Raymond S. Spears

Name: That Sharp Yankee
Author: Raymond S. Spears

That Sharp Yankee (1918)

Summary

“That Sharp Yankee”, published in 1918, is a work by Raymond S. Spears. It explores elements such as Polray, Gurdle and shanty.

Quotes from That Sharp Yankee (Raymond S. Spears)

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ All day long he floated, sometimes two miles astern; sometimes hardy a mile; he saw other cabin-boats drifting down. He would attract little attention in the migration flight of shanty-boaters, before the winter which was at hand.
Toward night, he came to within a few hundred feet of the shanty-boat. Gurdle was on the bow, handling the sweeps. He was smoking a pipe—Polray's own pipe, the pursuer thought. In the sunset, Gurdle was silhouetted against the western sky, a thin, shrunken little figure, huddling over the oars. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ A week later, Polray ran out of the eddy in a twenty- two foot gasoline launch, with a cabin clear back to the stern. It was a wide boat, and not high in the wind. He steered down-stream, the little motor running freely.
"He's got a good rifle," the shanty-boaters repeated among themselves, "and a good six-shooter. Them fellers wants to keep clear an' shet of him!" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ They each took a cup of coffee. As they sipped it, they looked with fishy eyes at their victim. Colder blooded men there never were than river pirates, and these two were the coldest of their crew.
They went out on the bow deck to look at the bank and stream. The clouds were rolling overhead, and stars were shining frostily out of the sky in the straits between the clouds. Their boats were in mid-stream, gliding with the current. They spoke in voices so low that a hissing whisper would seem like a shout.
"Where 'll we drap him oveh?" Gurdle asked, anxiously. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ Years of saving, years of picking and grubbing down the river had given him his good little boat, with a good ax for wood and a good stove to burn either wood or coal—coal from wrecked tow-barges. He paused in the gale to look with satisfaction at the blue film of smoke curling out of his heater-stove pipe.
"I'm plumb comfy," he shook his head, gratefully. "Seems like a man who's faithful don't get no worst off, but jes' better 'n' better all the time. I slept up the bank and skiffed hit, many a year. Now I got a shanty-boat, an' money to see me clear to N 'Orleans—sho!" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ The launch swung in beside the cabin-boat, and the steersman made fast to it with ropes, while Gurdle ran up the bank and cast off the mooring lines. In the twilight, they towed the boat out into the stream and pounded into the wind, bound down-river. The wind was falling at the end of the day, as commonly happens. By dark the gale had blown itself out.
Polray lay where he had fallen. The two men, river pirates, sat by the stove, holding their hands over the fire, to warm them.
"Nice little boat," Gurdle nodded. "Don't no wind come through the sides—Gawd! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ LARRY POLRAY'S shanty-boat was tied in an eddy where a northwest wind sweeping diagonally up the Ohio River above Cairo could not hit it. The wind was raw and cold, so that when Polray went out to look at his bow lines, he shivered from head to foot.
"It's an awful day to be out!" he shook his head. "A man that's got a good little shanty-boat sure is plumb comfortable! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ He stopped his motor, and drifted with the current, while he thought and planned. The pirates had figured that he was dead, and were taking no precautions. They knew that he had fallen overboard, but they had not counted on the strength which accompanies clean living, the endurance which is the reward of taking care of, oneself. He knew that they believed he was dead. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, That Sharp Yankee (1918)

“ A man learns not to carry all he's got into one place! Them danged scoundrels! Likely I won't neveh see them agin—but if I do! They's down b'low, and if I do!"
A painful day arrived. He stumbled on down the river bank. He found a little shanty-boat town. He knew some of the river people there. They took him in, and a woman shaved and dressed the lump-wound on his head.
"Who done hit?" she asked.
He told her all that had happened.
"An' when yo'd took 'em in, they robbed yo'! I bet that feller in the launch was Gurdle's pal, yassuh."
"Like 's not. He looked sharp. I seen 'm—to'd my boat." ”

Raymond S. Spears

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Quotes from That Sharp Yankee (Raymond S. Spears)

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