Raine, Norman Reilly "Mr. Gallup Gathers No Moths"
Mr. Gallup’s colorful – and malapropian – manner of speaking (“them there rolling stones wot gathers no moths”) and somewhat irascible behavior put him in good company with another Saturday Evening Post regular, Guy Gilpatric’s Colin Glencannon. While on a New York City overlay, Gallup discovers a German plot to disable and sink a British tanker at sea, and kill her crew. He slips aboard the vessel under an assumed name and ultimately foils the plot, winding up with a recommendation for the George Cross in commendation for his heroism.
Raine’s theme is that of the underhanded and cowardly manner in which Germany was attempting to win the War, which he compares to the selfless manner in which the British merchant marine carried out its hazardous duties. His rousing description of a convoy as seen from sea is a classic:
“At the change of the watch he [Mr. Gallup] climbed the spidery ladders and gartings to the deck. It was dusk, the rain had cleared, ahead and silhouetted against the blood-red sky astern, were the ships of the convoy, the smoke of their many funnels trailing astern like the sooty banners of a marching army.
Mr. Gallup counted them. Thirty-five. Thirty-five, and crammed to the hatches with explosives, guns, plans, oil, gasoline, fuel and all the multitudinous sinews of war. Moving as a close, defensive unit in a tight, definite formation, frequently changed, while around their flanks roved the grim protecting war dogs.”