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As TOPEKA backed away from the pier, turned and headed south into the Pacific, you could actually feel the air of tension begin to mount. The day looked forward to by shellbacks and pollywogs alike was close at hand. For many it was an occasion long awaited, the chance to become shellbacks. Preparations were many and varied. The finishing touches placed so delicately upon costumes. There were gowns of white, hula skirts of combed marlin, wigs made of unrecognizable ingredients and all filled with eye-catching beauty. Summonses were issued by vehement shell-backs to quaking and slightly dazed pollywogs. "How could they accuse me of this? For that matter, how could they know?" Shillelaghs of padded canvas were finished off with seamanlike skill. The guillotine, the swimming pool, the rack, the hangman's gallows, all received their final nail and waited as patiently as time for the victims they knew would come to them. Before the shellbacks had a chance to exercise their consummate skill with all the various ingenious devices of torture they had produced, the pollywogs had a quick moment of glory - the pollywog revolt! Buckets of water became part of the uniform of the day. It was a brave (or foolish) man who ventured through a hatchway or door without first having some idea of what was waiting on the other side. The Executive Officer (that hearty soul) became slightly waterlogged toward the end of the day and his shoes squished as he walked along the deck, like some sea monster giving forth salt water with each step. However, each indignity suffered by a shellback was carefully filed in his mind for the next day. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, with interest! |