Have you seen 'em
yet?"
"Seen what? Your stories?"
"No, the ships!"
"Yes, Scudder took me across once in the Iduna. I haven't got a paper
yet, so I couldn't write anything, but--"
"Well, you've seen all there is to it, then; you wouldn't see any
more if you went over every day. It's just the same old harbor-mouth,
and the same old Morro Castle, and same old ships, drifting up and
down; the Brooklyn, full of smoke-stacks, and the New York, with her
two bridges, and all the rest of them looking just as they've looked
for the last four weeks. There's nothing in that. Why don't they send
me to Tampa with the army and Shafter--that's where the story is."
"Oh, I don't know," said Channing, shaking his head. "I thought it
was bully!"
"Bully, what was bully?"
"Oh, the picture," said Channing, doubtfully, "and--and what it
meant. What struck me about it was that it was so hot, and lazy, and
peaceful, that they seemed to be just drifting about, just what you
complain of. I don't know what I expected to see; I think I expected
they'd be racing around in circles, tearing up the water and throwing
broadsides at Morro Castle as fast as fire-crackers.
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