The Nest Builder

the waves brought a sickening vibration as one or another of the ship's great propellers raced out of water. The gong had sounded for the second s

ragtime combined to produce an effect as of some sordid and demoniac org

urface a pompous self-sufficiency. Each table proclaimed the aesthetic level of the second class through the lifeless leaves of a rubber plant and two imitation cut-glass dishes of tough fruit. The stewards, casually hovering, lacked the democracy which might have humanized the steerage as much as the civility which would have oiled the work

vainly for several minutes to attract his attention by clearing his throat,

dly, "that you are an American, and as gl

with a withering stare, "I am a Bohemian, and damn

smayed or deprecating. Budding conversationalists were temporarily frost-bitten, and the watery helpings of fish were eaten in a constrained silence. But with the inevitable roast beef

n, but I'll confess it's a grand place to mak' money. Ye

was s

ing to know what exactly ye mean when ye call yoursel' a Bohemian.

pkin, and rose with an attempt at dignity somewhat marred by

id he, almost stammering in his attempt to control his extreme distaste of his surr

ng he'll be feeling the sea already. What kind of a place would Bohem

carrying voice. "I shall certainly ask to have my seat changed. I cannot su

e nodded

aid a pursy little man opposite, s

ispered shrilly, "he was just terrible, wasn't he? But so handsome! I ca

f his offense than at the men's disdain, lay in his tiny cabin, a prey to an attack of that nervous

fellowship toward them than he would have done toward a company of ground-hogs. He lay back, one fine and nervous hand across his eyes, trying to obliterate the image of the saloon and all its inmates by conjuring up a vision of the world he had left, the winsome young cosmopolitan Paris of the art student. The streets, the cafés, the

left. To wh