Wanderlust

Book ExcerptOur foreman, that is, the foreman of the cattle squad, Dave Smith, came on deckin the forenoon and informed us that we need not come below till four bells thatafternoon, as the other fellows who were experienced cattlemen, would attend tothe stalling and roping of the steers, a tough job. At noon our dinner was issued, but having eaten an unusually good breakfast we "really didn't care foranything," especially since the food was not over appetizing. After havingexamined the food, we pitched it over the side of the boat, telling the secondcook that our dinner was enjoyed immensely, -and so it was, I presume, by thefish.The Shenandoah was some three hundred and sixty feet in length by fifty inbreadth. She had two decks, which were respectively the main deck and thecattle deck. The main deck was used for various purposes, the fore part beingused as a promenade for the officers and passengers; the rear part was on this tripused as a sheep deck, while in the central part of the deck were the cabins.Directly underneath the main deck was the cattle deck. This is divided up intostalls, and in every stall there were four cattle. The stalls run along the side of theship parallel to each other, and the intervening space is termed the alley way.This main alley was divided by more cattle stalls in the hatchways, consequentlymaking two alley ways. Underneath the cattle deck in the big holes was storedour cargo, which was principally hay and corn. This being a slow steamer, shemade about twelve knots an hour, but during rough weather her speed wasdiminished by something like five knots.That afternoon all the cattlemen were ordered.