Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-01-26


more convinced that I must search
that box without either the knowledge
or the permission of my fat ecclesias-
teal friend; and the dangers involved
in such an attempt so filled my mind
that l scarcely heard the senorita call
ing me from the portieo. She must
have been embarrassed by the effort
to make me hear, for her face was
scarlet when | approached the house.
as ii because el padre would not ah-
solve the senor," she said, that he has
no appetite, and would walk away
when the breakfast does wait? All, bat
be must be the sinful man! Perhaps
he did not present el padre with una
contribution for the good of the
church? 1t is the CUSTOM"
well, I'm afraid did overlook that,
scnorita. But I'll make it all right
with him later Joking aside, though,
the padre treated me very nicely
showed me all over the place. He
seems to be a very learned man. No;
l was thinking of other matters when
You called Please forgive me-"
Possibly it is that the senor feels
sad because la Senorita Palacios has
gone away in el vapor? She Is muy
hermosa."
"Yes, but not more so than Senorita
Dorotea. often compared them from
the photograph which you gave ell
captain"
"Ai, but how can believe the senior?
Come, let us see if you have ell apetito;
and afterward you shall spend the day
with me as you like. Come"
I often look back to those break
fasts at Agana as among the most de-
lightful hours of my life. Kipling has
echoed the heartfelt longing of many
a man to get for awhile outside the
bounds of civilization-to exist where
society is still in rudimentary state,
where the best Is like the worst;
where there amt no ten command
ments, and a mar can raise thirst" ;"
II you've card the east a-callin'. you won't
never 'eed naught else.
Noi you won't 'eed nothin' else bat them
spicy garlic smells,
An the sunshine. an the palm trees. an
the tinkly temple bells.
Until the wet monsoon set m the
table was usually placed under a elump
of banana trees in the patio, opposite
a grilled gateway through which there
was glimpse of the sea. Sometimes
we were joined by the two sublisuteH-
ants and their ladies, sometimes by
Padre Bartolomeo and his broth
er priests. Often the colonel, SenoHta
Dorotea and l dined by ourselves,
idling deliciously over the coffee and
cigarillos as we talked 1t was lazy
little town. The natives worked rs
seldom as possible, and spent MOST OF
their time day-dreaming in the sAade.
fishing from the proas, swimming liEe
so many fish and occasionally going on
on catamaran visits to such islands az
could be seen while the peak of
Tiniquio was still above the horizon.
They seldom took the chance of nari-
eating beyond sight of land.
The senorita seemed to consider me
her personal charge, and the gober-
nador placed the entire menage at my
disposal with u courtesy as charming
as il was rare. If l chose to stroll by
myself I might have owned the island,
so entirely was l left to my own free
will If | wished for company l had
but to clap my hands and the colonePs
orderly, Pope, would appear some
where in the near distance, with the
information that l would find the
colonel or the senorita in such place.
1t seems, as / look back upon 1t, that
must have idled away a great deal of
precious time; but this was really not
the case When they asked me what
would like to do, that first Monday
morning. mentioned being very fond
of sailing, and in a few moments we
were in one of the proas, with native
who sailed the thing like an arrow
across the smooth water and along the
coast TO Orote.
1t was rather a primitive affair, as
far as construction went, but strong
enough to stand pretty heavy weather.
The hull had been followed out of a
tree trunk and was pointed at each
end. On the lee side it was rounded
like any other boat, but to windward
il was perpendicularly fiat. Lashed
across the gunwales about four feet
from each end were two straight Limbs
OF tree that looked like teak, eight
feet long; and these at the outer ex-
tremity were dashed TO a rounded and
sharpened boom of the same wood
The sail, of cocoa mating. was tri'
angular one, which seemed out of all
proportion to the narrow hull beneath
it. There was n stout bamboo mast in
the middle, and from this hung n
smaller and longer pole which
formed the upper side of the sails tri-
angle, meeting the lower one in point
at the bow, where they were secured
like a jib. The immense spread of sail
pulled us through the water at such u
rate that feared we might upset. burt
the colonel laughed at me.
"Eet ees impossible to upset him,
Senior Stefans," he said. 81 haf seen
the wind lift him clear out of the
water, even the outrigger also, but he
does csme down every time upon his
feet. The hull SO light is that the out
rigper booms cannot tear of them
selves loose"
But isn't il very difficult to sail in
anything like straight line?
should think she'd make an awful lot
of leeway."
"Not so, senior; eet ees not so. Turn
YOU yourself around and watch the top
of Santa Rosa mountain. You Will see
a piece Of yellow rock on Punta de los
Amantes, just below. Pedro will sail
him ten miles into the sea, yet the
peak and that rock shall be exactly In
line all of the time. Do you but wfSch
him vera close"
For half an hour I did watch, and
am bound to say the two points didn't
bulge an irch to the'r right or left of the
vertical line. This settled the leeway
question in my mind, and I took such
a liking to the craft that determined
to own one. asked the colonel what
they were worth.
"What, one like this? But few
pesos, senior. But never have heard
of one being sold. Each man builds
his own"
"Hmpf. Did you ever build one.
colonel"
"I-el gobernadorl Por Dios. you do
but laugh at me! Pedro, how many OF
the proas have at AganaT"
"An are the gobernador's, excel
encia."
"And hcw many has el Senior Stefans
while he remains at Agana%'
"All OF the gobernadors, excelen-
cia."
"Por Dios, il is true, senor."
"Wen, that is exceeding kind, must
say. But. YOU see, colonel, | am very