and they had told the elephants that they might not race but must sit down: and they had not allowed the four qreat in- ventors, Cooke, Storm, Ewing and Greeson to complete their experi- ments on their new tender-crane-pipe wrench-pogo stick until they had paid tithes, which they called dues. And all 'the people of Usa were sore afraid of these men, and it came to pass that the messenger Davis was dispatched to summon the wise men that a solution might be sought tor this dilemma. And when the wise men came and heard, they didst weep and mourn and didst call upon the High Priests Prestwood and Shull for prayer and wisdom in their time of need. And the three younger wise men, l-leitner, McBee and M o y e r didst elect the oldest and wisest wise man, White, to speak for them. And White summoned all of the honest citizens and they came: Bev- erly, Massey, Cullen, Mote, Hurst, and Golden, and they didst listen to White and the wisdom he had to Communications Division

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cuted shrewd deals, but Ienkins was the shrewdest. And it came to pass that lvfazrum converseth with me, and when he had learned of my quest for the prophets he told me that l need fear no longer, for the Lord was with me and had sent aid to me, for he had made many disciples of the three Great Prophets, and l need find only one of them and my quest might be ended. And Mazrum didst give unto me a list of the names of these disci- ples, and they were great in number, being Campbell, Ellis, Galisath, Geer- ing, Gray, l-lanson, Kodanko, Reed, French, Tubbs, Dutilly, l-lasul and Wysocki, and they were all faithful followers. l was about to take my leave of Smith's lnn and go in search of one of these many faithful disciples when, lo, the three prohphets themselves entered. With guaking feet and trem- bling voice l rose and addressed the prophets and asked of them if they knew: and they said that they did know, and that the wonder was great but that it was true. Yea, verily, it was true, that the Lord's greatest gifts to women were Graham, Riccitelli and Gale, and at last l had learned what l had wanted to know, and my wisrom was great and l was no long- er afraid. ' 'k 7? bl' Yes, that is the story as it wasxtold to me and it is no wonder that it has lived so vividly in my mind, for l have a strange feeling that l have ac- tually known some of the people in this story, people who lived hundreds of years ago. l have felt that l knew them, not just through hearing about their lives, but by seeing and speak- ing with them. Of course this is im- possible, but you can easily under- stand how such a feeling could make me very uneasy. The story is prob- ably a figment of the imagination, but you may draw your own conclu- sions. Perhaps if you turn it over in your mind you may feel the same way l do about it. A Gunnery Division - f